Refugees in Uganda Battle Suicidal Thoughts Amid COVID Pandemic

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Twenty-two-year-old Meta Josten from the Democratic Republic of Congo was already living a hard life in one of Uganda’s refugee settlements. When the Ugandan government announced measures last year to control the spread of COVID-19, life got even harder.

With little or no work available to locals, Josten, who previously survived on casual labor outside the settlement, had no income to supplement the aid his family was given. For Josten, who lived with five siblings and a jobless father, it was the hunger that almost got him to take his life. “We slept two days without eating food," Josten said. "We were just surviving on just porridge. A bit of porridge which sustained us for the bit of moments. By then I was like if it’s like this, which means, it’s useless for me to stay in this world.”