Nomads in England! Horn of Africa refugee families in search of education

1. Nomads in England! Horn of Africa refugee families in search of education Kuyok Abol Kuyok IPSE Tuesday, the 28 April 2009

2. Background to the study • Introduction • Define ‘Horn of Africa’ • Conflicts in the Horn of Africa

3. Horn of Africa community in the UK _________________________________________________ Country of Origin Population size ________________________________________________ Eritrea 20,000 Ethiopia 30,000 Somalia 205,000 Sudan 30,000 Total 285,000 Horn of Africa School children: 35,000 children of Somali background in London (Demie, Lewis and Mclean, 2008). Estimate: 60,000-80,000 in the country. • Refugee background and transient ? ·

4. The concept of Nomad The Horn of Africa community in the UK is seemingly transient or mobile. Some Horn of Africa families’ experiences suggest a nomadic like behaviour. The families move to the UK from Africa or an EU country and then move out of the UK, often back, to Africa and may return to the UK. Moving the children in the process.

5. ‘Somalis flee Holland for Britain’ 20,000 Dutch Somalis and 4,000 Dane Somalis(The Daily Telegraph, 21, 12, 2004),Somalis Exiting Netherlands for Britain’ (The Daily Telegraph, 06. 01.2005).My research indicates other Horn of Africa communities (e.g. South Sudanese are emigrating to the UK from Holland)

6. What is a nomad? The term nomad is defined:‘A member of a people continually moving to find fresh pasture for its animals and having no permanent home’. (The Oxford English Dictionary). The other weakness for the Somali families, I believe, is that they don’t give stability to their children. For example, [some] Somali families they have been to Kenya, they stayed there, is not entirely their fault, Tanzania, Russia, Sweden, Norway, UK, America and then they might go back to where they started from, Somalia! Really it happens. Lots of Somalis do this. (A Somali father and school governor).

7. Why this nomadic movement? In Norway Somali Children reported cases of bullying and racism(Fangen,2006:80). Somali women were made to feel inadequate by the Denmark’s feminism if they stayed at home to look after their children (The Daily Telegraph, 21.12.04). Greater availability of Koranic schools, Mosques, and the legality of qat (a leaf chewed in the Horn of Africa that is illegal in some Scandinavian countries) in the UK. …Somali Europeans seemed to feel that the relative diversity of the UK cities made it easier to get on with life. (Lindley and Hear (2007, pp9-10).

8. A Somali concurs: Because London [i.e. Britain] is a multicultural society, where’s Holland or Denmark is not. There is only little people and every body lives far away from each other. And [in] London is like …, there are so many Mosques you go and there are so many Somalis who live in …. So you don’t loose your religion or anything or your language, because you see so many people in the Mosque (A Somali community link worker).

9. The search for educational opportunities • Tomlinson (1984) Immigrant parents more interested in education for their children • Aqoon La’aan waa iftiin la’an-Without education there is no light’ • We are looking for education if they can teach them [e.g. our children] (A Sudanese mother). • ‘A child is educated by a village’ In the UK may have social and communal support (supplementary schools).

10. The underlying Reasons • The Return Project • The English system of Education

11. ‘The Return Project’ Temporary or impermanent stay or transient: ‘The suitcase is still packed’ (Omaar, 2007); • Eritrean returned home after 1991 (Al-Ali, Black and Khalid, 2001); • South Sudanese return to Sudan since 2005 (Ingle, 2005). ‘The Return Project’ mindset reinforces the questions of identity and shapes families’ perceptions of education

12. I was struggling to get them schools which I think would be teaching the …Catholic values (A Sudanese father). And I like it [the school], because this school is a very good school. And, like if you are Muslim, you are very happy to stay in that school, because there is no problem of our religion. (A Somali mother). Well our children… I could say there they are lucky to be here [e.g. in the UK]. If a child is able to do what they are capable of doing, they can get educated here. But also it is very important our children know where they are coming from. Some cases they may graduate and they don’t get jobs here and if they don’t get jobs they have to [have] other option, by going back to where their parents came from. (A Sudanese father).

13. Parents involved in children’s choice of subjects “I want to be a doctor”. And they say ‘I want to be an engineer’. Sometimes he says, “I want to be a bus driver”. But I told him: “we don’t want to go to school to be a bus driver”. (A Somali mother, talking about her 5-year-old son). Well, she wants to finish her university. When she finishes she wants to be a lawyer or sometimes. Her dad said she wants be a politician. She wants be like her dad (Eritrean mother and teaching assistant)

14. Holidays • Families regularly take children on holidays to their country of origin-i.e. Somalia, or countries that have identical characteristics. • TV Yeah, the life style and a few things… We have Eritrea TV, we have Ethiopian [TV], we have Sudanese [TV], …and they see a few things in TV and when we go there and they say ‘what is that then? What is that then?’…I don’t say anything but my husband tells them is just to show off, but it is not there (An Eritrean mother and a teaching assistant).

15. The English System of Education • Historical relationship British colonies (e.g. Sudan, Somaliland and Eritrea). • Modern education in the Horn of Africa is a result of the colonial legacy • The relevance of English Education to the Horn of Africa contexts (e.g. English language).

16. One thing that goes as a credit to people from the Horn of Africa is the appreciation, the respect they have for the English education. They do look at education, as the main asset their children have, and particularly with the English education, English education is still valued, no matter what people say about the national curriculum in this country. If you go back to Sudan and you say that ‘my child learned in English schools’ jaws drop wow! (An Eritrean activist).

17. The good aspect is that it [education] is prestigious no matter how you did it here, when you go to another country with a certificate that you earned in the UK, it will …very prestigious one. (A Sudanese father). • They look at England as a place where they can improve their own education and the education of their children (A Sudanese activist). • My view was to go to a country, where I can communicate with people. So I chose England, Britain, solely on the language [merit] only. (A Somali father and school governor).

18. The Real English System of English • The child goes home at the end of the day… and …says to his dad or mother, ‘We don’t have exams!’ ‘Oh! What you don’t have exams? Pass and failure; you don’t fail! What is it? (An Eritrean Activist and father). • …I go [into the classroom] and find the children sitting on the floor, playing, and shouting and jumping. ‘What kind of school is this?’ Because you and I are used to sit on the desk and fold our hands and listen very attentively [to the teacher]. (An Eritrean activist and a father).

19. Pedagogical concerns • Back home …Africa or Arab country they do everything in a book, but here everything is in a paper and they loose it. And also here everything that is policy and nothing we can do about it. (A Somali mother). • I have general concern about way of teaching, not only their school and even the other schools, especially the homework. I would like, you know the system of this country they keep the books at school so the parents they don’t know the writing of his…. All the books …are kept at school (A Somali father).

20. When I was 8 years old in my system [school] I had around 6 textbooks I had to take to take to school in the bag. But here he [referring to his 8 year old son]has empty plastic bag like this paper in the bag, every morning it is empty. I [am] confused (A Somali father). Parental involvement? I am a parent who is quite educated and to be honest, when it comes to the British education system, I know a little bit, but to be honest, to sit and help my child all the little stuff like …or curriculum I don’t know. There are times that I get stuck and I need my husband …to help me. (A Somali mother and community link worker.

21. It is very difficult. Because back home [in Somalia] when we you got teacher we don’t need a parent to help us, because the teacher helps [i.e. teach] the children very much [well]. And he teaches him very hard, very hard. But here [i.e. in England] you have to help… your child in the house. When he go to school after school he got homework, you have to help him. (A Somali mother). • The way we learn in Africa is different than this way. And I would like him to learn the way I used to learn. In here […] I would like the teacher I used to have. He [her son] will learn very fast. It takes me hours, three, four hours to [teach] him what is 4 x 4 is 16, 4 x 4 is 16. (A Somali mother).

22. You know something that parents don’t digest. So this is kind of things what I say differences in the kind of system. Difference we understand education and schooling, when we come here, and how the system is more or less the same in the Sudan today and the same in Eritrea today. Of course things have changed, there also. But not to the level we see here today. Therefore, parents would come from there with that notion in their minds. (An Eritrean activist and a father). • You realise only when your child is doing GCSEs, he is Foundation [level], sitting exams Foundation, and you say: ‘Foundation? What Foundation? No, no, no, I know my child’.  It is too late, it is too late. It is absolutely too late. The child can’t provide [achieve] A-C levels [grades]. So it is too difficult for them.  So it is very hard for them. (A Somali mother, TA and parent governor).  

23. Conclusions • Some positive experience I said lot of times to my friends: ‘It is good for children to change the environment they are in’. Because before [they went to Egypt], they don’t care. They don’t understand what is respect. But, now they do know respect. They are more mature, take responsibility [about] what they are doing. … So they know [appreciate] the opportunity they have got here [in the UK]. They really have got lot of experience. (Somali mother, TA and school governor).

24. Negative impact on children’s education For Mona yeah, she was worried and she was getting headache and she was saying ‘mum how can I go to the same class as Hawa? That time she was 9, year . And I said ‘No, I need my money back’. That is why I left Egypt. • Families experience separation Fathers seek work in the Gulf or remain in the UK to support families overseas • Children may become ill overseas • Additional financial cost A Somali family of three children paid about £300 per child plus cost of food, renting a flat and transport to school.