IDP Camps

During the post-election violence that hit Kenya during the period from December to February, it's estimated that at least 350,000 people were displaced in one way or another from their homes. Fortunately many were able to return quickly, and piece together their lives. Unfortunately many people came home to find that they had no home; it had been looted and burned. One of the largest groups affected by this targeted violence in western Kenya (where we are working) were the Kikuyus, the tribe favored by the president's party. In Kakamega, a ten minute drive from the peace center, people are still sheltered at the local Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. At the beginning of the year, six thousand called this camp home. Many have made the journey home; but seven months later there are still 286 people living in the camp, with no clear time table or indication from the government of when it will be safe for them to return to their homes. On Friday we had the chance to visit the camp, and talk to those still living there (and to bring some supplies to the refugees that we had bought). It was really hard; they've been living three months without firewood or any means of cooking, and the government hasn't been supplying the camp with the necessary food. These are people from all walks of life, engineers, doctors, and farmers alike. They were in amazing spirits considering their circumstances, but you can see and hear the pain it's forced into their lives as they talk to you. Hopefully the Kenyan government can make true steps to resettling these people into their lives.
The above picture is of us handing over some of the supplies we brought to the management of the camp.

Here's a picture of the general layout of the camp. Each tent has two separate rooms, and now that the numbers in the camp has fallen it seems that one tent is usually only shared by a single family.