Refugee Archipelago
A graphic work of reportage chronicling life in Bidi Bidi Settlement, Uganda—the world's first permanent refugee city.
In late 2019, Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement was something of a cause célèbre within the humanitarian aid world. Hailed as an “unique urban experiment,” the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Uganda’s Office of the Prime Minister were planning to co-develop the ramshackle settlement into the world’s first permanent city of refugees. There seemed no end in sight to the unrelenting civil wars on Uganda’s northern border and no better way to stimulate growth in the impoverished, sparsely populated West Nile region than to create a sense of belonging and identity for the 285,000 South Sudanese refugees in Bidi Bidi, the vast majority still children.
There we met Richard Akim, an aspiring South Sudanese filmmaker and community organizer who tapped me on the shoulder in a dusty field in Rhino Camp and invited us to his hut the following day. During that first visit, we were discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its potential impact on humanitarian aid and global food systems when Richard shared a sentiment that became a mantra for our future collaborations. “We hear you all the time. Now you hear us.”
The pandemic prevented us from returning to Bidi Bidi until early 2022, when German and I arrived to find a social experiment on the verge of collapse and a community on the brink of abandonment. Two years of unyielding Covid restrictions, unrelenting isolation and dwindling food rations had shattered any illusion of permanence and revealed Bidi Bidi’s inherent ephemerality. It may be a city of refugees, but it will never be home.
Refugee Archipelago, the following work of graphic reportage, is a mosaic of oral histories documenting the experiences of refugees, relief workers and administrators residing in Bidi Bidi. It is a firsthand account of the daily rhythms, discussions and aspirations of a stateless, voiceless community struggling to exist. More poignantly, it is an homage to the spirit of survival in northwest Uganda’s refugee archipelago and the 100 million refugees and displaced peoples worldwide whose stories are seldom heard.
*Refugee Archipelago was made possible by the consent and support of the Ugandan Office of the Prime Minister. All interviews and illustrations have been recorded and recreated faithfully and respectfully.
Editor, writer, publisher and co-founder of Interstitial Media whose work is primarily focused on conflict, culture, history and global affairs.
Award-winning Honduran animator and journalist who received the 2017 Gabriel García Márquez award for Latin American Journalism for his graphic novella "El Hábito de la Mordaza" ("The Habit of Silence"). He is founder of Bilbao Media Lab and co-producer of the Bidi Bidi Media Lab.
