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Glossary

Alhamdulillah

An Arabic phrase, meaning ‘Praise be to God’.

bajaji

Autorickshaw.

berwaqo

Prosperity.

burjuwas

A sharecropping arrangement common among the Somalis (Ethiopia).

chikwangue

Bread-like substance made from fermented, steamed cassava.

du’a

Prayer.

ghairati khalaq

Honourable.

gham khadi

The events surrounding an occasion of sorrow or joy, such as a funeral, birth, wedding, new job or graduation.

hawala

Money transfer system.

hujras

Male guesthouse and gathering space.

hundi

Money transfer mechanism.

kuhozana

‘Lending’ in the Havu language local to the DRC.

kukopeshana

‘Lending to each other’ in Swahili.

likelemba

A type of collective saving scheme (in Kinshasa, DRC).

likirimba

A type of collective saving scheme (in Kivu, DRC).

malik

Traditional community leaders responsible for sub-sections of populations at the neighbourhood level.

maliks

Traditional community leaders responsible for sub-sections of populations at the neighbourhood level.

mana fasha'

‘God help me’ in Kinyarwanda (DRC) but used in the sense of ‘God help me find something’.

Mashallah

An Arabic phrase, meaning ‘God has willed it’.

merit work

Voluntary labour performed to earn religious merit in Myanmar.

mesharan

Elders and other ‘leaders’.

mohajir

One who goes into exile for religious reasons – i.e., fleeing the atheist communists.

mohinga

Traditional Burmese food.

mujahideen

Plural of mujahid, an Arabic-origin term meaning one who struggles or resists in defence of Islam.

pushtunwali

A cultural code of conduct for people of Pashtun ethnicity.

raape

Daily work (DRC).

rugabane 

Sharing of the harvest between a displaced person and the owner of the field.

sadaqa

A form of giving/taking in a context of vulnerability.

shahad

A handout to a person who is familiar or a distant friend.

shaweesh

An intermediary between distant landowners and camp residents.

zakat

A form of charitable giving, a fundamental pillar of the Islamic faith and an obligation for all those able to give.

Licence

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Refugees in a World Without Aid Copyright © 2025 by Ceri Oeppen, Ali Ali, Michael Collyer, Priya Deshingkar, Anne-Meike Fechter and Tahir Zaman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.