Hear Our Voices – a refugee’s struggle for survival

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, is expanding camps in this arid area of northeastern Kenya to accommodate the daily influx of people fleeing Somalia.

Refugees who arrived earlier in the year said they were fleeing drought and food insecurity. However, the latest arrivals are escaping the rising tension between armed groups, including rivalry between the Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). The UIC has extended its authority to much of southern and central Somalia since it seized control of the capital, Mogadishu, from an alliance of militia in June this year.

Dadaab encompasses three camps - Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera.

There is little rainfall or vegetation beyond the scruffy trees scattered about the landscape.

An estimated 30,000 Somali refugees have arrived in Kenya since the beginning of the year, joining more than 130,000 more who have been living in the camps in the country’s Northeastern Province since 1991.

Bile Olow Mahmmud arrived with his wife and three children at the Hagadera refugee camp 18 days ago.

"We fled Kismayo because of the fighting. We walked for many days and it took more than a week to arrive at the border.

"The living conditions here are not good; we are struggling every day and so far we still haven’t received any food from the distribution centres.

The food that we have managed to get has been given to us by the people who have been here for a long time and can afford to spare some."

Medical treatment was also difficult to access, said Mahmmud. "We tried but we were refused medicines at the clinic because we did not have the medical card that UNHCR hands to refugees at the border.

"I am glad that my family and I are now safe from the fighting and hardships of living in a country such as Somalia. However, this life in the camps, it is not an easy one.

We have been here for more than two weeks and all we have received from UNHCR are those plastic sheets that cover our shelter. We need more than this.

"The international community has to understand our conditions as refugees, and I hope that all efforts will be made to improve the way things are going in our country and to stop the fighting that has been going on for far too long."

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