pagina 54 IAK059
Corona educator in
refugee camp Kakuma
To watch my mother die of treatable diseases while fleeing for the Arab militia in Sudan, was extremely painful for me. Now, in refugee camp Kakuma, I move from door to door to educate people on Corona. And I dream of becoming a professional nurse helping to improve the health situation of Sudan. My name is Mimmy Idriss from Sudan. I am 27 years and single. I was forced to move out of my country in 2013 due to civil war. My village was attacked early in the morning by Arab militia from Khartoum. It was a deadly attack that claimed the lives of many people. My community members, friends, relatives including my uncle and aunt were killed in my presence. Because of the mercy and grace of God, we were safe, we ran on the mountain and hid there for a month. However, life on the mountain cave was tough. We did not have food and a conducive place to stay. We merely depended on wild fruits and meat of wild animals and birds. Unfortunately, my mother became sick and eventually died due to a lack of medication. And we were left under a military father who could rarely spare time for us. We missed the affection for our mother who had been fighting for our future. Our hope for a better future was almost buried on that mountain. Our living conditions became worse and my father decided to transfer us to Kakuma refugee camp. I left my two brothers on the mountain and moved to Kakuma with three sisters. When I arrived in Kakuma, I found it was a good place full of hope. And the most important thing I found in Kakuma was school. The school was free and we went to school. We were thankful to God and UNHCR for giving us such a great opportunity to relight our hope for a bright future. The school was my priority. I wanted to change my family and community through education. My dream was to become a nurse and work for the community. I completed my secondary education successfully in 2019 and I began to work voluntarily for the community as a hygiene promoter until I was officially employed to work for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) as a Community Hygiene Promoter. When I got this job, I was delighted because my career objective is to work in an accredited institution that will put my skills, knowledge and talents to maximum and efficient use to create a positive impact in the community. This job means a lot to me because it allows me to help my community during this Corona pandemic. Currently, I move from home to home to educate and guide people on the measures and directives used to curb the spread of Coronavirus. For instance, I teach them to always wear masks once out from their premises, practice regular hand washing, hand sanitizing, avoid handshakes with others, and to keep at least a distance of 1 meter from each other. I teach the people from the community about proper hygiene management. I guide them to properly clean pit latrines and to generally maintain cleanliness in the kitchen. Waterborne diseases are easily spread due to lack of hygiene in many homesteads. I feel privileged to work with the community to fight against such diseases. To prevent diseases like cholera and typhoid, I work with the community to maintain a high standard of hygiene. My biggest dream is to become a professional nurse soon and go back to my country to help my community. If I get an opportunity for further studies, I want to study nursing. It was a great pain for me to see my mother dying of treatable disease due to a lack of nurses and doctors. I want to change the health condition of my community.
Interested to get into contact with Mimmy? Email: info@i-am-kakuma.online
