By Georges Budagu Makoko
Worldwide, over 120 million people are estimated to have been forced to leave their homes this past year due to climate change, conflict, persecution, or extreme violence in their home countries. These people currently live in desperate conditions with little hope of returning to their homes.
The lack of a concrete plan and collective efforts from world leaders to effectively solve this worldwide issue of monumental proportions is heartbreaking. Displacement impacts innocent people – including millions of children who face hunger, lack of healthcare and education, and extreme poverty every day in refugee camps around the world.
On Sept. 10, I tuned into the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump with anticipation. However, before long I became dismayed not only by the lack of a clear plan by either candidate to try to address the refugee crisis around the world, but also by the mischaracterization by one of the candidates of people who, through great adversity, have made it to the U.S. and are now seeking a safe place to live. Xenophobic rhetoric of the type heard during the presidential debate has the potential to fuel extreme violence against some of our most vulnerable people.
As a U.S. citizen who cares deeply about the future of my three young children, I do my best to stay informed about the most pressing issues of the world today. As a voter, I look to the candidates for a clear vision on how to address these critical issues. I have not seen or heard a good vision and plan to address the root causes of the migration crisis by either candidate.
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The day after the debate, I had a chance to talk with a fellow member of the Banyamulenge minority group who has lived for many years in Nakivale, one of the largest refugee camps in Uganda. Nakivale houses an estimated 185,000 people from Burundi, DR Congo, and South Sudan.
My friend said that the conditions in the refugee camps in Uganda have worsened, and in most cases are unbearable. Each refugee has an allowance of less than $10 per month. Children have no access to proper education, and the health of the people continues to deteriorate due to a lack of proper access to care.
Severe poverty exposes young girls and women to horrible exploitation by human traffickers and sexual violence predators. These are the conditions that lead people to take the extreme risks associated with traveling thousands of miles by sea and land to seek a place where they hope to build a better life for themselves and their children.
As an immigrant from DR Congo, a war-torn country, who arrived in the U.S. in 2002, I have now witnessed numerous election cycles in this country. I have seen how people in Africa are as anxious as the average American about who is going to be elected the next U.S. president. This is because people in Africa believe that the U.S. president has the capacity to make the world better and safer – or worse and more dangerous – for them.
As this year’s U.S. presidential election draws near, the anxiety and fear that comes with the uncertainty of not knowing who is going to occupy the White House is being felt everywhere in the world, even in the refugee camp of Nakivale, Uganda.
In the last two decades, 16 countries on the African continent have experienced severe conflicts and political unrest that have devastated the continent by causing millions of deaths, and by internally and externally displacing millions of others.
The U.S. is a superpower. As goes the U.S., so goes the world. Those living in refugee camps believe that the U.S. has the power to save people living in despair around the world. The silence, indifference, and inaction of the U.S. – and worse, vis-à-vis the misery of millions of displaced people around the world – is seen by these innocent people as a sign of total rejection that enables vicious people controlling their own countries to continue to persecute them.
I urge U.S. citizens, including the naturalized citizens from the immigrant community in Maine, to advocate for the cause of their own people and call for change in the way that the U.S. handles the refugee crisis.
For immigrant community members who are legally eligible to vote, I ask you to register and vote in the coming election. Participation by voting is the highest form of civic engagement, and one no one should ignore.
My daily prayer is that we elect good leaders with good hearts who care not only about people in the U.S. but around the world. We are no longer isolated countries, but rather a global village where what affects one of us affects us all.
