I'm such an arrogant American.
It's true! Yesterday I had a short conversation with a friend about whether or not Kenya is dependent on NGO's (Non-governmental Organizations), and if the many refugees Kenya hosts is the reason for so much outside assistance. In my arrogance, I thought, "Well, America not only hosts thousands of refugees but also sends millions of dollars in aid through the UN or other channels, and we don't use NGO's to do that." Then I started wondering, do we host the most refugees of any country, or at least more than Kenya? Does Kenya have any reason to complain about the strain so many refugees put on its economy, or are they using them as an excuse to get aid from outside?
So I went to a friend's blog where I knew she'd recently written about refugees (check it out), and followed the link to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Guess what I found out? America is DEFINITELY not on the top of the list, but Kenya is!
"As seen in last years report, developing countries host four fifths of the world's refugees. Pakistan, Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic are the top hosting countries globally for refugees." (Article Here)
"Pakistan hosted the largest number of refugees in relation to the size of its economy with 710 refugees per $1 of GDP (PPP) per capita. The Democratic Republic of the Cong and Kenya came in second and third in the report" (Article Here)
Ah, there's Kenya-number three for number of refugees in relation to economy (247.2 refugees per $1 GDP (PPP) per capita), and also ranked number 10 for refugees in comparison to inhabitants-9.9 refugees for every 1,000 indigenous inhabitants. Guess what the U.S. stats are...
We are ranked number 47 for number of refugees in relation to our economy with 5.6 refugees per $1 GDP (PPP) per capita. Yea, Kenya has 247 for our 5. And we are ranked 73rd for refugees compared to inhabitants with .9 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants. Wow.
Granted, Canada isn't going through a civil war right now, so we don't have thousands of people pouring over our borders like Pakistan and Kenya, but still. For how often we complain about our country being taken over by foreigners, we sure aren't doing as much as we think we are. We host 264,574 refugees and 6,285 asylum seekers (slightly different than a refugee), while Kenya hosts 402,905 refugees, 27,966 asylum seekers, and 20,000 stateless persons (those with no national identity, in this case usually Somalis with no birth certificates or other forms of ID to prove they're from Somalia, and therefore not officially refugees). Those are big numbers for a country still working out how to make life work for people who are born here. And according to UNHCR, only 2,776 of those refugees in Kenya were resettled to a new country in 2010. That was another misconception of mine, that refugees here are funneled out to other more prosperous nations in the West. Some are, but not as many as stay here.
I have a better understanding now why Kenya asks for so much help from the UN and NGO's. And I am humbled that Kenya continues to welcome these people even when the rest of the world gets tired of hearing about them. They didn't ask for a million refugees to flood their country, but they haven't closed their doors, made laws about how many refugees they will accept, or ignored the people begging for food, water, and shelter. We could learn from their hospitality despite their lack of resources. Any Kenyan knows when a guest comes to your home, you give what you have even if it means you go without. I feel like Americans would pass the buck to the richer neighbor rather than give what little they have.
Well, Kenya, I have new respect for your perseverance and hospitality. Way to go, Kenya.
Hmm, that's interesting. I def wouldn't have guessed some of those countries. I guess it makes sense which countries border the most chaos. Canada and Mexico are keeping it pretty quiet.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this eye-opening post! XO
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