Asli and her children waiting to register at Dadaab. Her relief at arriving at the hot barren camp shows how difficult her life had become at home. © CARE / Kate Holt.
Staff Blog:
We met Asli at the registration centre in IFO sitting under a leafless tree with her four children, one of whom kept crying. When we asked what the problem is, Asli says that the child is two years old and mentally challenged, and he has had a fever for the past few days. When asked whether she had taken him to hospital, she told us that the registration process was more important at the moment.
“When we get registered, we will be settled enough and we can then seek medical care,” she said.
With nearly 1,500 people arriving in the Dadaab refugee camps in North-eastern Kenya every day, it is taking nearly three weeks to register new families and arrange for them to settle into the camps. It used to take just days.
To help people cope with the delay, CARE, in partnership with the World Food Programme, has increased our emergency food distribution to new arrivals. CARE staff provide new arrivals with three weeks of food, instead of a two-week supply. Once families are registered in the camps, they are entitled to receive regular food rations, and critical support such as access to safe drinking water and medical care.
The life Asli led with her family in Somalia took a turn after all the cattle and goats they owned died because of drought and her crops failed due to lack of rain.
“The situation got worse every day. We spent all the little resources we had, until we had nothing more to spend,” said Asli, whose children are aged between four years and three months old.
“The sight of seeing our children crying, and me having no breast milk for my baby, made my husband decide to take the little money of our savings and come to Dadaab Refugee Camp, which we had been hearing about while we were back at home. Some of our neighbours had fled to Kenya because they said in Dadaab there are different agencies that give food, medical care and education for free and that’s all we need.”
Their journey from Somalia was long; it took the family five days to reach the Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab. They went to the reception centre after their arrival and they were given wrist bands to prepare for registration and access to safety and support from the many aid groups working in Dadaab.
But in the confusion of arrival, Asli and her family didn’t know to go to the food tent to receive their food rations. According to CARE staff, so many people are arriving, exhausted, traumatised and hungry, they sometimes misunderstand how to access help and get the supplies they are entitled to when they first arrive. CARE staff found Asli and her family sheltering at their makeshift structure outside the camp, along with all the other new arrivals – but it had been 13 days since Asli’s family arrived, without food.
“My children are sick and hungry,” she said. “We have been here from six o’clock in the morning. It is now one o’clock, and the sun is hot. We do not have any money with us. We have been seeing women selling tea and mandazi (local donut-like pastry), but we cannot afford it. We will wait to get registered then we can go look for food from any good Samaritan.”
As soon as CARE staff found Asli and her family, we quickly arranged a representative from UNHCR to ensure they received their three-week ration of food, and soon they will be registered and settle into their camp in Dadaab.
But Asli’s relief at arriving in Dadaab – a hot, barren camp in the middle of nowhere – shows how difficult her life was at home in drought-stricken Somalia. It shows how important it is to find long-term solutions to food shortages and drought, to help people stay at home, instead of seeking shelter in overcrowded refugee camps.
Please donate to our emergency response fund
Longer term work
In addition to our immediate response in the face of this current food crisis CARE International emphasises the need to tackle the long-term, underlying causes of poverty. We have been present in the region for over 25 years and are helping families to break the cycle of hunger and to adapt to the changing climate and recurring droughts.
Our ongoing work in the region includes:
- Maintenance, protection and development of water points and wells.
- Working with women in Mandera, Kenya to revive traditional food preservation techniques.
- Vaccination of animals to prevent diseases breaking out as they congregate at remaining water points.
- Helping families have more consistent sources of income by supporting them in diversifying their work.
Read more stories from the East Africa Food Crisis:
Staff blog: Sabine Wilke, Emergency Media Officer in Dadaab - 12 August
Video: East Africa Crisis - CARE's response - 12 August
Slideshow: Dadaab refugee camp - 12 August
Somalia to Dadaab: a journey filled with danger - 10 August
Somalia: famine declared in three additional regions of South-Central - 5 August
Ethiopia: in a drought prevention pays - 26 July 2011
Staff Blog: Confusion and waiting in Dadaab, Kenya - 18 July 2011
Staff Blog: "The need for food assistance is increasing at alarming rate" - 16 July 2011
Urgency grows in the Horn of Africa - 15 July 2011
Slideshow: More pictures from the East Africa Food Crisis - 14 July 2011
Staff Blog: Horn of Africa Food Crisis - Dadaab refugee camp - 8 July 2011
Slideshow: East Africa Food Crisis - 8 July 2011
Horn of Africa: The most severe food crisis in the world - 1 July 2011
Reviving traditions to survice drought in Kenya - 3 June 2011
Ethiopia food shortage: The worst is yet to come - 25 May 2011
Press releases from the East Africa food Crisis:
Saving cattle can save lives in drought-stricken Africa - 29 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £30 million - 25 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £27 million - 22 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £20 million - 18 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £18 million - 18 July 2011
Violence against women doubles in giant East Africa refugee camp - 17 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £15 million - 14 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £13 million - 13 July 2011
DEC agencies prepare to scale up work in Somalia - 13 July 2011
Reported cases of sexual violence have quadrupled among refugees - 12 July 2011
Horn of Africa food crisis: CARE launches £16 million appeal - 11 July 2011
UK donations for East Africa Crisis Appeal reach £8 million - 10 July 2011
DEC aims to help prevent East Africa Crisis becoming a catastrophe - 10 July 2011
DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal reaches £6 million - 9 July 2011
Aid delivered in East Africa as DEC Appeals broadcast in UK - 8 July 2011
Africa’s newest country in grip of food crisis - 8 July 2011
DEC announces East Africa Crisis Appeal - 7 July 2011
Drought in Kenya: “Situation of refugees is grave” - 4 July 2011
Horn of Africa: CARE calls for more attention to severe food insecurity - 19 May 2011
