Dadaab, the refugee camp in SE Kenya opened in 1992 by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect refugees from Somalian civil war and drought, presently houses 2,30,000 refugees. The refugee camp opened in 1994 and has been functioning for the past 24 years, is the largest refugee camp in the world. (in 2011 even housing upto 500,000 refugees)
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| Aerial view of the Dadaab camp, with its own schools eateries, mobile phone accessibility etc .. .. |
2-3 generations are living here ..
This year end if Kenya calls it off, it is going to be a great tragedy for 2,30,000 Somalians .
Why is it that Somalians in the camp are unable to return to their country, Somalia. Somalia is a law-less country with no government worth the name, being ruled by notorious gangs prominent among them being religious groups led by Al-Shabaab.
The links above give first hand information from Somalia and from the Dadaab refugee camp.
From first hand accounts of a traveller to Kenya (my sister), I was told that the Somalian pirates who used to hijack ships on the Somalian coast proceeding from south of Africa to the Arab world for great ransom, have used part of these ransom money to build their country, but in vain. With no sincere global assistance forthcoming from the global community and serious lack of national political leadership, the future of Somalia is still gloom and offers no hope, at least for the next ten years.
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| UNHCR camp tents at Dadaab, for 24 years .. |
When people in Africa, especially minorities, are being tortured, subjugated and forced to live in poverty, disease and hunger, elsewhere in the developed and developing world, people are feasting and wasting good. What an irony !
Click here to read an excerpt (from a book), published from the Telegraph newspaper to give a glimpse of a boy struggling to survive in the camp with his lone surviving family member, his sister.
These 2,30,000 people are doing no productive work than collecting their weekly food quotas, cook at home, sleep, procreate and again the next day continue the same routine. This is incurring a great cost burden on UNHCR, it is forced to depend on payments made by UN member countries for the sake of these refugees who are restrained from doing any productive work.
If only they could be given some land on which they could do farming, dairy farming etc, grow vegetables, fruits, horticulture, rearing livestock like cattle, sheep etc which could bring in revenue for the refugees and at the sane time generate output which could be used for consumption by Kenyans in their markets.
When we look at these refugees, and when we read of the atrocities being committed on humanity in the Arab world by fanatic elements in society in the name of religion, we have to hang our heads in shame that we are living in such an uncivilized world, which does not value human life or honour.
George
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