Palabek Refugee Settlement Verified listing

The Salesian missionaries who live and work in the refugee camp in Palabek, Uganda, provide adequate education to the children among the 56,000 total refugees and asylum seekers in the camp.

There are 100 children in primary school, 54 in secondary school, and 25 older young people in the "Don Bosco" Vocational Training Center, where they learn skills in sewing, solar energy management, mechanics, agriculture, construction, hairdressing.

The Salesians also run a special sponsorship program to help young people attend school outside the camp. Many older children and young people have to walk 10 to 15 kilometers each day to get to school. The sponsorship program allows Salesians to take young people to shelters outside the camp, closer to schools. Kids can live and study there, as well as have access to healthy eating and recreational activities.

For older young people who want to learn technical skills not offered by the camp’s Don Bosco VTC, the Salesians also offer a support program. The children are in fact taken to other centers, where they can learn to be plumbers, blacksmiths, drives, farm hands and many other skills.