iACT in his own words: Remembering Gabriel Stauring
In November 2021, iACT Executive Director, Katie-Jay Scott and Founder, Gabriel Stauring were tragically killed in a car accident. The day before, Gabriel had met with our team to talk about the HEA-finalist programme, Little Ripples. The early childhood programme piloted in Eastern Chad in 2013, co-created with Darfuri refugees and is currently scaling up and out. In their memory, we are publishing Gabriel’s own words that powerfully express their shared passion and dedication to these communities.
How and why did you set up iACT? What’s your history with the Darfuri community in Eastern Chad?
When I started to hear about Darfur and the word genocide being mentioned, I was just in shock that it could be happening again. I thought I have got to jump in and see if there is anything I can do. I thought I’d do a little online activism, maybe send in a donation and then continue with my life.
I thought very naively I’ll go out to the camps in Chad and I’ll try and make it personal for people around the world. It was just going to be one trip in 2005 but I’m about to go on my 33rd trip in two weeks. All I did was sit with them, I had no agenda beyond listening. In time, it became seeing how that could be turned into action. When we naturally transitioned into programming, we just used this exact same methodology and philosophy of sitting and listening.
At the beginning, they usually are shy or say what they think you want to hear but if you hang around long enough, the truth comes out. That’s how we really built a strong relationship and they trusted us to co-create programmes.
Tell me about Little Ripples.
The Little Ripples programme from inception has come from the Darfuri refugee community itself. They said we need pre-schools, our children are without care in those early years. They presented this very compelling case. We thought we would go and find a good preschool programme and invite them to the camps. After a lot of research back in 2010 / 11, we couldn’t find anything that we felt comfortable with bringing to communities that we now felt were friends. That was the start of Little Ripples programme.
We thought that it was essential that if the program was going to be refugee-led, then they would be a part of co-creating the program every step of the way. We launched the pilot in 2013, we did the training and gave support to cover the materials and salaries. But then we step away and they are then in charge of their programming.
It started to get recognition because it was really the only program that would stick around in these camps where many were leaving after the spotlight left Darfur. Somehow this program kept expanding and growing. We really believe it is because its Darfuri refugee-led.
What was it that was missing when you looked for other ECD programmes?
Great question. First of all, there just weren’t any programs in practice at that time. There were child friendly spaces, which are important but should be a minimum. We know from science that if you don’t address those early years, you’re missing the boat. When it comes to these emergency settings, it’s even more important.
We also just didn’t feel that there was enough refugee-led programming. From the moment that a refugee wakes up, they were told what to do, how to do it, where to do it. They have to go stand in line for rations, everything is so out of their control. We just felt that there were other ways to respect and even utilise their agency and their assets. Why not use what is there already?
Then when we started looking for expertise and reached out first here around the USA, we brought in some of the top experts that we could find. We didn’t ask them to help us create something for those poor refugee people out there in the desert; the challenge was what would be the best program for any child? And then from there, we looked at the reality of bringing it to a refugee camp. I think that’s what allowed us to imagine big.
What components are there built into Little Ripples?
We wanted something of a skeleton with basic components, filled in with the communities’ own culture. We knew it had to be play-based learning, throughout the day it should just be a fun learning experience for children. Mindfulness also jumped out from very early on and we have some of the top mindfulness experts in the world who helped us come up with the basic components of mindfulness practice. There are also non-violence, health and basic hygiene components. But then during training, we are sitting in circle with the teachers and we ask them what would be songs that that you would sing for your own children, tell us about your own environment and the foods that you grow and what are your traditions.
In the process of this, have the relationships with the community stayed the same? Has there been movement and evolution in the ways that you worked together?
In eastern Chad, it was young women who lost their childhood because of the most horrible violence; their homes destroyed, fathers and brothers killed, sexual violence against them, crossing the desert to survive. Then they are teaching on Little Ripples and they are just playing and it’s the most fun experience you can imagine, they are trying out mindfulness and seeing how just taking a few moments to pay attention to your breath.
When we started, we were thinking of the children and what we didn’t count on was the immediate impact that it would have on these young women. We would do the training, come back a week later and they would just look different. They stand different, they stand in their own power. They tell us that they’re going to meetings and practicing leadership. From that, we immediately learned that we had to take advantage of that. So in the next training, they were then the ones training the next generation of teachers. Now they are meeting with parents, doing very simple surveys. The community sees them differently. In eastern Chad, women have no opportunities. Most of the teaching jobs in primary school are taken up by men because it’s one of the few paid opportunities. We made a decision it was going to be all women on Little Ripples.
That is transformational. It’s transformational for girls to see refugee women in leadership positions. When we started to expand to other camps, it was powerful to have a group of refugees from one camp visit another one, make connections with future leaders in that camp.
How does it work on a day-to-day level?
On a day-to-day level, we work with our refugee leadership team in country. Our main coordinator is called Oumda, it’s a term of leadership in Darfur. He’s an amazing man, a hero who helped many people escape Darfur and has quite a story. The team also has education directors and coordinators in each camp. They are in touch with all the teachers and they run the program on a daily basis.
In three countries, we partner with JRS and we can send salaries through them and they are an added layer of support and communication. We immediately built a great relationship with them. The biggest thing that they gave us was trust in the process and in the community. Now anywhere we expand, one of the main things that we ask is, “Just please don’t get in the way.” Allow the refugees to do the work. They need support by asking what they need and helping out where there is red tape and the politics of being in a country as a refugee.
When we find support for expansion, the refugee team already know where the greatest need is. For example, we are currently in the process of expanding to a new camp. Our refugee leadership said, they have been asking us for years to come and start Little Ripples. Our main coordinator said, “When you’re going to start a new garden, you should start it where there’s people that are ready to water it.” We will launch four new Little Ripples ponds and it will be an all refugee-led expansion for the first time.
How is that going to look different to previous expansions?
Usually, the refugee team would wait for us to come in and handle the communication with the local authorities and refugee camp leadership. They already did some refugee-led expansion of our football program into two other camps. It was just so wonderful to see pictures of them sitting with the Chadian refugee agency, sitting with UNHCR and they’re doing the meetings that usually I do when I’m out there. This time, they identified the community, they identified refugee leaders and they are going to run the training. I’m going to go to observe once they’re already there. They’re going to run every step of it and, uh, I’ll take some pictures!
What have been some of the most rewarding moments so far?
When we first launched Little Ripples, it was just a ribbon cutting ceremony and then we left and we didn’t really have an idea what was going to happen. Then six months later, we arrived at this pilot school and they didn’t realise that we had arrived, so I got off the SUV and walked slowly to a window and saw these two teachers were singing a song with the children and all the children were there just laughing and joyful. I think that that was one of those getting-the-chills moments.
What do you think is the biggest impact of Little Ripples for the children?
We know the science of early childhood and its importance. But for me, just knowing the stressful environment that that these families live in, every morning the mother wakes up and has to think how am I going to feed my children and are they going to be safe when I have to go out and collect firewood and do whatever it takes for our family to survive. To know that their child for a few hours is in a safe space at Little Ripples, that they’re getting a meal and they’re going to be laughing and learning… what does that do for a child? I think it’s hard to measure. It’s invaluable that no matter what happens outside of the Little Ripples space, no matter what happens in the future, they are getting a solid foundation at every level; cognitive, emotional and physically. They’re at least getting one daily healthy meal, they’re learning a way to regulate themselves and just take a breath to realise I’m OK right now no matter what is happening around me. They’re also learning the basics through singing about colours, letters and the numbers. It gives them just a little bit of a buffer and a safety net for whatever is going to come afterwards. I know it’s going to be difficult for them no matter what we do.
What are your plans moving forward with Little Ripples?
Hopefully a lot more refugee-led expansion! Now with HEA we have this great opportunity to show every step of the way what a fully refugee-led expansion can be. It involves our original teachers, coordinators and everybody that has worked on the program. They have been a part of every time that we’ve expanded within those camps and then two other camps in Eastern Chad. Now they are ready to expand on their own, using their own expertise to reach their own community, and that’s what we see as the ultimate success story. That is what is happening right now and what the HEA is going to support in a bigger scale.
From here, we’re going to go to Southern Chad where there are refugees from CAR. Darfuris that have shared similar horrible experiences are going to come in and help another community from another country set up their own programmes. Hopefully we see the same success that we’ve seen on the eastern border, if we can give our refugee friends a platform for them to help other communities.
