Manpower and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees

David's Daily Diary

Introductory interview

On the eve of the Council of Business Leaders mission with UNHCR to Southern Africa – South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique - David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs, gave an interview in Johannesburg on the reason for the mission itself, the ambitions for the week coming up, and the cooperation between UNHCR and Manpower.

Why does Manpower support the UNHCR in their work for refugees worldwide? And what is your personal reason for engaging in this work?

On the spectrum of people who can work, refugees are the most marginalized around the world. Together with the High Commission (UNHCR), we're learning about what happens in refugee camps around the globe to determine how we might help. Why? Because of our company values: helping put people to work. That gives people dignity and sustenance to live. Manpower employees do this in their local offices every day. Our work with the High Commission aligns those values with our global programs.

This week, we're going to look at the particular situations in the camps here in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique. I believe Manpower could have a role in bringing support, training, learning assistance, and development to the people in these camps. And–if relocation is possible - we might be able to help them, because Manpower can put people into work in many of the countries where refugees are moving. Our contribution is not necessarily financial, but rather what we at Manpower do every day - helping people find jobs and live a decent life.

This isn't a new idea. I am proud to say that projects established from previous missions are already underway such as the NineMillion campaign, which emerged from our first mission in Kenyan refugee camps, and a project in Thailand.

For me personally, engaging in this work has a very simple reason: "giving something back." And I know that I am not alone with this motivation: If any decent person gets a chance to help those who have never had a chance – I believe they will.

So, today, after a very long flight we are going to be creative with our partners in the Council of Business Leaders – Nike, Microsoft, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Young & Rubicam + WPP – to review the situation of the refugees in the camps and use our business brains to bring ideas and support. Again, we are not necessarily talking about giving money: we are talking about changing processes, generating different ideas and bringing new and different expertise to these challenges.

Monday 16th February: Johannesburg/Pretoria

Crown Mines in Johannesburg were formerly a gateway of hope to riches. But today, the Crown Mines Area is a gateway of hope for a completely different reason - the Johannesburg Asylum Determination Office. It is not gold that people queuing here are after. It is the official acceptance as refugee in South Africa - a permit to stay in a country that attracts political and ecological refugees as much as economic migrants from predominantly Zimbabwe today, Congo second, from all African states - and Bangladeshi and Chinese alike.

The official status of being a refugee allows - those who have gained it - the chance to seek and find work, access to schooling for children and social services, and the freedom to do that wherever they like in South Africa.

So, it is no wonder that the Johannesburg Asylum Determination Office is swamped by asylum seekers and those who have to renew their status every half a year. From up to two thousand people who queue outside its doors each morning, the center only has capacity to process 200.

Today, on their first day of their investigation and idea finding tour with the UNHCR, the members of the Council of Business Leaders were shown the practical challenges of processing more asylum seekers than can be actually done in a day.


"As we climbed out of the minivan arriving at the center, the first question I heard from asylum seekers - have you come to help us? Can you get us in faster?" said David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs.

David is now on his third mission to refugee camps in Africa and Asia. Some of these investigative and idea-raising trips have brought good results already - like the idea of a special programme for refugee children, the Nine Million Campaign.

Back to Crown Mines. In the past, some asylum seekers had been waiting a couple of days to actually get access to the center. Waiting, queuing, in long lines on the pavements in what otherwise seems to be a modern business park environment, with company owners definitely not amused at the hundreds of people waiting outside their modern buildings. In fact the local businesses have gone to court to have the center relocated.

Dr Florencia Belvedere took over responsibility for running the Johannesburg Asylum Determination Office last year. Previously a passionate fighter for the refugee cause on the side of humanitarian organizations, she changed sides to become an employee of the South African Home Office and has been fighting an uphill struggle ever since. The current court case about the center's location is only one of her problems. With an enthusiastic staff of little more than 30 officers, unreliable computer and registration systems, just 13 part-time translators for a plethora of African and Asian languages, and hardly any waiting space inside the building, she and her staff are fighting a constant battle. But at least they are fighting.


Dr Belvedore and her team cannot do anything against the criminals taking advantage of the asylum seekers, or against the "disappearing" application forms which are then sold to desperate people. However they have increased the number of people they see daily and in January 2009 they managed to monitor and determine 4,000 applications, 15% of which were accepted as refugees. But those that are not accepted can appeal to the South African Standing Committee, and the number of cases being brought before this organization is so great that right now, no more cases can be accepted this year.

Meanwhile, there is hope and desperation in the eyes of the clients at the Crown Mines Determination Office. There is anger and there is acceptance by those that are waiting to have their case heard, to have their status confirmed or prolonged. Some of them are getting to the officers working on their cases with paper sheets so thin and folded so many times, that they are almost falling apart. One of the innovations is to have data on a computer system - to be found and processed faster than now.

Having shared her experience with the members of the Council of Business Leaders, Dr Florencia Belvedere and the UNHCR representatives now hope the business men will put their minds to work, innovate, create and develop ideas to assist the refugees.

"We need to help these asylum seekers and potential refugees go through the official administration process in a much more efficient way. They are spending weeks, face multiple return visits, putting up with harassment from criminal elements and sleeping rough while they await the establishment of their rights in a country with a fantastic asylum policy, but which has few resources to allocate to the integration and employment process," David said.

Of course, the development of a proper migration policy is something out of reach of the business community. But, then, there are things businesses can do. He continued: "I am sure the local business community can offer help to speed this painful and somewhat de-humanising process. But not only that. They need to get their act in order on the domestic front by checking their company supply chains for the use of illegal or abused immigrant labour."

That fact that illegal workers will only get 10%, or less, of what an unskilled South African labourer would get paid, and the perceived fear by South Africans of losing work to immigrants - whether legal or illegal - led to xenophobic attacks in May 2008. Official numbers put the death rate at 62 - some claim it to be higher than that - not counting the number of small businesses burnt, destroyed, and people threatened and tortured. But that is another of the problems and consequences which the UNHCR in South Africa is dealing with.

Alongside the South African government the UNHCR is finding ways of how to deal with the ever increasing numbers of people seeking asylum, refuge and a better life here in South Africa - a 130% increase from 2007 to 2008. The UNHCR and the South African Home Office have been looking at "queue management" at Crown Mines as a major challenge. And that takes us back to the Crown Mines situation - where the lines between first and third World are completely blurred.

Tuesday 17th February: Osire/Windhoek

Today's key issue: In Namibia's only refugee camp the 7000 refugees – mostly schoolchildren and youngsters – face a difficult choice for their future: voluntary repatriation or local integration. Most of those who would have wanted to return to their country of origin have done so by now. For local integration, education, skills and access to work are essential. Whilst schooling has improved considerably in the last few years, small businesses and income-generating projects are few and far between. The priority is self-sufficiency.

The heat is on - as you would expect when 200 people are crammed into a room fit for half that number on an end-of-summer afternoon in the middle of the Namibian nowhere. But equally, the discussions bring tempers to boiling point. The Osire refugee camp elders and representatives of diverse groups – women, teachers, nurses, youngsters, self-reliant individuals, and entrepreneurs – have convened to share their successes and worries with the members of the Council of Business Leaders, of which Manpower's David Arkless is one.

The refugees in the Osire camp are outspoken, proud, multilingual and eager to find a path to that desired state of "local integration", certainly those in the assembly area in the library. Meanwhile, life for the 7000 people in Osire is well organised - by the camp committee, the Namibian Home Ministry and Ministry of Health, and the UNHCR.

What all those people living here desire is self-sufficiency and a self determined life with a purpose. And they are prepared to speak out for it.

At the height of the civil wars and conflicts in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, more than 26,000 refugees found temporary shelter here. Many later went home to the Congo and Burundi, or simply got sucked into Namibian life informally and unofficially. Maybe they are not Namibians yet, but somehow they have disappeared or integrated.

For those that have stayed, there are basically two alternatives - go back to their original home, or become integrated locally. Not easy, when the basic requirements for making a living outside the camp are determined by the fact that agriculture is out of the question, since only Namibian nationals are allowed to own soil in this country. Craft products? Farm fish? Well, the next town is a long way away from the camp. And there are too many local fishmongers already.

"The camp members I spoke to were intelligent, forthright, dignified and honest. All they want is a life!" said Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs.

There is talent and eagerness in young people here to succeed. Four refugees have trained to become nurses and are now working in the nearest hospitals of Otjiwarongo and Osire. They no longer depend on food rations from the World Food Programme and are now government employees being paid by the Ministry for Health. But what gets the nurses most acclaim from their peers is the fact that, even though English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili are being spoken in the camp, they have mastered Herero and Oshiwambo as well, the local Namibian languages.

Another group of professionals share the same "get up and go" spirit: the teachers, and their 3,500 students. The camp's secondary school was established from scratch, adding one grade every year, and now exams for university entrance can be taken. This achievement was brought about by a staff of driven and dedicated teachers, refugees themselves.

The students at Osire are outstanding, gaining the best results in the area. Despite the most rudimentary sports facilities, and the complete absence of a gym, some youngsters have also managed to become excellent gymnasts. For example, seventeen year old Solino Armindo catapulted the Namibian national team to the third rank in an all-African gymnastics competition. The question is, will he and his contemporaries have a chance to make a living, and to integrate in Namibia?

Arkless sees one chance for this: "What is needed here, and what we will take a close look at, is vocational training. At the same time we need to match the talents and capabilities of the refugees with skills needed here in Namibia to enable a self-determined independent living."

But income generation can be an uphill struggle in the camp: one entrepreneur came up with the idea of setting up an IT and computer training centre. Jovial Hodari somehow managed to get a room and three old computers working. But because the room houses the most reliable electricity supply in the whole camp, it also contains a number of refrigerators. Space is not an issue, but smell is. The stench of three-day old fish is overpowering. But Jovial and his students keep their chins up, and keep going. "You know," Jovial comments, "this IT business has really shown me a way forward. For me, it is a step into my future."

"In every community, including this refugee community, there are bright and creative young people like Jovial. All he needs to make a successful business is a little equipment, his own spirit and a reliable electricity supply. How hard can it be to give that to him?" asks Arkless.

In Windhoek, three hours drive south of Osire, the Council of Business Leaders hears stories of men and women who are still refugees, but who have made a success of their lives in Namibia.
Here, the local business community has embraced the idea of individual sponsorships for outstanding young refugees.

18-year old Ines Salubkamba is Angolan-born and fled with her family as a small girl to Osiri. Then when her father left unexpectedly a couple of years ago, the talented student got help - a sponsorship for her 11th and 12th grade at school by a local entrepreneur. Now she is the number 2 business student in the region. With a N$5000 scholarship, she looks optimistically to her future – even though her official status is still refugee.

For Ines, Namibia is more of a home than Angola ever was. She sees her future here, although authorities are reluctant to grant Namibian citizenship. Fernando is another example of a bright young talent. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 12 years ago he arrived as a youth in Namibia with two younger brothers. Again, a scholarship programme allowed him to finish school, do a Masters Course in Technology – working all the while – and with a lot of wit, charm, charisma and good business sense he started selling cars. What began as a two-Mazda challenge is now a successful operation selling 30 cars a year in Windhoek. But even though he employs five Namibians, his application for Namibian citizenship is still in limbo.

Reviewing today's experiences, Arkless summed up: "What today has taught me is that despite the adversity of the refugee situation, spirit and intelligence provides a real chance for people to integrate into local society - or to be better educated and therefore better equipped for a return to their home country."

Wednesday 18th February: Windhoek/Nampula

Maratane refugee camp is north of Nampula, Mozambique, a 40-minute ride on bumpy roads in the rainy season. Since opening on the grounds of a former leprosy station, it has been a temporary and sometimes longer-term home to more than 5,000 asylum seekers and refugees, predominantly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. It is a real mixture of Africa. Malians, Rwandans, Sudanese and Somalis have made Kiswahili the common language here. Key issues are self sustainability, loans to buy chickens, and cash loans.

For a while, all you could see were their UNHCR caps: each member of the UNHCR Council of Business Leaders was swamped with groups of people, male and female, old and young, as soon as they left the hall in which they had been shown how refugee status documents are being processed on a computer with UNHCR input and Microsoft Software.

Jonathan Murray, Microsoft's Worldwide Technology Officer for the Public Sector, underwent the registration procedure with a wry smile and ended up with a valid "refugee pass". Of course he skipped the standard interview and the first official acknowledgement of being an asylum seeker - carrying a "Circulation Document". What might seem only a slight difference on paper is a big difference in real life - as soon as the arrivals, today predominantly from the DRC and Somalia, are registered they can move freely in the region of Nampula, but it is refugee status they really want and the acceptance procedure can take years.

Many refugees and asylum seekers in Maratane made use of the visit by the UNHCR Council of Business Leaders to share their fears with the four businessmen, involving them in close and heavy discussions. They remark that the process which determines their status takes too long, how some of the self-reliance projects do not work as well as they should and express unhappiness with their situation. Problems to which there simply is no quick solution.

David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs, found one case particularly touching, that of a man from the DRC. "A young man approached me, speaking perfect English, French, Portuguese, Kiswahili and other dialects," he said. "He was obviously highly intelligent and wondering what his next step should be. Stay? Move on to another refugee camp? Or try to achieve the dream of moving to Europe or America."

These are not the answers the UNHCR is looking for by exposing business leaders to crowded conditions and a stifling climate. "You have to be there to understand. You have to see, feel, and smell how life is in a refugee camp in order to come up with ideas for improvement," said Olivier Delarue, of the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, one of the founders of the Council of Business Leaders.

Set in the wide expanse of the camp, to the backdrop of the natural beauty of the region's hills, some very successful agricultural production has started – corn, sweet potato, tomatoes. Having just been given another 40 hectares to work on, the refugee farmers have come up with some prosperous endeavours. Their tomatoes were even exported to other provinces last season, even though the logistical challenge of taking the ripening produce to the required location in time was not met. A lot of tomatoes shrivelled on their way to the distant market, reducing income.

A dam, an old water reservoir and a clever irrigation system help the farmers grow their goods even in the dry season.

Back in one of the central areas there were signs of small-scale industrial production. Here, clay bricks are being dried, next to the local sewing school and the vocational training pavilions. Today, there is a supply of electricity to use the electric tools and an interested and observant audience.

"As we watched the welders-to-be work away, we noticed dozens of cell phones being charged, a sure sign of an intermittent daily energy supply", remarked Arkless with a smile.

Half the participants of the government-funded schemes come from inside Maratane refugee camp, the other half from the communities surrounding the camp. Acceptance of both the refugees and the camp itself by the surrounding communities is vital for the policy of the Mozambique government: let the refugees integrate into the community, as long as they are self-sufficient and self-reliant.

So, the UNHCR and the government have devised a number of job-creation schemes with vocational training. These schemes not only give refugees a chance to stand on their own two feet, but help win them acceptance among a population where the unemployment rate is over 50%.

Another bridge is the communal facilities offered by the camp: a primary school with basic education for 1,800 children in Portuguese, the language of the host country. However, once they reach the age of 12 there is nowhere for the kids to further their education. The idea of a secondary school has been around for a while and would benefit the local children. Equally, both refugees and locals use the medical centre.

Yet some promising business ideas initiated by the UNHCR in the camp have come under attack: the locally-infamous Chicken Project started as a good idea. Let townspeople bring in chicks, let the refugees feed and nurture them and then re-sell the chicks to city traders. However, with the whole scheme being funded by micro-finance lenders, asking for a 10 percent return on their capital and then gangs extorting the produce from the camp's women without payment, the women find themselves in a tough position.

On the other hand, many small success stories have been facilitated by the UNHCR's micro-finance. Take the story of the Burundian tailor Rukwakwanya Saduki and his business-minded wife Catherine. Having fled their home in 2003, they arrived in Maratane determined not to rely on outside help. "Don't sit dilly-dallying, help yourself" is Catherine's motto, and her husband agrees. Finding a tiny shop in Nampula, the couple started their tailoring business with an initial $600 loan. They repaid that within a short time, received another $1,500 loan, repaid that too and are now up and running with a decent monthly income. Like a number of other small businesses from Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC who have set up shops or hair salons in the city, they see their future in Nampula.

Thursday 19th February: Musina

Musina is a border town between Zimbabwe and South Africa, 10 kilometres south of the Limpopo River. A traditional point of passage for job seekers from Zimbabwe to South African cities, it has been swamped by Zimbabweans from orphanages, closed clinics and schools in their home country, fleeing destitution and svstematic degradation of their human rights. Since the SA Home Office set up a Refugee Registration office here in July 2008, 38,885 people have applied for asylum. The area where the applicants wait to be processed is called the Show Ground.

Desperation has many faces in the South African border town of Musina - including a young Zimbabwean schoolboy who lost his parents and a single pregnant woman. There are many reasons why people here leave their home country - for example their school has been closed down (Common procedure in Zimbabwe to halt the development of young people who might oppose the government), or on the incorrect assumption that if they give birth to a baby in South Africa, the child will automatically become a South African citizen.

But it could be worse. They could be a young woman trying to cross the Limpopo River without money or sellable goods, and with only one item of value to trade - her body.

Zimbabweans are fleeing the economic and social collapse of their country. In Musina, between 1,000 and 1,500 new arrivals are seeking asylum every week and the cholera epidemic has only increased the drive of humanity south.

For those who make it across the border, without funds, without hope, sometimes with the address of a relation in Johannesburg or Pretoria, the area to convene is the "Show Ground", a place where - in pre-crisis times - the people of Musina would have happy gatherings. Today at the Show Ground, a place the size of a football field, 2,000-3,000 people try to find rest on plastic sheets on the flat red dust. They are locked between their neighbors, always caught between the local trucks and the papers that mean a gateway to a new life.



The administrators of the South African Home Office manage to fingerprint and provide paperwork to around 250 people a day. The first 60 who manage to fill in their papers each day will have the chance to be interviewed and perhaps receive a decision on whether they will be accepted as an asylum seeker or refugee. The backlog has built up dramatically over the months.

"I was surrounded at one point by perhaps 100 refugees who all wanted to know when their applications might be processed," said David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs.

Mohamed Ashtar, working with Medicine Sans Frontiere, has only been here for three months, but even in that time the sheer number of asylum seekers waiting to be processed at the Show Ground has doubled. The UNHCR is looking after the asylum seekers and refugees, "which is fantastic", he said. The main concern for the medics is treating the patients with HIV AIDS, which according to the Danish UNHCR representative, is about 25% of the people here - higher than the South African and Zimbabwean averages.

Those figures will rise. The destitute women here - both young single women and mothers alike - have to sell their bodies for cash, food and in exchange for a bath. Sex with condoms goes for 2 rand, and without for 5 rand (less than US$0.50).

In the afternoon, when the members of the UNHCR Council of Business Leaders came to Musina, the Show Ground was almost deserted. The grounds had been cleared, but some fires were still smouldering away and at the barbed-wire and wood fences, sheets of plastic still marked sleeping spaces for groups of boys, girls, women and children. A couple of young women - sticking together in these times of trouble - huddled in the shade of their plastic sheet home. Why did they leave Zimbabwe?



"There is hunger everywhere. There are no job opportunities and we want to go to Johannesburg or Pretoria," was the reply. Sheilit and Sandra, 19 and 23 years old, hope to go in search of relatives there as soon as they find out whether they will be accepted as refugees. But that can take time and they have only been here 14 days.

Today marks the first day when registration booths have been closed, with queues taking a long time to disperse. Anger could have easily turned into violence, but did not. "Fortunately," says Camilla, who is working for UNHCR, "the Zimbabweans do not seem to have a tendency to violence."

The reason for the closure was a newspaper article alleging possible corruption on the side of the local employees of the office of Home Affairs.

In the heat of the afternoon, anger at the registration delays and the cleaning up of the grounds has given way to tiredness for individuals, and singing for some groups.

Under a cluster of old trees more stories unfold. Here, unaccompanied minors are assembled - every one of them with a story of dying parents or relatives and schools closures. Sergio Calle Norena, the UNHCR's Deputy Regional Commissioner, engaged them in conversation and when he said, "so all you want is education and to go to school?", a spontaneous and unanimous "Yes" was the answer.

Camilla, one of the dozen UNHCR helpers in Musina, puts the question to the CBL: "You see the young men, but do you see the young women?" The predominance of males at the site is obvious. "The girls get sucked up very quickly into the local community - either as extremely cheap house maids or as sex workers," she adds.

And the story continues - between the trees and the Home Office registration trucks is a long stretched brick building, almost like the knave of a church. Camilla described a classic dilemma - after the rains, the UNHCR secured this place as a shelter for women during the night. But there is no official policing or protection, and so men get in and rape women at will. It takes a lot of discussion with the ever-changing crowd of women to make it clear that if they give assistance to the victim, they also help themselves.

"Survival sex" is a new form of exploitation. Most of the women are unmarried or unaccompanied with children. Trading sex for safety is one of the few options open to them, to escape an even worse future. Can there be worse? Yes, undoubtedly.

The story of 19-year-old orphan Celia, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is no exception. After spending their money on bribes to soldiers during their first crossing of the Limpopo Bridge, she and her older sister were on the way the Show Ground when they were picked up by the police and returned to Zimbabwe. They wanted to try again, but this time believed in the promises of some local gangsters. As soon as they got into a car, the wicked deception became obvious. Kept imprisoned for four days, Celia was raped many times and her sister's fate was similarly bad.

Although barely able to move after her ordeal, Celia somehow managed to flee, cross the river and was lucky enough to quickly find medical aid. She is now in a shelter recovering from both physical and psychological injury. Today, six months after her ordeal, she manages to smile again. "Stay sharp", says the only poster on the wall of her dormitory.

"The ordeal of Celia and women like her can't be tolerated in any civilized society", commented David Arkless. "We must preserve an individual's basic dignity - so we need to ensure the camp areas are policed and guarded at night".

Friday 20th February: Johannesburg

Back in Johannesburg, the members of the Council of Business Leaders today witnessed the phenomenon of urban refugees. Nobody really knows how many people are living here, but there are thousands. Many NGOs, some in cooperation with UNHCR, are looking after those refugees – and are making a difference. The key issues here are urban refugees in Johannesburg – those lucky few that have access to the informal network of their compatriots’ community – and the Helpdesk, an City of Johannesburg immigration initiative.

If you think that the things you observe, feel and smell cannot get worse – think again.

In the four days since Monday, the members of the UNHCR’s Council of Business Leaders (CBL) have covered a lot of ground – not just physically, but also mentally. Having travelled 6500 kilometers from Johannesburg to the Osire refugee camp in Namibia and Maratane in Mozambique, as well as to the South African town of Musina, with its 3-4,000 refugees stranded in the town’s Show Ground, the CBL returned to Johannesburg today to find out more about urban refugees.

The dense inner-city architecture of Braamfontein, Johannesburg. On the road, small shops, offices in medium and high-rise buildings, the morning sun rays heating the street. Open a ramshackle gate, a passage to the garages under the building next door. Down the passageway, turn sharp right – and then darkness, dampness, a stench of urine. Cars, and more cars, then, far away from daylight, a heap of – rubbish? Disused paint buckets, a truck tire, an old sideboard. As eyes get accustomed to the shadows, two wrecked sofas appear – as does a carpet and a mattress thrown over it. There, sitting patiently and expecting nothing, are three Zimbabwean women. Then another three Zimbabwean men – all in all, there are 15 Zimbabweans awaiting the visitors from more prosperous parts to share their living situation, their stories.

In excellent English, we hear the account of the teacher from Harare – let’s call him Peter ¬– who left home because his school closed down and he had heard there was a need for teachers in South Africa. He’d been here a couple of months, found out that he needed some official papers from home, sent off for them and is now waiting. Waiting also for the papers he needs to apply to the Home Office for refugee status. But having been numerous times to the Registration Office in Crown Mines, he never gets to the front of the 2,000-strong queue.

Penniless and without a place to stay, he heard about a fellow Zimbabwean who had a job as a guard, and had permission from his employer to use a room at the back of the garage as living quarters. This man opened his 20-square meter abode and the adjacent garage to Zimbabweans who had come to Johannesburg as asylum seekers. The story of Peter, who is maybe the most qualified of them all, is repeated by his compatriots. Most of them at least have a high school diploma. One of the ladies we saw is also a former teacher, now making a few pennies as a street hawker selling sweets. The men find a job from time to time. Some of the people we met today had been in this refuge for more than a year, unable or unaware of how to seek asylum, which would give them at least a kind of legality.

It is the outreach work of NGOs like Mtwakazi Arts and Culture, in cooperation with the UNHCR, that helps these underground people get access to food at soup kitchens, vouchers for food and basic commodities and advice on how to start the process of becoming legal asylum seekers.

Elliot Moyo, himself a former Zimbabwean refugee, has been with Mtwakazi Arts and Culture for a while. He knows about the hidden network of Zimbabweans in Johannesburg and how they will help each other if they can, even if it means living in cramped situations. But the Braamfontein garage people are not alone.

"There are probably hundreds, maybe thousands of places like this in inner-city Johannesburg," says Mmone Moletsane of the local UNHCR office. "They are considered the lucky ones, since they have a roof over their head". Not to mention a place to hide – because without registration, immigrants are illegal and can be deported if found by the police.

Almost all well-established national groups here, such as Zimbabweans, Somalis and Ethiopians, have developed an informal network, lending a helping hand to new arrivals. The NGOs and the UNHCR assist as best as they can – at least to the ones they can reach.

In Johannesburg, the mayor called in a special task force a couple of years ago to find solutions to the negative impacts of immigration. This "Migrant Helpdesk" has been in operation since December 2006. It seeks what is termed "social inclusion", a topic that gained painful urgency due to the xenophobic attacks of May 2008.

At that time, illegal immigrants and refugees suffered attacks by the local urban poor. Sometimes just because they were foreigners, but usually based on an inherent fear of competition for scarce jobs and public resources, as well as the common misconception that refugees were actually better provided for than the indigenous poor.

In Johannesburg there were around 3,000 immigrants who had to seek shelter from the attacks, and nationwide the number exceeded 16,000. Around 60 people lost their lives, and there is still a deep-seated fear among those who hide in the few shelters that still exist nine months after the attacks. For the authorities, integration into the community is a key issue.

Two of the Zimbabweans hiding in the Braamfontein garage had been exposed to the hatred and violence in Alexandria, a Johannesburg township. They do not want to go back.

"Clearly the situation facing urban refugees is extremely complex," said David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs. "But these are human beings, just like the asylum seekers and refugees we have seen in the camps this week. Cities act as a huge magnet to people who want to better themselves, and asylum seekers and refugees are no exception. The xenophobic attacks on non-South Africans only a few months ago are a symptom of unemployment and social exclusion in this country and we need to work on the root cause of this problem in the cities".

The rules and regulations of the South African Refugee Policy are encouraging and helpful to those who come to the country. On paper it is easy – when you come to South Africa as an asylum seeker, register and then go out and find a job to support yourself. You are then welcome to stay.

The question is, of course, how do you get a job in a country that has such a high unemployment rate? How do you set up a business if you can’t access the banking system as a registered asylum seeker? How? How? How?

To follow on Monday:

The lessons learned and actions to be taken after the visit of the UNHCR’s CBL to South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique. Plus, details of the initiative by the Global CBL to start a South African Council of Business Leaders for refugees.

Final report from Africa

This final report details the lessons learned and actions to be taken after the visit of the UNHCR's Council of Business Leaders (CBL) to South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique. Plus, the Global CBL calls local businesses to action to create a South African Council of Business Leaders for refugees.

The end of the UNHCR Council of Business Leaders' field mission to South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique marks a period of reflection and deciding on what to do next.

As David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs, said: "Having been to a number of refugee camps here and on other continents, I thought I was prepared for what I would see this week. However, I was shocked by the conditions in which thousands of asylum seekers and refugees live."

The main observation made by the members of the Council of Business Leaders was the huge gap between policies made at international and national levels, and the implementation of those policies regarding asylum seekers and refugees in the camps and processing centers. That gap makes life difficult, if not impossible, for asylum seekers to get into the system.

Take the issue of gaining refugee status in South Africa. The process is slow and inefficient. In Namibia and Mozambique, the transition from asylum-seeker status to that of a fully-fledged refugee takes a long time and the chances of local integration are hindered by an agonisingly slow process for those seeking citizenship.

In his personal observations, David Arkless identified two groups who need particularly urgent care. Firstly, the abundance of young, intelligent young people desperate for education - young people who are unable to see a future for themselves. Teenagers who want to continue their education, but can't because there are no funds, no schools, no teachers. Here, there is a dire need to bring them education.

The second highly vulnerable group of asylum seekers and refugees are the young women, with or without children, and female teenagers.

Sexual harassment is rife almost everywhere visited during the trip. The UNHCR has programs in place to reduce the incidence of abuse in the camps and progress has been made. Yet the situation in unstructured living environments like Musina is more difficult to tackle. The UNHCR cannot police the camps to shelter women from night-time rape or stop them trading their bodies for money. So here is an appeal to local governments to ensure women are protected from sexual harassment and are afforded basic human dignities.

While these two issues may be outside the businessmen's sphere of influence, suggestions were put forward that are within reach of the companies comprising the CBL. There is great admiration for the hard work of agency field workers and the UNHCR in Geneva, but there are a number of issues with which the CBL can assist - for example sustainable capacity building within the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees.

These range from bringing business solutions to the headquarters in Geneva to building centers of functional expertise within the agency - for instance running efficient microfinance programs or sustainable energy projects and looking at how to better utilize modern technology for education. Manpower's role could focus on vocational talent identification and expanding vocational training programs.

Manpower is already in the process of starting an employee program in Thailand. Local employees are becoming mentors for those refugees who have been selected for relocation to the US. They will provide the refugees with knowledge of what to expect when they arrive in the US as well as some basic English language and life skills. Equally, Manpower employees will act as voluntary mentors to aid the integration of the refugees into local society. This work enhances the normal programs run by the International Office of Migration and by state immigration agencies.

Other Council members already have solutions in place that could be more widely used by the UNHCR. For example, in the aftermath of the war in Bosnia, Microsoft developed a special refugee registration program. A program that provides electricity is available and enough qualified personnel to handle the program makes registration and identification easy and efficient. In Mozambique, the local authorities are already making us of it - something that might be shared equally with the South African Home Office to streamline the application process.

Last but not least, there is the question of how to take these initiatives to the local level. On conclusion of their mission, the members of the Global Council of Business Leaders met with the local counterparts of their companies and also with other members of the business and NGO community, who can be instrumental in setting up a local CBL. There was a very positive response when the members of the Council shared their observations of this week's mission and a high degree of interest to take their ideas and make them issues for South African businesses.

Summing up, Arkless said: "Even in the face of the current economic crisis, we need to stick to our values and what we believe in - as a company and as individuals. At Manpower, we think it is the right thing to do to support asylum seekers and refugees worldwide and we will be working hard on developing programs and projects that will make this a reality".