Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya’s Turkana County is the only home Rose Chelia has known for the past 22 years, She fled the Second Sudanese Civil War (which eventually led to the secession of South Sudan in 2011) and found refuge at this camp in north-western part of Kenya…
For her, being asked to leave presents a dilemma: the camp is congested with limited basic supplies. But it is a home she has known since she was a child. Yet she is not a Kenyan per se, This dilemma may, from November this year, be solved after the Kenyan government agreed to provide the estimated 700,000 refugees in Kenya with a special type of identification to enable them move around to do business or seek some type of work, or even go to school like locals.
Known as Shirika Plan, it could cost up to $1 billion to run and upgrade the Kakuma, and Dadaab Refugee camp (in Garissa County), both of which will be turned into formal municipalities, Up to now, I don’t know the direction to my home because I have never gone back after fleeing war. I have spent my childhood ages at the camp, ” Ms Chelia said in an interview last week.
Her story is not different from that of Mr Salum Ramadhan, from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He arrived here in 1992. Kakuma then was 17km2 of land that would later be divided into four sections, now all full of camps-homes for refugees for decades, “I fled civil war in my country in 2011 and despite the challenges, I am happy Kenya gave me a second home to restart my life,” Mr Ramadhan said.
