UNHCR focuses on refugee crisis

On average a refugee stays in exile from 17 to 25 years and their lives remain on hold until they can find their feet again in foreign lands.

“Refugees have a fear of persecution either for their faith, sexual orientation, their political party, religious belief, war in their country of origin, or are fleeing for their lives,” said Needa Jehu-Hoyah, head of UNHCR Private Sector Partnerships Africa.

She was talking at the recent Women’s Business Network event for the UN agency, which hosted its inaugural brunch, Women to Women, in honour of Women’s Month.

The event served as an awareness-building and advocacy opportunity to support access to education for refugee youth across Africa.

“We count more and more on generous people to fund UNHCR. We are desperate because every single day about 500 people flee.

"Every two seconds somebody is displaced, or becomes stateless, or has fled to another country. The African woman is the human face of this situation.”

Kristin Davis, American actress notably known for her role as ‘Charlotte’ in Sex and the City and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador giving her keynote at the Women to Women brunch. Picture: Supplied

US actress Kristin Davis, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, was the keynote speaker at the event. She shared some of her experiences with UNHCR and cried as she remembered the lives she had come into contact with.

“The Women’s Business Network for UNHCR is a wonderful example of how we can support the journeys of people who have been forced to flee.

"Bringing to attention the needs of refugee girls and women has never been more important and giving them a chance in life through education is vital in helping them rebuild their lives,” said Davis.

Jehu-Hoyah said one refugee food basket was just 2100kJ a day. If a person were to go on that diet for a year, they would be malnourished.

“We give the bare minimum not because we want to, but that is what we can commit to knowing the funding situation and even that sometimes we cannot achieve.”

Jehu-Hoyah said the hardest thing was for refugees to have to compete for a space at university.

“Only 1% of refugees ever access university.”

South African musician, Lira, performs at the Women to Women brunch organized by the Women’s Business Network for UNHCR Picture: Supplied

She said the idea that by 2025 Africa would provide the biggest workforce was hard to believe because "what workforce will there be if people are uneducated?"

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Leanne Manas hosted the event, which also included a performance by Lira.

Tresor Mpauni, a refugee performer from Malawi, performed poetry and two young refugee women living in South Africa shared their stories of starting anew.

The brunch raised over R320000 through donations and an auction.

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