EXHIBITS

A UN Ration card. The 1-16 numbers indicate family size, the numbers running around the edge of the card indicate distribution timing. Photo credit: UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/registration-guidance/chapter5/documentation/

The life in Kakuma was very tough. In Kakuma, they give you a ration card number. You have food in every fifteen days…but the food that they giving to you is not enough. Like, it can’t last a week. –Aydrus

Kakuma Refugee Camp is in a harsh environment that is hot, dry, and barren. As Ismael indicates, it could be quite a shock for coastal peoples when they arrived. Image credit: UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/ke/kakuma-refugee-camp

They wanted everybody to move and go to that Kakuma Camp. We were coastal people, and over there is upper country, and it was really hard for us to adapt to the climate and everything. We try our best to survive. The food, was not enough for us. Sometimes you can get out the camp, and the neighborhood, you go there, whatever is fine. You work, and you get paid daily. So, you do that, or sometimes we make food and get it out and sell it. Make some money so we can buy the sugar, the tea, or the gas for the night, so we can light our homes.

–Ismael

You know, Ifo, it’s still—I cannot forget. The reason is that’s where I took all my young age. When I was very young, I would like to play in the community, you know, mingling with your friends. People whom you are neighbors. All these stuff. It was beautiful life over there. Except, because it’s a refugee camp also.  But it seems good when you’re young. By the time you get a little bit, adult, Ifo, it’s a place where there’s not opportunities. –Yussuf