Ett flygfoto av ett av världens största flyktingläger, i Dadaab i Kenya, som lades upp på Oxfam Internationals Flickr-sida [en], visar hur stora problemen med förflyttning kan vara. Lägret är hem för 450,000 flyktingar och de flesta av dem har flytt från torka och inbördeskriget i Somalia som har pågått sedan 1991. Ytterligare 1,500 anländer varje dag.
I hopp om att hitta en fristad från konflikt, hungersnöd och naturkatastrof tror man att 75 procent av alla flyktingar har kommitfrån närliggande länder och ibland skapar detta en humanitär kris som kan tära på den nationella regeringen och internationella organisationer.
Inte bara använder den internationella hjälporganisationen internet för att sprida information och bilder gällande situationen i lägret på Twitter och Flicks men den har även lagt upp en videodagbok med skådespelerskan och Oxfam-ambassadören Scarlett Johansson på YouTube [en]:
Självfallet är situationen i Dadaab så allvarlig att inte Oxfam är den enda internationella organisationen som arbetar i lägret, och en hjälparbetare , Amy Burge, lägger regelbundet upp uppdateringar på the Lutheran World Relief-bloggen:
The worst drought in 60 years has left millions of people at the brink of starvation. Their crops have died along with their livestock. Without any means to feed themselves, tens of thousands have flocked here to Dadaab, Kenya — home to the world’s largest refugee camp.
Då media nu har rapporterat att kolera än en gång sprids i lägret belyste Burke faran i början av november:
The rains are coming.
This may sound like a beautiful sentiment for the East African refugees who have suffered from severe droughts in the Horn of Africa during this past year. While the rains bring new life and revival, they also bring many waterborne diseases. It’s estimated that about 75,000 people in Dadaab alone could fall ill due to the spread of disease.
Berättelser såsom Burkes är sannerligen avgörande för att sprida information från lägret när medias uppmärksamhet har minskat:
The headlines have ceased. The struggle is silent. Only the crisis remains.
While the drought in East Africa and the mass relocation of hundreds of thousands of people to the overcrowded refugee camps in Dadaab have stopped making headlines, the nature of the situation is still incredibly dire.
Refugees are real people, not just an overwhelming statistic. Each one of the 400,000 residing in Dadaab is a real person with a real life and real needs–but often, we push them and their plight to the back of our minds believing that there is nothing we can do.
Kanske är det av den anledningen som Burke har målat en mer mänsklig bild av livet i lägret. Hon belyser personliga berättelser som många utanför Dadaab wskulle anse vara tappra och modiga:
Ambiya lived in Somalia with her daughter, mother, and grandmother. Due to an increasing drought situation and famine spreading throughout her country, it was time to flee to a safer location. She was in no state to leave however; and after eating little to nothing for 18 days, 20-year-old Ambiya gave birth to her son Hamza.
[…] Being a new mother isn’t easy; making sure your baby is healthy, safe and that his or her needs are met is a full time responsibility. While this is stressful enough, imagine leaving your home country, walking by foot for at least a week, losing every one of your material possessions to a drought, and arriving to a new place in order to start a new life with nothing but the clothes on your back.
Without delay, the day after she gave birth, Ambiya left with her newborn, daughter, mother and grandmother on a long trek from Somalia to Kenya. […] Most people’s only goal is to survive the journey — a lofty, and in many cases, unobtainable hope. For Ambiya, her goal was to get her whole family to Dadaab alive, especially her one-day-old newborn.
[…] The problem with distancing ourselves from her story and her feat is that we tend to fictionalize her. Ambiya is a real person who persevered during what was probably the most difficult experience of her life. She represents pure strength. Her action was real and it was emblematic of how the love and strength of a mother extends beyond logic and self-preservation far into love and self-sacrifice.
Burke lägger även upp berättelser om att flyktingar skapar samhällen och försöker att försörja sig:
Refugees once artisans, tailors, farmers, etc. have found ways to utilize their skills and exchange resources within their new communities in Dadaab.
While aid remains a necessary and life-sustaining component to those living in Dadaab, markets have begun to spring up helping the refugees find ways to meet some of their own needs.
Trade is abundant while those lucky people who still own livestock sell milk and cheese, tailors with a few bits of extra fabric make garments, basket weavers once again take to their craft, and whoever has the means to buy seeds, grows a garden and sells the vegetables, etc.
The markets have helped improve individual livelihoods, built a larger community, and provided easier access to some resources. With the recent influx of people and new goods to trade, the markets are flourishing — creating within Dadaab a small market economy of its own.
Reuters multimediaproducent Natasha Elkington har också satt ihop en video om livet i lägret med samma mål:
I wanted to see if I could tell their story through a different lens, showing their daily lives instead of just glaring down at their ribbed bodies and swollen eyes.
[…]
[…] Many of Dadaab’s children are dying. And then there are others who, despite living in the world’s oldest refugee camp, embrace their childhood; they play, go to school, care for their siblings and collect water for their families. I wanted to incorporate all of these aspects of life for Dadaab’s children into this project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GVUJpUMwDro
Enligt FNs flyktingkommissariat har antalet flyktingar nu nått ungefär 43.7 miljoner människor över hela världen, det högsta antalet på 15 år. Antalet internflyktingar har även stigit och nådde 27.5 miljoner vid slutet av 2010.