My work kicked off properly this week. I spent
the week in north-west Kenya, in Turkana country. Part of my role is to
evaluate some of the health services provided to the refugee camps in Kenya and
the communities that host them. So after seeing Amazing daughter off back to
England, I packed my bags (note to self: you must learn to travel light) and at
5.30am I was at the Wilson Airport checking in for the World Food Programme
flight to Kakuma
A bit about Turkana County and Kakuma (don't
say you haven't learned anything useful from my blog)
Turkana is about 700km (~ 430 miles) to the
north from Nairobi. It borders Uganda to the north west, South Sudan to the north
and Ethiopia to north east. It is in what Kenya describes as its ASALs - Arid
and Semi-Arid Lands. It is vast and sparsely populated by the Turkana, nomadic pastoralists,
the majority of whom still adhere to their traditional religion (over 90%
practice their traditional religions) and traditional lifestyle, moving with
the seasons and the needs of their livestock. The weather – as the ASAL description
indicates - is DRY and HOT!!! It isn’t uncommon to go a whole year without any
rains. And yet, the county also contains the beautiful Lake Turkana (formerly
called Lake Rudolph by the British when they were here). I have been told that Lake
Turkana is beautiful; I hope to find out for myself sometime.
The Turkana county capital is Lodwar. It sits
in a basin astride the Turkwel River and is even hotter than the surrounding
area. This is the seat of the recently created county government.
(Side note on Kenyan politics and recent history:
One significant contribution of Turkana to Kenyan political history is that
this was the region of choice for holding political prisoners by the British
colonial government. Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, was held on
house arrest in Lodwar for 2 years in the late 1950s.Turkana was declared a ‘closed
district’ by the British just after the 2nd world war and remained
isolated from the rest of Kenya until the mid-1970s when road blocks, limiting
movement into and out of the county, were finally lifted. Following the violence after the 2007
elections, Kenya adopted a new constitution in 2010 which required the
devolution of power from the central government in Nairobi to the newly-created
counties and sub-counties. Until this change, there had been little investment
or development in the ASALs.)
Turkana is also the location of one of the largest
refugee camp in the world – Kakuma refugee camp; my first destination.
Our flight landed on a dirt strip with no discernible
‘airport’ terminal. We picked up our luggage at the foot of the plane steps and
walked out to a carpark where we were met by our driver. We drove past local Turkana
women with their rows and rows of colourful neck beads and wraps tied over one
shoulder, and Turkana men in raffish hats with feathers in them (I learned that
ostrich feathers are prized for this purpose), with large hoop earrings and
carrying decorated sticks. It was a short 20 minute drive from the airstrip to
the UNHCR staff compound in Kakuma camp.
Kakuma camp, (I’m told the name is kiswahilli for
‘nowhere’ but I haven’t been able to confirm this), was set up in 1992 to take
in refugees following wars in the neighbouring countries of Sudan and Ethiopia.
The current camp population is estimated at about 185,000. 95% of its residents
are Somalian, Sudanese and Ethiopian, with people from the DRC, Uganda, Burundi,
Rwanda, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and even Nigeria (yes Nigeria!), making up just over 5%.
It continues to grow and due to the ongoing upheaval in South Sudan, has
increased beyond its current capacity. The camp is managed by UNHCR and the
Kenyan government and the NGO I’m working with is one of the major providers of
services to the refugees.
Now, you are probably thinking: refugee camp, rows
of white tents with blue roofs with UN emblazoned on the top, journalists with
cameras taking pictures of the photogenic and the dying, and western (mostly
white) volunteers helping the refugees just arriving from war torn / famine decimated
regions. Well, it’s not quite like that.
- First, the accommodation for
refugees is mostly mud huts with thatch roofs. Kakuma camp is a big town, with suburbs
settled by refugees from different countries and communities to avoid clashes
(the wars in neighbouring areas don’t stop because you have been classed as a refugee).
- Second, far too many of the refugees
have been here for years, decades even! Yes, new ones are arriving,
particularly from South Sudan, but the majority have been here for ages. They are
not allowed to leave the camp without a special pass, they are not allowed to
seek employment outside the camps; and far too few ever get relocated to other
parts of Kenya or other countries. I met a Somali resident of the camp, in his mid-20s
who has been in Kakuma for almost 20 years!
- Finally, the vast majority of the
people providing services and working with the refugees are Kenyans. And they
are to be admired. Kenyan staff working on the camps leave their families
behind in Nairobi, Kisumu etc, and move into the UNHCR staff compound on the
camp. Facilities are basic and communal. Every 2 -3 months, the staff get a few
days ‘R&R’, during which they go home to families and friends elsewhere in
the country. Yet, these ‘national staff’ as they are known, remain dedicated to
improving the lives of the displaced people in the camps.
The challenges facing refugees are complex. Aside
from the obvious trauma associated with the cause of their status, refugees are
removed from their normal ways of life. They are dependent on the UNHCR and
NGOs for everything. Women who in their traditional communities would be busy
from dawn till dusk (women in nomadic communities are traditionally responsible
for building the hut, fetching water, firewood, cooking, looking after the
children, subsistence farming etc), and men who would traditionally be out with
their herds, find themselves with time on their hands and no meaningful purpose
to fill the hours. A tiny number of refugees with needed skills are employed as
‘incentive staff’ by the agencies and paid a small stipend, but this is a
miniscule proportion of the population. Many set up little businesses – there are
many markets selling essentials not provided by the agencies (and exchanging
supplies provided by the agencies for more desirable stuff too). But the restrictions
of refugee life takes its toll, with high levels of alcohol misuse, particularly
among the South Sudanese. It’s a sad sad situation.
After two days touring the facilities, meeting
the staff and assessing the service provision with other IRC colleagues from
Nairobi, we moved to Lodwar and I got to tick another thing off my bucket list.
Lodwar is about 120 km from Kakuma along a poorly
maintained road with a high risk of attack by armed bandits (cattle rustling
and inter-tribal skirmishes between the Turkana and the neighbouring Pokot is a
problem here). So travel along this route requires an armed escort. So there I
was, sitting in the front passenger seat of a white UN jeep with an armed
vehicle following close behind and our driver racing down the terrible road at considerable
speed (apparently the security advice is to move fast). The driver was very
familiar with the route and knew when to get off the excuse for a road and hit
the dusty tracks. Those of you who know me well will know that I’m a bit of a
petrol-head; I loved it!! Woohoo!! Flying down this dirt track in a 4 wheel drive,
occasionally stopping for crossing camels (yes, you read right, camels; the Turkana
herd cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys AND camels).
Our driver was considerate enough to stop for
the tourist (me) to take occasional pictures of the moonscape-like terrain and
the camels, and transient Turkana huts. I hope I can upload some pictures here.
Lodwar, the capital ‘town’ of Turkana was hot
and dusty. The Turkana themselves, even within the town, still live very
traditional lives in easily dismantled huts, in traditional dress. A small
proportion have settled and adapted to town living but the conflict between
traditional and western living shows in the high proportion of ‘street children’
addicted to glue sniffing!
Oil and natural gas reserves have recently
been discovered in Turkana, and a boom is predicted. I hope this brings good
things for the people of the region and that they are not cursed with the ‘Dutch
disease’ (see http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=dutch-disease).
However, I fear that others better equipped to reap the benefits of the oil industry
will move in to take the high-income jobs, and the ill-educated Turkana will be
left with the unskilled labour and disrupted traditional lifestyles. Let’s hope
I’m wrong.
I left Lodwar after 2 days on a commercial
flight via Eldoret to Nairobi (slightly bigger plane, fully occupied by about
40 passengers). Visiting Kakuma and Lodwar was fascinating and distressing and
exhilarating and depressing and I look forward to my next trip there. But by the
end of the week, I was glad to return to the cool ‘winter’ air of Nairobi.
If you want to know more about the Turkana,
may I recommend this blog by a social anthropologist who lived with a Turkana
family for a year http://livinginturkana.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html
Next … going downtown ….
