Refugee Quakers in Uganda Affected by Changes in U.S. Aid

At the FUM office in Richmond, Indiana, we recently received this report from our friend Alfred Wasike, former General Secretary of Uganda Friends Church, and currently a pastor in Uganda. He describes a visit he recently made to the Friends Church in the Nakivale Refugee Camp, and the effects that changes in American policies are having on residents of the camp, including those who are members of the Quaker congregation.

‍Recently, a unique congregation of Quakers gathered in a corrugated iron sheet walled Church building passionately sang a popular hymn called “Umugisha” (“Blessing”) in a mix of Kinyarwanda and Kirundi languages, making me think of the famous Negro spirituals because of the compelling rhythm, melody, tempo, and emotional depth of the lyrics:

Gusenga kwanjye kukugereho

Mana uri amahoro yangye

Ndagukeneye ku manywa na nijoro

Mu bihe byose umbe hafi

Gusenga kwanjye kukugereho…  

May my prayers reach you

God, you are my peace

I need you day and night

Be near me at all times

May my prayers reach you…These are not “ordinary” or “normal” Quakers. They are refugees in Uganda.It was a very moving worship of refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. They are members of the Nakivale Evangelical Friends Church in the world’s eighth largest refugee settlement camp, in southern Uganda at the border with Tanzania. This church of 140 Quakers, including children, was established in December 2020 with the help of a kind Australian Quaker called Pastor Abel Sibonio, a former refugee from Burundi. Pastors Alfred Wasike, Paul Kuloba, and Emmanuel Bazimenyera helped set up this unique gathering of Quakers who fled their war-torn homelands.

A very dark cloud of uncertainty hangs over the survival and future of these Quakers, and 219,850 other refugees in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee camp, which covers 184 sq km/ 71 sq miles, Africa’s oldest refugee settlement. The U.S. President Donald Trump’s January 2025 orders that abruptly cut aid to these very vulnerable people triggered a deadly crime outbreak in the sprawling camp.Speaking about the new situation, the visibly-depressed Nakivale Church Pastor Elias Kabula [38], a refugee from Burundi, says, “I fled from my homeland fourteen years ago. I have made a family with my wife Francoise [36]. We have four children: Brighton Irishura [13], Nickson Iranzi [10], Kelvin Arakaza [8], and Digne Irankeje [6]. Now, we have been told that the USA has a new President. Now, we have no feeding, no education support, no health support, life is more difficult for us now,” he tells me with tears welling in his eyes as he struggles to dry them.

A Church youth leader, Brian Ndayiragije [27] shares another sad story about how he is struggling to fend for himself and his younger siblings Leah [26] and Rachel [26]. “We have been living here for five years now. We fled violence in Burundi. Our father was killed. We fled to Tanzania. Life was very hard. We lost our mother. Then we walked to Uganda. I have some secondary school education. My sisters never had a chance to study. I have been working for a Community-Based Organisation (CBO) which has closed. We were getting funding from an organisation from America. Now there is a lot of unemployment, hunger, crime, prostitution, etc. We are very depressed. How I wish the Church can help us.”I spoke to a top administrator of the Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp, who told me, “My dear brother, the changes in foreign policy in the new U.S. presidency have affected our operations in the management of refugees very adversely. There will be no more resettlement of refugees. The World Food Program, Save The Children and other UNHCR implementing organisations which have been getting support through the USAID are pulling out. All key sectors of refugees’ lives, like education, health, livelihood, are affected. Teachers in our twenty primary schools, two secondary schools, and a technical school are very affected. We are bracing ourselves for serious unemployment because many CBOs have shut down or downsized, and for a rise in criminality.

”As a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Uganda has been hailed as a model country in terms of accepting and treating refugees humanely. Most refugees in Uganda fled from Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan, among other countries.—Alfred Wasike