Catholic Charity Partners with South Africa’s Durban Archdiocese to Re-Settle Refugees

“Sadly, refugees are often victims of violence by other people who blame them for crime and unemployment and see them as unfair competitors in the struggle for jobs, houses and other resources,” CAN officials say in the July 8 report.

When South Africa fell under xenophobic attacks from May 2008, ACN leadership recalls, a number of those who lost their lives were refugees from neighboring countries. A good number of the refugees who were in Durban had nowhere to seek solace from the wave of attacks.

The Archdiocese of Durban, the leadership of the Catholic Charity notes, has become an integral player in resettling people from different nationalities, providing them with basic care.

“The Catholic Archdiocese of Durban hosted 580 victims of these attacks during 2008 and in 2015 another attack happened resulting in 190 victims seeking protection. During these periods, the Refugee Pastoral Care provided all basic necessities for these people,” says ACN leadership in the report.

The assistance at the Refugee Pastoral Care has not only been for the basic human needs such as food and shelter but has extended to facilitating the refugees’ education.

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"The center project involves other important programs such as paying school fees for refugee children and teaching English to those who come from the francophone region," says the leadership of the charity, explaining that refugees learning English is expected to foster their cohesion and integration with members of local communities.

Such integration, says ACN leadership, could help reduce future tendencies of xenophobia.

Learning English, officials of the Catholic charity say, will also enable the refugees empower themselves including engaging in economic activities without fear of a language barrier.

The education empowerment program by the South African Archdiocese has, over time, proved fruitful with some of the beneficiaries admitting that it is the best thing they have found so far in their host country, South Africa.

“I wasn’t to thank the Refuge Pastoral Care for the contribution of participating in my education fees. I appreciate because my parents were not able to facilitate my education. All I can say are words of gratitude to Durban Archdiocese because I got nothing to give in return,” Georgette Ntambwa, one of the beneficiaries has been quoted as telling ACN.

In the July 8 report, the leadership of the Refuge Pastoral Care notes that most of the refugees who have benefited from the education initiative have made economic strides, providing support for members of their respective families.

“Those children who have received assistance and support have gone to greater heights and are now fending for their families,” says the Coordinator of the facility, Hupenyu Makusha.

Mr. Makusha further says that with the ACN partnership, the South African Archdiocese has been able to change the lives of hundreds of members of families who had lost hope in life.

“The years 2020 and 2021 have been very challenging with the pandemic. ACN however came in handy and assisted us facilitate most of the programs we ran. We have paid fees in full and evangelization that speaks life into brokenness has been delivered,” Mr. Makusha shares in the July 8 report.

According to ACN, South Africa hosts approximately 270,500 refugees and asylum seekers but the true number of undocumented immigrants in the country could be higher than this.

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Almost 84 percent of these refugees and asylum seekers, the leadership of the Catholic charity says, are from the Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Nigeria. DR Congo, and Rwanda.