When Strangers Care...

I have been off the blogs for some time now, mostly as a result of intoxication and laziness ..eer, well, mostly a combination of work and personal issues, not to mention writers' block. Being the type of person who does not open up easily or does not consider self to have lots of followers or something like that, it therefore comes as a surprise to me when I get emails, twitter DMs and Facebook inboxes from people who I only know online and have never met, inquiring about my well being. I mean some of these people are actually from other continents and countries. What am I supposed to make of that?

In the past I have mused about online friends, you can read that HERE, and also talked about the loneliness that can plague a soul in these time HERE, so at least this comforts me that there are actually some people who can notice that I am missing online ( I hope not only people I owe money to) and bother to try and found out what happened to this soul. Not that I probably make much of a difference but...

I am posting this from Dadaab refugee camp, the biggest refugee camp in the world with close to 500,000 Somali refugees. The last time I visited here was in 2010 and thought that it was my last visit here. I even blogged something about that HERE. However returning back here and thinking about the refugee population in a way makes you get a bit sober about life and appreciate the joys and privilege of living in a stable country. After the last elections we went close to civil war in this country, and this year the politicians continue with their tribal laced rhetoric aimed at dividing citizens and lining their pockets with votes, if such a phrase exists. Sometimes you shudder to imagine that the world you know could be lost and, if you are lucky enough, end up in a refugee camp. I get outraged when I see the pictures that come out of Syria as the rest of the world wines and dines....

Found Photos: Last day in Dadaab

Look at what I just found in my computer! These are some pictures from my last visit to Dadaab refugee camp, sometimes in June this year. Dadaab is currently reported to be the worlds largest refugee camp, with over 300,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia, cramped in.



This is how the roads look like.

I first went to Dadaab in 2005 when I began working for FilmAid International.



Posing for a photo with FilmAid staff and refugee volunteers in IFO. Dadaab refugee camp is actually three separate refugee camps, Hagadera, Ifo and Dagahaley.



With staff in Hagadera. Hagadera is the most politicized of the camps and one of the most difficult camps to work in.



This picture is part of a campaign against sex and gender based violence (SGBV). SGBV is quite rampant in the somali refugee camps.



Hanging out with staff



If you cannot eat goat meat in Dadaab, then you will probably starve to death. Tearing into goat meat with Jackie whom I had just introduced as FilmAid's Program Manager in Dadaab.



My last task in Dadaab was to do a jig with Victor and Somali musicians before dashing for my flight. That jig almost cost me a missed flight!