Refugees as remitters: the Dinka of Sudan

The world’s estimated 17 million international refugees are not seen as likely to send remittances, or money, to families back home. However, refugees resident in developed countries do send money, not only to their countries of origin but also to neighbouring countries where family members are at earlier stages of the asylum-seeking process.

Two decades of civil war in Sudan have pushed many into long-term displacement within the country or across its borders. Very few of those in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia or those living an insecure, illegal existence in Egypt have been resettled in developed countries. Those who have succeeded have to balance their hopes for the future with the expectations of those they have left behind.

A paper from University College London (UK) examines communities from Sudan’s largest ethnic group, the Dinka, who have resettled in Cairo, Egypt, and San Diego, USA. The Dinka, like many refugees, belong to a society where a high level of cooperation between relatives is expected. When Dinka leave for resettlement they are sent on their way with prayers, songs and speeches that remind them not to forget who they are. Despite separation, traditional kinship and ethnic-territorial bonds remain intact thanks to internet cafes, cheap international phone calls and Western Union (for money transfers).

The author describes how:

• Those newly arrived in California are generally optimistic about their ability to support relatives left behind but soon find they are unprepared for the magnitude of financial responsibilities thrust upon them.
• Dinka may receive amongst the lowest wages in the USA (US$6-7 per hour), lack job security and have multiple dependants: one San Diego informant cited responsibilities to 62 people in five countries.
• Much remittance activity is triggered by unforeseen events: the need to pay compensation for offences committed by kin back in Sudan, funeral expenses, family illnesses or bribes to release relatives detained by the Egyptian authorities.
• To help resettlement, refugees are given cultural orientation courses by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) that stress the need to establish self-sufficiency quickly.

While Dinka refugees in California are proud to support their families the high expectations on them lead to stress and anguish. A further anxiety results from the introduction of resettlement schemes other than those run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Australia, for example, refugees have had to repay the costs of mandatory medical examinations and travel expenses.

The little interest that has been shown in how refugees remit funds to kin and community members has focused on the impact on recipients, not the senders. It is time for IOM and refugee resettlement agencies to help remitters by:

• ensuring that cultural orientation programmes demonstrate more sensitivity to refugees’ impending problems and responsibilities
• openly discussing family and community obligations as part of orientation schemes
• offering confidential counseling to refugees suffering mental health problems as a result of remittance obligations
• giving refugees greater flexibility to pay their resettlement expenses
• incorporating the ongoing concerns of refugees into new programmes that will assist them with alternative options for fulfilling their obligations, such as community support for setting up special funding schemes for emergencies.

Refugees are known for their creative survival skills and resilience. To help them make the most of these qualities new assistance approaches that address their contemporary problems are needed.

Source(s):
‘Remittances as unforeseen burdens: the livelihoods and social obligations of Sudanese refugees’ University College London, by Stephanie Riak Akuei, January 2005 Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 25 October 2005

Further Information:
Stephanie Riak Akuei
Department of Anthropology
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2455
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7679 7728
Contact the contributor: s.riakakuei@ucl.ac.uk

Anthropology Department, University College London (UCL), UK

Global Commission on International Migration
1, Rue Richard Wagner
CH:1202 Geneva
Switzerland

Tel:   +41 (0)22 7484850
Contact the contributor: info@gcim.org

Global Commission on International Migration

Other related links:
'Self reliance: the key to success for Mozambican refugees in South Africa'

'The importance of remittances for Somali refugees'

'The consequences of refugee flows and managing the aftermath'

'Remittances and development: providing funds for the poor'