Driving into the Dadaab area is quite an interesting experience. First the paved road you are on ends, and it then takes three hours on an unpaved sandy (and very bumpy) road to get there. After this first challenge is accomplished – the next challenge is trying to figure out what it means to actually be “there”. Dadaab was created in 1992 in response to a massive flow of refugees over the Somali border into Kenya. Since then it has grown into three separate camps, with a total population of approx. 250,000 people – and they are expecting an additional 100,000 people this year.
There is nothing around Dadaab except sand and bush, and it’s terribly hot and dry. There are some very small host communities in the surrounding area who are pastoralists and whom we can thank for the gorgeous herds of camels that we see everyday. The fact that so many refugees have lived in this location for almost two decades also makes it difficult to understand what Dadaab is, because in some ways it operates as though it were a permanent settlement – there are markets, schools, hospitals and community centres. In another way it operates as a typical refugee set-up where rations are distributed to the refugees and their basic needs are taken care of by others.
In late 2007, we identified a need in the camps that was going unfulfilled – women’s access to information and education. Through a generous donation and successful partnerships in 2008 we distributed 400 radios to women’s listening groups in the three refugee camps.
