Written by Cara Kiggins, Refugees Thrive Board President.
Refugees Thrive International (RTI) identifies and partners with proven, local direct service providers in countries hosting disproportionate shares of the world’s refugees. Our founding partner is St. Andrew’s Refugee Service (StARS), operating in Cairo, Egypt since 1979. Cara Kiggins, RTI’s Board President, had the opportunity to spend four days last month at StARS in Cairo, Egypt.
Last month, I had the opportunity to visit St. Andrew’s Refugee Services (StARS) in Cairo, Egypt, my first trip back since I lived there in 2008–2009. I left my visit impressed and inspired by the sense of joy, dignity, and community that pervades the organization despite the incredible hardships refugee participants face daily outside StARS walls.
StARS is a local, grassroots, and on-the-ground organization whose innovative approach relying on refugee leadership and participation to make decisions has created enormous success and impact. One key aspect of this approach is refugee participant feedback, which is routinely gathered through a formalized process, and quickly implemented. This year, StARS established feedback boxes in five languages in all buildings and implemented mechanisms for refugees to provide feedback anonymously online or via phone. Refugee participant feedback is highly valued and regularly informs changes in program delivery. Refugee leadership is also formalized; over 80% of StARS staff are refugees.
StARS’ innovations shine through their nimble responsiveness to the ever shifting needs of refugees. The recently-opened Naimo Center exemplifies this: it’s a one-stop wrap around resource, a nursery, and a cafe serving comfort food from refugees’ home countries.
During my visit last month, I was most excited to see the Naimo Center, which received a $100,000 investment from us at Refugees Thrive International last year. Let me take you on a tour!
The Naimo Center is a five-story building humming with activity. Located in a neighborhood near many unaccompanied refugee youth (refugees who are under 18 years old and fled war and/or persecution in their home country without family), the Naimo Center exists to offer comprehensive services to this particularly vulnerable group in a single place and provide them with a space to call home. Over 400 unaccompanied refugee youth come through the Naimo Center each day to receive medical or legal support, access community foster care, attend professional development classes, receive food or other direct assistance, or use the safe space to spend time in community. Psychosocial workers, many of whom are former unaccompanied refugee youth themselves, see as many as 40 to 50 youth per day, and there are books and games to entertain the youth while they wait.
Touring through the building past the community room filled with youth, I came across the refugee youth-run cafe in the back. Youth were purchasing coffee and home country favorites from the cafe. By mid-morning, the many tables were full of refugee youth chatting, playing games, or just taking some quiet time.
After the Naimo Center opened in 2018, youth participants with young children and expecting mothers requested a designated place for their children. StARS delivered in a big way, turning one space into an on-site nursery that meets the daily needs of more than 150 pregnant refugee youth and young parents daily, many of whom are parenting as a result of sexual assault. The nursery is staffed by professional caregivers, allowing these youth to be kids and not parents for a few hours a day while visiting the Center.
Refugees in Cairo face many challenges and StARS is always responding. Having been forced to flee war and/or persecution in their home countries throughout Africa and the Middle East, refugees struggle to make ends meet in Egypt. Egypt itself is still recovering from the 2011 Revolution, and struggles to cope with its own massive population growth as a middle-income country. StARS began as a school for refugee children in 1979, and has since grown to offer not only K-12 education, a Montessori Preschool, and professional development workshops, but also legal aid, psychosocial services, access to medical care, technical support for other refugee-led community based organizations, as well as the specialized, all-inclusive services at Naimo Center for Unaccompanied Refugee Youth.
Despite the challenges refugees face, StARS is always looking for ways to celebrate and create joy. It regularly hosts well-attended festivals and other opportunities for the StARS refugee community to come together and have fun. Celebrations include Spring and Winter craft bazaars, Sunday Fundays, and Graduation Ceremonies, each of which features music, food from refugee chefs, and dancing.
I was fortunate to be present for StARS’ 40th Anniversary celebration, and the joy and sense of community was palpable! A children’s choir prepared and performed a special song and a DJ played dance songs from all over the world, keeping the courtyard full of dancers. Everyone gathered in the guild hall around a giant cake, which was baked by a professional baker who is also a StARS refugee community member, and enthusiastically sang “Happy Birthday” to StARS.
It was an honor to spend time at StARS witnessing what innovation looks like in refugee humanitarian aid. Innovation at StARS originates from the refugee participation and leadership the organization prioritizes. StARS’ innovations have created a place where thousands of refugees — living in extremely challenging circumstances — experience safety, dignity, community, support, and celebration each year.
Cara Kiggins is the Board President of Refugees Thrive International. Your donation to Refugees Thrive generates real impact in the form of timely, crucial services for the most vulnerable refugees in Egypt. Refugees Thrive proudly invested $100,000 to help StARS open the doors of the Naimo Center, which offers refugee youth wide-ranging assistance, including individualized psychosocial services, legal services, medical treatment, education, direct assistance, shelter, and emergency response in times of crisis. Help us make a similar impact next year. Refugees Thrive envisions a world in which refugees make their own decisions about their future, refugees are safe and healthy, and refugees’ rights are respected and protected. Learn more about Refugees Thrive International on our website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.