Dadaab

Interesting article by MSF' http://www.swiftpage6.com/CampResource/2Y10R56DI4MDKDR8/1/text.pdf

I led the last resettlement mission to Dadaab in October 2011 before a series of bombings and kidnappings jeopardized our safety to the extent that my organization and many others discontinued or greatly limited services in and/or visits to the area. Our organization is responsible for all refugee in sub-Saharan Africa applying for resettlement to the United States. For those in Dadaab however, their cases are on hold till the unforeseeable future because we are no longer able to process their applications. Resettlement is hardly a solve-all solution to the plights of refugees. Indeed, the longer I work in resettlement, the more I realize the more powerful and long-term impact of skills building in a refugees local society as opposed to uprooting them to a foreign location. However, resettlement does offer the undeniable and invaluable sense of hope, especially to refugee children who, because of their youth and the sponge-like nature of their minds, have so much to gain from quality education, healthcare, safety and peace. I only wish I knew more about conflict resolution to be better able to access the situation in Somalia (and indeed that which continues to spill over into Northern Kenya). How long will it be, I wonder till "hope" again returns to the uprooted people of Dadaab? Or will they forever be considered by the international community as a "lost cause?"