Global Activism: Chicagoans Helping Build Classrooms for Refugees in Kenya

By Jerome McDonnell
SUDAN REFUGEES DIVIDED FAMILY
ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011 AND THEREAFTER - In this Sunday, June 26, 2011 picture, Morris Michael's brother John, at left in doorway, leaves the local Catholic church after Sunday Mass in the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. The family fled war their native lands in neighboring southern Sudan in 1993 and has lived as refugees in Kakuma ever since. Through outstanding educational performance, Morris was afforded opportunities to study in Nairobi and later in the United States. Kakuma accommodates nearly 80,000 east and central Africans who fled for their lives from some of the worst of the continent's recent wars, in Congo, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. Pete Muller / AP Photo
SUDAN REFUGEES DIVIDED FAMILY
ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011 AND THEREAFTER - In this Sunday, June 26, 2011 picture, Morris Michael's brother John, at left in doorway, leaves the local Catholic church after Sunday Mass in the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. The family fled war their native lands in neighboring southern Sudan in 1993 and has lived as refugees in Kakuma ever since. Through outstanding educational performance, Morris was afforded opportunities to study in Nairobi and later in the United States. Kakuma accommodates nearly 80,000 east and central Africans who fled for their lives from some of the worst of the continent's recent wars, in Congo, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. Pete Muller / AP Photo

Global Activism: Chicagoans Helping Build Classrooms for Refugees in Kenya

By Jerome McDonnell
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.


The United Nations Association (UNA) helps inspire Americans to support the ideals and work of the U.N. The Chicago Chapter of UNA lives those values through its “Adopt-A-Future” program.  They’re helping raise funds for refugees at the Kakuma Refugee camp in northwest Kenya. Established in 1992, when Sudan’s “Lost Boys” arrived from Ethiopia, today the camp shelters some 185,000 people. UNA-Chicago is raising funds to build classrooms in the Kakuma camp schools. We find out about their efforts from Sana’a Hussein, special initiatives chair for UNA-Chicago.