The political strife from the neighboring states such as Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea has caused many people to flee the threat of genocide with the hope of finding safety and asylum in South Africa. About 85 percent of these refugees are Muslim from the Great Lakes region and efforts are being made to incorporate them into the social fabric of the South African scenario for fear that they may be lost to Christianity.

But Saleem Banda, a Zambian residing in South Africa who works for the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and a lobbying group called Al-Ansaar Refugee Services (ARS), said, " The degree of xenophobia is so acute, that it makes it difficult to unite the large and diverse contingency of Muslim refugees, thus posing the challenge of these Muslim refugees losing their identity; other Muslims and the broader community in which xenophobia is quite high reject them."

"The local people must recognize that the war torn states have given South African political persons asylum when they had fled from persecution from the authorities. The government of Zambia even arranged for these asylum seekers to be transported from the border to refugee camps and places of safety from where they could further their political ideals for the African National Congress. These refugees are struggling to fit in — it is not easy to integrate.," continues Banda.

"Another challenge that we are confronted with is that these refugees do not have the requisite documents which will grant legitimate status to the refugees. The mechanization at the Department of Home Affairs is ill-equipped in terms of both staffing and skills to handle the volumes that come to apply for their papers. They are only able to attend to 20 refugees daily. Until and unless we do something, we are going to lose these people."

A case in point is that of 16-year-old Yusuf Bikirimani who escaped from the fighting in his town of Bujumburi in Burundi. After living on the streets, he was rescued by ARS and now lives in a house of safety in Valley View Road in Roseglen, a suburb of Durban. He ought to have been in school, but because he did not have his papers, he could not attend. In order for him to stay in an Islamic environment during the month of Ramadan, Banda placed him in Darul Uloom Numaniyah in Chatsworth so that Yusuf could attend Taraweeh prayers.

During the December holidays, when the house of safety was vacated, Banda again took him in. The social worker, together with the Department of Social Development, agreed that Banda and his wife Khadija would foster him for a period of six months pending the outcome of his application for refugee asylum. Yusuf is presently employed as a handyman and is earning a salary.

Yusuf lost his parents in the war in Burundi and left his sister with a neighbor in a refugee camp somewhere in East Africa. He hopes to find her someday and return to South Africa with her. Banda says that the biggest challenge he faces is getting Yusuf's papers and so he can attend school. There are many others like Yusuf that are fortunate, but then there are also others that are not so fortunate.

Al-Ansaar lobbyists work on the principle of muhajireen In keeping with the hospitality and etiquettes of the Al-Ansaar (The Helpers) in Madina, who gave refuge to the muhajireen (The Immigrants) from Makkah when they faced persecution. Al-ansaar welcomed the refugees, restored their confidence and helped them to settle, and feel that in order to restore refugees' identity, South Africans must unify to help restore refugees' lost Islamic identity instead of displaying hostility and mistrust towards them.

Christian missionaries believe that South African Muslims' attitudes towards refugees are apathetic, thus they have an opportunity to exploit the situation through their demeanor and interaction with the refugees. The refugees shelter in the Methodist church hall in central Durban. The caring environment is conducive, and as a result many Muslim refugees convert to Christianity. Anything is better than spending nights on a pavement where one is subjected to abuse.

"After Jumuah salaah, I meet some of the brothers, and when I enquired of their whereabouts they confirmed that the Methodists give them food and shelter. They are treated like human beings and their dignity is being restored," adds Banda who feels that South African Muslims must get organized and identify what they want to do with the refugees. South African Muslims need to play an active role in trying to address the plight of the Muslim refugees. Most of them don’t care not only about refugee Muslims but also the black Muslim community.

"Furthermore, in death, we are also faced with hardship because we have to raise the funds to have our Muslim brother buried as a Muslim."

"We were faced with a problem when one of my university friends, Hafiz Noor, passed away in his sleep. The money had to be arranged for his funeral and this was difficult because Muslim burial services believe that blacks become Muslims when they die to have free burial. This problem is not only faced by the refugee community but also the black communities."

Rare Skills

Banda confirmed that these refugees have rare skills that are lacking in South Africa. He believes that refugees' skills must be used to empower the local workforce and to mobilize to market their skills.

What can South African Muslims do to reposition themselves and regain their dignity? Presently, there are 11 service providers of which only Al-Ansaar refugee services is an Islamic one - the rest are heavily funded by different churches that offer advocacy programs in Durban and the outlaying areas. Small Business Initiatives recently launched a project called HOPE (Help Our Project Expand) whereby refugees were given a barbering kit and then set themselves up in the street to cut people's hair.

Far from wanting to become burdensome and a nuisance to society, many refugees engage in informal trading enterprises so they can put food on the table. They are often harassed by hoodlums and robbed.

Many young girls who want to migrate south are lured by wieldy pimps under the pretext and promise that they will find employment. When they come to the shores of South Africa, they are forced into prostitution to pay for their passage. They often resort to drugs to survive and keep sane. The lobbyists have rescued many young girls, but the influx has been far too great to keep the flow of young refugee girls under control.

Muhammad, a student from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was encouraged, by the recent awareness programs and the provision of social and material assistance, to assist refugees. He approached WAMY, which has a number of programs lined up, such as educational classes, a youth camp, youth leadership adventures, education support programs, and a school fee support program. Muhammad Muzaliwa from DRC holders a Masters in Social Science, Political Science and Public Policy Program from the University of Kwazulu-Natal. He approached WAMY to assist the refugee youth to participate in various programs such the as tuition classes, youth camp, youth leadership adventures, education support programs, and school fee support program. He shared with us his research at Masters level 1 which was on DRC Refugees : Survival Strategies and Social Networks in a South African city. We are looking for a sponsor towards his salary to employ him at Al-Ansaar as a Refugee Development co-odinator. He has a lot of ideas in Economic Empowerment Education and Counseling. WAMY held a Youth Empowerment program in Umlazi township from 3rd April to 5th April 2006 and 10 refugees youths participated. Muhammad played a very active role in mobilizing and also identifying the refugee youths

Some refugees have successfully established themselves and have been incorporated into various academic and social fields. Hamza Mokiwa, the chairman of ARS, holds a lecturing position in the Department of Education at Edgewood College.

Currently, there are 65 school-age children on the ARS database who have been placed in an education program, this number must be increased.

Despite all of the efforts, there still remains a gap between the non-responsiveness of local services and the needs of Muslim refugees. Many South Africans have been vocal about the fact that they simply do not know whom they can trust. It is clear that there is a need for big businesses, lobbyists, and the government to unite to restore independence and dignity to refugees.

Read More:

§                  Muslim Relief Activities: Urgency and Obstacles

§                  Gift of the Givers: Helping Beyond Boundaries

§                  The Power of the Youth – An Untapped Resource

§                  What to Do When all You See Is Trouble and Strife

**Khadija Mohamed is a journalist for the Daily News, South Africa. She can be contacted at youth_campaign@iolteam.comypt
Source : http://www.islamonline.net/English/In_Depth/volunteers/2006/04/07.shtml