Faith who decorates Dadaab with flowers ACT Alliance Aug 05, 2011

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1 Faith who decorates Dadaab with flowers ACT Alliance Aug 05, 2011 Fatima Hassan Mohammed, an 80-year old Somali woman who fled drought and war in her country, rests outside her makeshift hut in the bula baqti section of the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kanya on July 21. She arrived five months ago, and some other family members who arrived in the last week helped her make this hut, an improved model over what she had before. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

2 Faith Kajwiria, a social worker for the ACT Alliance in the Dadaab refugee complex in northwestern Kenya, helps groom an old man in a camp hospital. The man, who says he doesn't remember his name, lives in a tent on the grounds of the hospital in Hagadera Camp, one of three refugee camps in the sprawling complex. Already the world's world's largest refugee settlement, Dadaab has swelled in recent weeks with tens of thousands of recent arrivals fleeing drought in Somalia. The Lutheran World Federation, a member of the ACT Alliance, is manager of the camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey Faith Kajwiria (center, red shirt), a social worker for the ACT Alliance, visits with a refugee family in Hagadera Camp, one of three refugee camps in the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern

3 Kenya. Already the world's largest refugee settlement, Dadaab has swelled in recent weeks with tens of thousands of recent arrivals fleeing drought in Somalia. The Lutheran World Federation, a member of the ACT Alliance, is manager of the camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey A woman weaves at a loom, part of a livelihood project sponsored by the ACT Alliance in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of refugees have fled drought-stricken Somalia in recent weeks, swelling what was already the world's largest refugee settlement. The Lutheran World Federation--a member of the ACT Alliance--manages the camp, and is working with United Nations agencies and other NGOs to receive, house and care for the new refugees. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

4 A girl takes an exam in the Waberi Secondary School in the Hagadera refugee camp, part of the Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya. ACT/Paul Jeffrey Abden Barl Keinan, 15, writes out verses from the Koran during an Islamic class in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. He is among tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

5 A newly arrived Somali refugee family is interviewed by a worker for the ACT Alliance during the registration process for new refugees in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. The ACT Alliance, through the Lutheran World Federation, is camp manager. ACT/Paul Jeffrey Desperate refugees break through the doorway into a World Food Program compound in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

6 Soldiers of the Transitional Federal Government on patrol inside Kenya near the Somali border. backed by the United Nations, the TFG is battling Al-Shabaab for control of portions of Somalia. That conflict, along with a severe drought, has increased the number of refugees fleeing Somalia. ACT/Paul Jeffrey Roney Mohammed Ali, 24, a newly arrived Somali refugee, ties her baby on her back in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. She is one of tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

7 Habiba Nuno, 25, with one of her children as she pauses to rest while trekking across eastern Kenya near the Somali border. The Somali woman left her home a month earlier, fleeing drought and conflict, and heading to the Dadaab refugee complex. Already the world's world's largest refugee settlement, Dadaab has swelled in recent weeks with tens of thousands of recent arrivals from Somalia. ACT/Paul Jeffrey A girl washes her brother's face in the morning in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

8 Newly arrived Somali refugee children wait to be registered in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey A woman, her ration cards tied around her neck, waits in a line in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey

9 A boy receives a blanket from the ACT Alliance in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Tens of thousands of newly arrived Somalis who have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. The ACT Alliance, working through the Lutheran World Federation, is manager of the camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey Fatima Hassan Mohammed, an 80-year old Somali woman who fled drought and war in her country, rests outside her makeshift hut in the bula baqti section of the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kanya on July 21. She arrived five months ago, and some other family members who arrived in the last week helped her make this hut, an improved model over what she had before. Tens of thousands of newly

10 arrived Somalis have swelled the population of what was already the world's largest refugee camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey Faith Kajwiria, a social worker for the ACT Alliance in the Dadaab refugee complex in northwestern Kenya, helps groom an old man in a camp hospital. The man, who says he doesn't remember his name, lives in a tent on the grounds of the hospital in Hagadera Camp, one of three refugee camps in the sprawling complex. Already the world's world's largest refugee settlement, Dadaab has swelled in recent weeks with tens of thousands of recent arrivals fleeing drought in Somalia. The Lutheran World Federation, a member of the ACT Alliance, is manager of the camp. ACT/Paul Jeffrey By John Davison, Dadaab ACT Alliance Makeshift shelters pitched in a dusty desert landscape. Newly-arrived refugees from Somalia for whom survival is the immediate priority. This is the reality for Faith Kagwiria, lead social worker at Hagadera, one of the three camps in the Dadaab complex which is managed by ACT member the Lutheran World Federation. Kawgiria has worked here for more than two years. The massive influx of refugees meant her team was recently expanded to help deal with the emergency. Kagwiria's hundreds of home visits have made her a familiar figure around the camp and its outskirts. Face of hope "The refugees call me 'Face' instead of 'Faith'," she says, smiling. "At a recent leaders meeting I was described as 'the one who decorates the camp with white flowers' meaning all the tents I have distributed to those who would otherwise sleep under trees." To join her and some of the team on a daily round is to see the challenging situation they face. The well-ordered system of the established camp has been joined by a sprawl of haphazard development on the outskirts, which shows no sign of slackening.

11 More than 100,000 people have come to Dadaab since the start of the year. Since the refugee emergency was announced on June 6, more than 73,000 refugees have come - and are still arriving at a rate of up to 1500 a day. With established camps full to bursting, the new arrivals settle on surrounding land where water is scarce and there is little or no proper sanitation. Left with nothing It is to the settlement outside Hagadera that Kagwiria and her team go. LWF workers identify potential cases for social workers when the refugees are registered. LWF has a special responsibility for caring for the elderly. Kagwiria wants to do a follow-up visit to Fatouma Kamis Sagar, an 80-year-old woman among the new arrivals who came from Sako in Somalia a few weeks before. Clearly very weak, Sagar lies on blankets on the earth floor of her tukul shelter and has difficultly talking. Her story is taken up by Noor Somow Bydoe, her nephew, who brought the extended family group of 40 people to Hagadera by vehicle and finally on foot. "Our first vehicle broke down. So we transferred to another vehicle and it also broke down. Then we were met by bandits, who took all the small things we were carrying, our clothes and our money," says Bydoe, 55. "In the end the journey took 15 days. We arrived here with nothing." One of the children in the group, a baby girl, died on the way. His explanation as to why so many Somalis are willing to risk this hazardous trek is typical of the stories that can be heard every day in the Dadaab camps. It is the dual blight of hunger and insecurity that drives them to the border and safe refuge. Bydoe is a farmer who used to work three hectares with mainly potatoes and maize, enough to support him, his three wives and 20 children. But his farm is now abandoned. Everybody left in the area is hungry, he says. Horrendous choices Apart from the three-year drought, the family also suffered at the hands of al-shabaab militants, who control the region. They used to come every month and demand money - or worse. "They say they need one of our children to take with them and train to fight, or we give them money. So we give them money and then we have no money to plant our crops," says Bydoe. "The next time we tell them that we have no money and they say they will take us into custody and sell us. Still we say we have nothing, so they take our goats and our cattle by force." They were left with no choice but to move, selling whatever they had left to raise the money for transport. Conquering the whole situation So how does a social worker with limited resources respond to that kind of story? Faith notes down the details of Sabar's practical needs: she cannot properly eat solids and the family cannot afford to buy milk. The blankets she lies on have already been given by LWF, but she clearly also needs a mattress and proper shelter. Those things Faith can provide she will, for the rest she will refer the family to a partner agency who can help. It is a similar story of the rest of that morning s round. There is another old lady, claiming to be 115, who needs a toilet pot to use in the night. A blind woman of 70 shares a tent with her two daughters and 13 grandchildren.

12 A 25-year-old mother who cannot look after her own children because she is immobilised by a large growth in her stomach. Back in the office, a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy has been brought in by one of the elected community leaders. The woman and her three children have been staying with refugees in the main camp. They say that if she is given a waterproof sheet, the community will build the woman a tukul of her own in which to have her baby. The sheet is immediately issued from LWF stock. "I enjoy my work a lot. I take it as a calling not a career," says Kagwiria. "Like some people are a nun, I am a social worker. When I do my job I feel inside that this is what I m supposed to be doing." But it is not just about distributing goods, however badly needed. It is also about giving moral support, she adds. "These people need a lot of support, but we do not always have a lot of things to give them. Then just going to see them, talking to them and seeing how they live, can mean a lot." Then Kagwiria smiles again: "Sometimes, if you can do something small for them, they make you feel as though you have conquered the whole situation. And when people are happy, I am happy."