2011/09/15
Hirohisa Seike Enters a Refugee Camp in Dadaab, Kenya
I visited a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. This camp has around 440,000 refugees.
Since June, due to drought and civil war in Somalia, 1,400-1,600 refugees have come daily. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had anticipated there to be only several tens of thousands of refugees, so is calling out to the international community for aid. Things have calmed down somewhat and now only 700-800 refugees come per day, but this still is a high number. People who arrive are immediately put through a lengthy process of registration, health examination, and immunization, and taken to a campsite after being given necessary provisions. They are housed in tents already set up. They have no idea when they can go home to Somalia. When I asked a few people, they all told me they don't want to go back until the killing has stopped (Hirohisa Seike, September 15th.)
