Being a Refugee in the Middle of a Global COVID-19 Pandemic

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The date was 15, March 2020, just a few days after the first official COVID-19 case was announced in Kenya. We are glued to our devices anxiously watching our president, Uhuru Kenyatta, gives directives! This was the first steps towards shutting down the country to help curb spread of this novel virus. Travel from any countries with any case of the virus was restricted. Only Kenyan citizens, and any foreigners with valid residence permits was to be allowed into the country provides they self-quarantine. All schools and higher learning institutions were to be closed by March 20. Government and businesses people were to start working from home; except essential services. Cashless transactions over cash. No congressional meetings- weddings, malls, night clubs, churches, limitation of hospital visits. Hospitals and shopping malls to give soap and water/hand sanitizers, and regular cleaning facilities. These were among the first directives given with more stringent directives to follow as we counted more days and more numbers into the pandemic.

The cases rose steadily but way below the projections. By June 6 we had only 2,474 recorded case of the virus in the county. The suspicion was that there were more cases of people with the virus walking around potentially spreading it unawares. This is due to the fact that majority of the cases were asymptomatic, they exhibited mild to no symptoms at all. At this time we had lost 79 people to the virus and had a total recovery of 643. The president decided to extend the directives on cession of movements to and from worst affected regions- Nairobi Metropolitan Area, Mombasa County and Mandera County.

To compliment what the government was doing, serval organizations and enterprises chirmed in to offer assistance. This came in the form of financial support, sanitation facilities to ensure that there was regular washing of hands, provision masks, soap, hand sanitizers and food baskets, and sensitization of preventive measures.

I watched, observed and learned how the pandemic was quickly unfolded and racking havoc into every inch of the fabric of our society. “What is going to happen to those individuals whose situations wouldn’t allow them to follow the WHO guidelines” I pondered helplessly. “What about the slum dwellers? How would they afford the ‘luxury’ of social distancing?” Majority of these people live on hand to mouth, they have to work daily to get something to fill their belly. How was ‘work from home’ directive supposed to apply for them? There were two choices here; stay at home and die from starvation or risk your life and get some food for your family. Honestly speaking, this wasn’t even a dilemma!

As for the refugees who I worked with, the situation was even dire! A few, their already bad situation were made worse and couldn’t take it anymore and decided to end it. This was the case of a refugee who committed suicide just next to UNHR office. Sources claimed that he wasn’t able to fend for himself despite all the effort he had made driving him to depression. So death was the way out. How tragic! There has been a reported surge in suicides during this period, however it is not attributed fully on the pandemic.

Put yourself in a refugee shoe for a moment! You fled your country due to a well-founded fear. You ran away from a civil war or famine in your country- say South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia or even DRC Congo. In your country of aslum, you are barely surviving. Securing a formal job is just a distant dream in your head. You don’t have papers that is the first problem beside the subtle discrimination you constantly face. But if you are lucky to get any form of job, you are vulnerable to exploitation. Besides some of your employers might feel they are just doing you a favour. Above and beyond, there is little you can do. You are just a helpless foreigner with no say! Doing business is also difficult, remember you have no papers. Getting a permit is impossible so you have to operate illegally. This means that you’ll have to pay hefty brides. At the end of the day regardless of your employment choice, you’ll get paid peanuts. Then COVID strikes amidst all this relaying challenges!

Eastleigh-Nairobi, a place where a good number of households are Somali refugees was suddenly shut down. Without warning. All the businesses were closed, no more work, nowhere to go in a foreign country. In just a few days you’ll have depleted all your surplus. You’ll have to face two monsters; the virus and starvation. Just when you thought there was an alternative, you get hit by reality. You can no longer seek odd jobs in people houses for a few coins or in exchange for food. Moreover people being extremely cautius of the virus, they fear letting strangers into their homes during this period. Everything seem at a standstill- the barbershops, hair salons, the local pub, local eateries, and local boutiques. All possible source of livelihood!  If it hard for native citizens what about a refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who depend on locals?

 Most refugees and migrants depend on daily wages to get by. They do not have access to proper social security schemes which can cover them during these hard times. Thus income loss renders refugees and migrants incredibly vulnerable. As a result, the impacts would be the inability to afford basic goods, increased worry and anxiety, inability to pay remittances, and inability to continue their migration journey. In orders to survive, some have resorted to negative coping strategies, such as selling their clothes and phones.

As refugees and migrants increasingly struggle to make ends meet, the consequences are also felt by their families and communities in countries of origin. Most of these refugees still send money back home to their relatives or friends who stayed behind. The World Bank estimates that global remittances will fall by 20% in 2020 due to the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and migrant workers’ loss of income and jobs.

For the few lucky refugees who had been getting support from NGO’s and individuals. This support has either been reduced immensely or cut off entirely! The NGO’s themselves have been struggling to stay afloat during this period too. The shift in focus due to the crisis has resulted into majority of the donors reducing their fundings or withdrawing their support entirely. This is how far the ripple effect of what Covid-19 has bought us. Beyond the immediate health crisis, COVID-19 has also severely impacted the world economy, and economic recovery is expected to be slower than anticipated.

The biggest perceived barriers to health services cited by surveyed refugees and migrants differ between regions but overall relate to lack of funds, not knowing where to go, and discrimination against foreigners. It has been feared that the vulnerability of refugees and migrants to the coronavirus would be exacerbated by barriers to health services. For refugee camps, a COVID-19 outbreak could exhaust the already inadequate medical resources and overwhelm camp hospitals like Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camp.

Since the beginning of the public health crisis there have been concerns around whether refugees and migrants can adhere to recommended measures to help prevent transmission of the virus. As many along various stages of their journey may find themselves residing in camps, shelters, or detention centres, and facing overcrowded and insanitary conditions. Such places adhering to the recommendations is far from practical. So in a scenario where Covid hits-which is not a matter of ‘If’ but ‘when’- it’s going to be a mess!

Unsurprisingly, more and more surveyed refugees and migrants have also reported increasing stress and anxiety. As refugees and migrants lose their incomes, many seem to be faced with the dangerous choice between poverty and illness.

The refugees on transit from their home countries haven’t been spared at all with the pandemic. Getting to their destination country to seek asylum has gotten twice as difficult. A part from just the fear of contracting COVID-19 along the way, most of the countries have closed their borders in the bid to curb the virus. This has come with it the opportunity for exploitation by the boarder officers. Most migrants would be willing to pay all they have just to be allowed in.

In addition, for those who manage to get in, they are likely to face a much more pronounced discrimination than they would have faced before the pandemic. Since as a foreigner you are constantly under suspicion of carrying the deadly virus. The result is potential outbreak of a second virus, xenophobia.

For those refugees who were lucky to be among the quota set to be resettled in a third country (western countries), things haven’t worked out as planned either. Due to the current state of affair, this arrangement has halted for now. Their fears and anxieties are real, for they feel that their only chance of turning a new leaf might just have been dusted. Even worse, some had even sold their households items and ready to depart but Covid-19 happened. What keeps them is hope that this current status will be dealt with and they can finally depart.

There is dare need for assistance to refugees. Food to eat, a place to reside, and healthcare for a start is basic need for them at this point. Moving forward, countries should looking into their policies to allowing refugees to have equally access to training, job and business opportunities. For people within work age bracket, they should. This will not only benefit them in terms of earning a living and feeling socially secured but it will also be a plus to the country since they will contribute to the growth of our economy.

With these struggles, I believe there are some refugees who thinking of returning back home. They feel that maybe there they would be in a position to meet their daily needs. This despite still having the well-founded fears of persecution. They feel they are still undergoing the same torture through hunger, deteriorating health, homelessness and anxiety which might lead to depression, illness and even death. However going back is equally hard due to the closed borders. On the other hand not being able to afford acquire COVID-19 certificate for international travels. The issue of documentation is equally key when crossing across border which for sure most lack. Majority are thus risking unpleasant detention and deportation in this attempt. So clearly this is also a dead zone to explore.

With a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic in sight, we expect further deteriorating of socio-economic conditions, protracted displacement and the critical shortfall in solutions to displacement are leading to widespread despair among refugees. Many refugees say they see their futures crumbling. The issues that drove them from their countries remain unresolved and they can’t return home. Many who have survived in exile by eking out a living in the informal economy have lost their jobs. They are also anxious about their health and that of their families, not knowing when the pandemic will end and how they can really protect themselves. They see a lack of solutions and lack hope in the future.

In the mix of all these, millions of refugees worldwide are still exposed to violence, family separation, culture loss and exile. The COVID-19 has further exposes these populations to a new threat, one that could prove to be more devastating than the events forcing them to flee their homelands. Moreover, just as I had highlighted earlier, the COVID-19 pandemic has strained the finances of governments, nongovernmental organizations and humanitarian agencies that serve refugees.

Despite COVID-19 pandemic exposing systems of inequality, it was still met with delayed responses by public health authorities to address the needs of the most vulnerable. Humanitarian agencies serving refugees emphasize the importance of global support for the receiving countries so they can continue their efforts of solidarity, medical care and economic support. Hence, I strongly endorse The Lancet’s guiding principle of public health networks leaving no one behind during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommending epidemiologic risk assessments and the timely deployment of outbreak response teams within refugee camps, promoting health education in a culturally sensitive manner and ensuring healthcare access without refoulment for refugees.