Children in refugee camps have gone through many trying times, creating a radio system and talking about problems, Baruani and his peers face makes them feel less alone and more cared for. Children in refugee camps are neglected due to their large numbers. Children are left to care for themselves and look after each other. Baruani fearlessly united children throughout his camp using his radio station to bring together more than a 100,000 children. “It is also a way for refugee children to make their voices heard...Our radio programme makes them feel less alone.(UNHCR)” Living in a refugee camp is not easy. Children feel alone. They feel like they can’t ask for help because no one can hear them. Owing to the fact that rules in the new country state that refugees be isolated from society, Baruani’s radio program provides a way for them to openly discuss their problems and ask for help. Most refugee children are orphans and don’t have anyone for a family. This radio program provides stability and a way to let out your feelings. Similarly, it is like going to a therapist after keeping all your feelings bottled up inside of you for a long time. It is a relief to talk about all your troubles because in a refugee camp you don’t have the luxury to worry about yourself. “We as a group of twenty children move around the camp collecting ideas from our fellow children. We normally ask them what are their concerns or problems with life in the camp - in education, in services, in food, in supplies, their protection or other abuses that are happening in the camps.(PBS Newshour)” You can even find up to 10 people living in a small house. Sometimes, if there are too many people you are denied the right to have food, or go to school. Sometimes the food you are given for the month doesn’t last for the whole cycle, you have to get food in other ways or starve. However you can’t say anything due to the fact that everyone else is going through the same problem. Since many refugee children don’t always make it with their family intact they are assigned houses, if you are abused in the house you were given you can’t complain provided that many other children are facing the same thing. Hence going around camp and asking the children about their own individual problems and then discussing it, is a great way to try and make their lives more positive. It is also efficient because many children might be facing the same problems. Baruani had also felt the pain of losing family.
Losing his own family members and facing his own problems inspired Baruani to help others like him to find their family members and lead a happier life. Knowing what it feels like to face obstacles alone, Baruani didn’t want other children to go through what he did. “It has helped parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) trace children they were separated from (UNHCR).” Leaving their country is bad enough. Losing their parents before they could reach safety is worse. Arriving into a new country and living in a camp with so many other strangers. Most children wouldn’t understand why they had to run or why they have to stay there especially since it is an unsatisfying living conditions. The radio program helps. They can talk about the children’s parents. Provide a verbal description of the child is and who the children is, this would help reunite families. “Soldiers gathered my mother and I into our house and set it on fire while my mother and I were inside. I managed to escape through a door, leaving my mother alone and that's probably where she died - I don't know.(PBS Newshour)” Baruani’s father being killed in the war and having to leave his mother in a burning house while Baruani escaped to safety would be traumatizing. Not knowing if your mother died is frustrating. However the worst part would be the guilt of leaving your mother there. Baruani knows what it feels like to lose his parents, forever. His past pushed him to help his peers so they don’t go through the same thing as him. He feels their pain and wants them to have a happier life. His past inspired him to help other people lead a happier future.
Baruani is still helping refugee children by talking about their problems on his radio show, and of course reuniting lost families, as a result of his experience in losing his family. Also facing his own problems, due to the abuse he himself received in his assigned house. Using his radio station to help his peers with common problems in a refugee camp and uniting families, Baruani has made the lives of children throughout the refugee camps more optimistic about their current lack of a comfortable shelter and adequate food, water and education. This is why Baruani is the 2009 Children’s Peace Prize winner; Baruani continues to use his radio system to stand up for the 450,000 refugees (especially children). Despite the limited resources Baruani persevered and used his own way to help his friends. Baruani is an inspiration to all children who have limited resources or are going through trying times. He has set a great example that you can always do a little something to spread the love around. Everyone should be safe, with their family with proper homes and enough food and water.
