Dadaab showers

Rainstorms in Dadaab take your breath away. One minute the skies are blue, the sand is blistering under your sandaled feat and the sun is so hot on the back of your neck that you feel like an ant being tortured by a 4 year old with a magnifying glass. The next minute you can hardly hear because the rain is crashing down with such intensity on the tin roof above you. Even those with excellent focus must stop and stare wide-eyed out the doorway as curtains of rain pelt the sand below. The rain stops 20 minutes later and everybody exhales seemingly simultaneously, as if in their awe-struck observation of the  turbulent rains, they'd accidentally held their breath the entire time. This part of the world has been dry for far too long. Crops have withered and bore holes have run dry. But now the rains have come again and the Somalis breath a sigh of relief. The last several months have seen tens of thousands of their brothers and sisters flee for their lives and too often collapse with starvation. Now the rains have come and God willing, a breath of rejuvenated life. 

Dadaab - a humanitarian crisis

It's surreal to be here - in the heart of the world's largest humanitarian aid effort. Dadaab already hosted the largest refugee population in the world. Then the summer of 2011 saw drought and famine in Somalia, northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. Dadaab then saw thousands of Somalis DAILY fleeing into Kenya in search of safety and sustenance. I have heard that the UN has managed to receive 1,000 per day, but even those numbers do not reflect the actual population flows Dadaab has been overwhelmed with. The current number of registered refugees in Dadaab is around 455,000. MSF estimates that by the end of this year, the number of Somalis seeking refuge in Dadaab's refugee camps will pass 500,000. The UN, IOM, MSF and other aid organizations are doing their very best to provide the refugees with the aid they need, but with #s increasing daily, al-Shabaab led violence, kidnappings and carjackings on the rise, providing sufficient aid is proving difficult. MSF recently posted statistics on their website which state that in a recent nutrition survey of children seeking refuge in the the outskirts of one of Dadaab's 4 camps, "37.7 percent of children between six months and five years old were suffering from acute malnutrition," while "43.3 percent of children between five and 10 years old were malnourished." 

Referenced article: 

http://www.msf.org/msf/articles/2011/08/dadaab-kenya-somalis-fighting-for-survival.cfm

Kidnappings in Dadaab

14 Oct 2011

Update on the two MSF staff abducted in Kenya

Yesterday, Thursday October 13, an MSF team suffered an attack in Dadaab, Kenya. One of the MSF drivers, Mohamed Hassan Borle, age 31, was injured during this attack; his medical condition is stable, he is out of danger and remains hospitalized. Two international staff, both Spanish, were taken. As yet, MSF has not been able to establish contact with the two staff taken. A crisis team has been set up to deal with this incident.

The two Spanish colleagues abducted are Montserrat Serra, age 40, from Girona (Palafrugell) and Blanca Thiebaut, age 30, from Madrid, both working as logisticians for MSF in the Dadaab refugee camp. Their families have been informed. MSF is calling on all media to respect the privacy of the families in this difficult time.

"We are in regular contact with the families of our colleagues involved and relevant authorities since the first moments. We are doing all we can to ensure their safe and swift return. Our thoughts are with them and their families," says José Antonio Bastos, president of MSF in Spain.

Following the attack, MSF has evacuated part of its team working in Dagahaley and Ifo, two of the three refugee camps in Dadaab. As a consequence, crucial medical activities had to be stopped. However, MSF is still maintaining its life-saving activities.

This attack is jeopardizing the assistance to thousands of people in urgent need of humanitarian aid and a quick and satisfactory solution is necessary.

These incidents call for prudence and discretion. In order to facilitate the best and swiftest resolution of the incident, MSF will not provide further information for the moment nor will it comment on statements, rumors or public information related to it.

MSF is also calling on all actors involved to refrain from commenting publicly about this incident. “The current publicity around the incident is particularly unhelpful, for it can only hurt the families and jeopardize efforts to get our colleagues back,” says Bastos.

 

MSF started providing medical assistance in Dadaab in 2009.

 

Source: http://www.msf.org/msf/articles/2011/10/en/update-on-the-two-msf-staff-abducted-in-kenya.cfm

Promotion....!!!zzzz...!!!

I am being told that lately I have not been as avid a blogger as certain readers would hope. Just as I was was about to argue to the contrary, it occurred to me that my last post was a couple weeks ago already. Realization countering retaliation, I write again.

The past couple weeks have been exhausting, but professionally challenging and exciting. I have been promoted to the position of Field Team Leader. Just like before I am based in Nairobi. I spend around 2 weeks in Nairobi and then head off to the field for 3-4 week circuit rides. Before, I was a caseworker. In that position, my main role in the field was to interview refugees; individuals, who had fled their home countries due to persecution, could not return because of feared continued persecution and could not remain in their host country because of lack of integration prospects, security risks, further persecution, etc. Through refugee testimony, I’d piece together their flight stories, persecution claims, and other application materials, which would in turn be adjudicated by Homeland Security. It was a fascinating position to be in, but eventually I got to the point where I wanted to impact refugees’ lives on a wider scale. As a Field Team Leader, I am responsible for the overall processing, security, management, interpreters, communication with the UN, IOM etc while my team is out in the field. The team changes each time we deploy from Nairobi. Sometimes there are as many as 25+ people on a team, other times there are 3 or 4. I’m only on my first circuit ride as an FTL, but so far things are going well. I’ve a strong team that gets along well and I am in a field location that I’ve always enjoyed working. Plus I hit the ground running so to speak in terms of my determination to lead a successful circuit ride. New FTL or not, I wanted to give my team my best. Hopefully that’s evident in the work I produce. :p