After my semi-vacation in the US, I was actually pretty ready to go back to Dadaab and get back to work. There were just a few things I wasn't so excited about...
The ridiculous convoy of aid vehicles between Garissa and Dadaab. There have been isolated incidents of attacks by bandits and Al Shabaab on this road, so travel in a convoy with an armed guard is required. Necessary? Maybe. Obnoxious? Definitely. Here's what the convoy looks like:
Just kidding, this is what the aid vehicle convoy really looks like.
The dead animals. I dislike the dead animals for a lot of reasons. They're such a visible reminder that all is not well, that there is drought and famine. A dead animal is some family's loss of wealth, and animals are deeply valued here. And they're dead animals, and I just really like animals. There are a lot of carcasses around, though, of animals that have starved to death or dehydrated.
The marabou storks. They look like dirty old men, lurching around the camps and eating trash and, um, dead stuff. They are the ugliest birds I have ever seen. Maybe ugliest creatures overall, ever.
But there's lots more that I did miss. This place...it's not easy, but there's something there that sucks you in.
All that said, I thought I would be in Dadaab for at least another six weeks, but a week after I got back there, I got a request to return to Nairobi to help our Somalia office put together some new programs. The drought and famine in Somalia that has pushed so many new refugees into Dadaab has also, of course, caused serious problems for those left behind in Somalia. This, combined with Al Shabaab's slightly increased openness to international aid agencies, has created both a demand for new programs in Somalia, especially those addressing malnutrition, as well as new money from donors to fund these programs.
My organization has been doing health and nutrition work in Somalia since 1991, when military dictator Siad Barre was overthrown, as well as, more recently, Somaliland, and is using this opportunity to try to expand its programming in Somalia, so that's what I will be working on for the next few weeks at least. Though the setting is less dramatic than Dadaab--there are security risks that prevent international stuff like me from going into Somalia so I'll be in Nairobi during this time--the work is similar in many ways and very interesting and complex, so I'm looking forward to it even if I'm a bit sorry to say goodbye to Dadaab for now.
The ridiculous convoy of aid vehicles between Garissa and Dadaab. There have been isolated incidents of attacks by bandits and Al Shabaab on this road, so travel in a convoy with an armed guard is required. Necessary? Maybe. Obnoxious? Definitely. Here's what the convoy looks like:
Just kidding, this is what the aid vehicle convoy really looks like.
The dead animals. I dislike the dead animals for a lot of reasons. They're such a visible reminder that all is not well, that there is drought and famine. A dead animal is some family's loss of wealth, and animals are deeply valued here. And they're dead animals, and I just really like animals. There are a lot of carcasses around, though, of animals that have starved to death or dehydrated.
The marabou storks. They look like dirty old men, lurching around the camps and eating trash and, um, dead stuff. They are the ugliest birds I have ever seen. Maybe ugliest creatures overall, ever.
But there's lots more that I did miss. This place...it's not easy, but there's something there that sucks you in.
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| Firewood |
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| The office |
 | |
| A shop in Hagadera Camp |
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| Water trucking to a borehole where animals drink in the host community |
All that said, I thought I would be in Dadaab for at least another six weeks, but a week after I got back there, I got a request to return to Nairobi to help our Somalia office put together some new programs. The drought and famine in Somalia that has pushed so many new refugees into Dadaab has also, of course, caused serious problems for those left behind in Somalia. This, combined with Al Shabaab's slightly increased openness to international aid agencies, has created both a demand for new programs in Somalia, especially those addressing malnutrition, as well as new money from donors to fund these programs.
My organization has been doing health and nutrition work in Somalia since 1991, when military dictator Siad Barre was overthrown, as well as, more recently, Somaliland, and is using this opportunity to try to expand its programming in Somalia, so that's what I will be working on for the next few weeks at least. Though the setting is less dramatic than Dadaab--there are security risks that prevent international stuff like me from going into Somalia so I'll be in Nairobi during this time--the work is similar in many ways and very interesting and complex, so I'm looking forward to it even if I'm a bit sorry to say goodbye to Dadaab for now.
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