Douglas MacLellan

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Dadaab, Kenya: Hagadera and Ifo Camps , 1997

9 images Created 18 Oct 2016

I visited Dadaab in 1997. As we touched down on the dirt airstrip, two machine gun mounted jeeps drove along side us. We took an armed convoy to Hagadera Camp. The next day we took an even more heavily armed convoy for a short visit to Ifo Camp.

The Dadaab refugee camp complex in northern Kenya is one of the largest in the world. They were formed more than twenty five years ago and mainly house Somalis fleeing or forced out of that country’s civil war.

I was completely unprepared for daily life at a refugee camp. At the time, I was in Kenya working on a street photography project. I accepted an offer from a friend working with the Canadian Red Cross to visit Dadaab. I knew absolutely nothing about the situation.

My stay was short and memorable. It was my first introduction to Islam. I was startled to see a functioning society: schools; shops; local government. I listened to horrific stories about women being raped while searching for firewood outside the camp perimeter.

Seven years later I visited several internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in northern Uganda. If Dadaab was and is the high water mark for refugee camps, then the Uganda IDP camps were the worst of human settlements. The northern Uganda experience scarred me especially concerning IDP camps.

The Government of Kenya started relocating Somali refugees from Dadaab in November 2013 after the Westage Mall attack. They made a decision to close the camps after the Al-Shabaab attack on Garissa University in April 2015.

The camps were to close in 2015 then the date was expended to November 2016 and now I read the closure may be as late as December 2018.

The repatriation efforts are voluntary at this point. Those who agree to return to Somalia are given a free bus ride and US$400. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports from the period of 8 Dec 2014 to 30 Sep 2016 exactly 32,949 people have been voluntarily repatriated. Of that total, the agency reports 26,848 people left in 2016.

I am not certain what those people are returning to. My 1997 interviews suggested most of the refugees were fleeing because they were the wrong tribe. I was intrigued to discover many of the refugees I encountered were professionals and business owners. Not what I expected.

Further I understand many are arriving to IDP camps in Somalia.

Somalia today is second on “fragile states index”.
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  • An elderly man crosses a flooded road at the Hagadera Refugee Camp near Dabaab, Kenya. The camp is administered by United Nation High Commission for Refugees. The area has not seen rain until recently for six years. The flooding is causing an outbreak of cholera and mosquito borne disease.
    014_DM-02-42.jpg
  • The effects of 'el nino' caused rain and flooding for the first time in six years in north eastern Kenya. The water was welcome but there will also be an increase in water bourne disease. Flooding at Ifo refugee camp is severe enough to implement relocations of some of the 60,000 residents. Ifo, near Dadaab, Kenya is administered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
    015_DM-02-41.jpg
  • A master basket maker shows her products at the Hagadera Refugee Camp near Dadaab, Kenya. The camp is administered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and contains people from neighboring countries such as Somalia and Sudan. It is one of three such camps in the area.
    016_DM-02-43.jpg
  • Hagadera refugee camp is home to 60,000 people mostly of Somali origin. The camp has its own local government, a market and many shops that offer goods and services. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees administers the camp which is near Dadaab, Kenya.
    DM-02-40.jpg
  • Hagadera camp near Dadaab, Kenya is home to 60,000 mostly Somali refugees. The long running United Nations administered camp has all the features of a small town including local government, a market and shops and services.
    DM-02-39.jpg
  • The Hagadera refugee camp near Dadaab, Kenya is home for 60,000 people, most of whom are Somalis. The camp has its own local government, a thriving market and many small shops such as this shoe making enterprise. The camp is administered by the United  Nations High Commission for Refugees.
    DM-02-38.jpg
  • Children at the Hagadera refugee camp near Dadaab, Kenya, form about half the population of 60,000 residents. Many of these children have spent their entire lives living at the camp which was established in 1992. The camp is administered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
    DM-02-45.jpg
  • Children at the Hagadera refugee camp near Dadaab, Kenya, form about half the population of 60,000 residents. Many of these children have spent their entire lives living at the camp which was established in 1992. The camp is administered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
    DM-02-44.jpg
  • The Hagadera refugee camp outside of Dadaab, Kenya is home to 60,000 people. Camels are a food source. Once a week a camel is selected and slaughtered according to Muslim principles. The camp is administered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
    DM-02-37.jpg
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