From Nairobi to kakuma
Just to show God's love to others, John shabani visited kakuma
refugee camp in Kenya (one of big
refugees camp in Africa)
Kakuma town is located in Turkana District, in the northwestern region of Kenya.
Kakuma is the Swahili word for "nowhere", epitomizing the seclusion
of the area.
Kakuma Refugee Camp, block 2
The town has hosted the Kakuma
Refugee Camp since 1992. This camp serves over 70,000 refugees who fled wars in
neighboring countries. A majority are from southern Sudan,
some from Somalia and the last major group from Ethiopia. Other groups include Burundians, Congolese,
Eritreans and Ugandans.
John giving food and clothes to the children
Living in Kakuma as a refugee is a very difficult experience. Dust
storms frequently pass through the area. Malnutrition, communicable disease
outbreaks, and malaria are all ongoing problems, while donor support has
faltered due to conflicts in other parts of the world.
Many of the refugees hope to leave Kakuma for resettlement in another country
such as the USA. For example, the "Lost Boys of Sudan"
were a special group who were resettled from the camp to the U.S. in recent
years. With the recent end of the civil war in Sudan between the SPLA
and other southern forces against the government in Khartoum many are hopeful more Sudanese refugees will finally be able to return
home.
The Kakuma Refugee Camp was the
location of a large project from 1995 to 2002 sponsored by Solar Cookers
International through which thousands of families began using solar panel cookers
to cook their daily meals. Many families had been trading some of their meager
food rations for firewood to use to cook what little food they had left. The
project was organized such that a group of refugee women were trained to be
trainers. These women would then be paid to hold regular classes to teach other
women to solar cook and to provide them with a cooker. The cookers were made
locally in Nairobi for US$2.00 each.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuma
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