Refugee testimonies

As the World Refugee Day is commemorated on 20 June, IRIN interviewed three refugees living in Kenya to share their testimonies highlighting their struggles, hopes and achievements. Kenya is home to over 300,000 refugees, mainly from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Great Lakes region.

Fadumo Ali Jama, a resident of Hagadera camp, Dadaab since 1991.

"My daughter was born here and I am married here. My daughter now has a child.

"We live in very difficult circumstances; water is scarce, food is never enough and the healthcare is very poor.

"People sometimes wait to see a doctor for over five months. Sometimes people die waiting for a doctor."

Shujaa Habimana*, a teenage Rwandan refugee living in Nairobi

"I was born in Butare, in Rwanda, but we later had to flee to Burundi. We went to Burundi on foot and stayed there until war broke out in the country - then we had to leave for Tanzania from where we were expelled. We eventually ended up here in Kenya where my mother makes a living carving handicrafts.

"Refugee children are the innocent victims of war...but suffer the most. We have scars that defy understanding...Memories, if spoken out loud, you wouldn't believe. For refugees like us, education is the only way out....going back home has been an elusive dream for most of us."

Mohamed Ahmed, a father of three living in Dagahaley camp, Dadaab since fleeing Somalia in August 2008

"Camp life is hard and everything is scarce. Sometimes I only get three 20-litre jerry cans of water for three days for the whole family. This means you don't wash at all. You can only cook.

"Shelter is another problem. When it rains our shelters cannot protect us. Life has become so difficult that some refugees have returned to Somalia. They say, "Life under the shells was better than this one. That is how it is."

* Not his real name

Read more Kenya: A growing refugee crisis

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