See you later Kakuma!

Hello - back from Germany!

It has been quite quiet here in the last few weeks. This is partly because time has flown by and I have hardly had a free second between work, research, and cycling. I also didn't know if and how I am allowed to write about my experience in the organization, because of some policies. Taking photos in the camp is also a difficult matter. But better late than never. I arrived back in Freiburg safely and here is a short review of my time from January to mid-March in Kakuma and Nairobi.

In general, I can say that the focus of my work in the last 2 months was on SDG 4 (sustainable development goal) - ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality education. The SDGs are the 17 goals of the United Nations for sustainable development by 2030. In recent years, I have been very committed to this SDG through my work with the association Weitblick e.V. in Freiburg, which is dedicated to projects for educational justice worldwide and locally. After my intense impressions in the last few weeks, it seems even more important to me that everyone has access to education. And not just access, but also high-quality education in a suitable learning environment. Especially for people who have had to give up everything and start anew in a different place.

For my time in Kakuma in January and February, I moved to the compound of the organization I was working with. They are an implementing partner of UNHCR and cover specific areas in the camp. While in the past year I was mainly outside of the refugee camp, now it has shifted to working with and for refugees. I was in the HR department and I never thought that an office job could be so much fun. However, I had a lot of contact with people. In 6 weeks, I made thousands of phone calls and saw so many faces. Some callers woke me up at 5 in the morning, others wanted to know something on Saturday evening at 11. It was a round-the-clock job.

I was also out in the field a lot and one particularly exciting experience was conducting a needs assessment. We conducted interviews with many different people for whom programs are being made, in order to understand the challenges and gaps and to identify solution ideas and needs. It was incredibly fun and I gained many interesting, sad, and beautiful insights into life in the refugee camp. There is still a long way to go until they can live and learn with equal opportunities and rights.

'Just because we are refugees doesn't mean we are not intelligent. We just don't have the same opportunities!'

Two special days were a graduation ceremony for refugees who were able to earn their bachelor's degree from an American university through an online program. The joy of the families and the graduates was immense, and the dances and cheers were unforgettable. But the sad thing is that they cannot easily find a job that matches their degree in the camp. The status of being a refugee is a major obstacle in Kenyan life, even though the government keeps implementing reforms to facilitate refugees' access to the job market, for example.

 
Another special day with many VIPs was the inauguration of a girls' boarding school for refugees and Turkana by the Big Heart Foundation. Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi from the United Arab Emirates came for this event, there was a tour of the school and the boarding facility, dances and songs by the female students. It created quite a buzz and excitement for the girls in the school. A few days earlier, two NGOs had planted 270 tree seedlings together with the students. We had a lot of fun and the atmosphere was much more relaxed. And a few girls asked me when I would come back to see them and the trees again. They said they would take good care of the little trees so that they would be tall and big when I come back.

My days and often the weekends were so filled with work, because even during dinner and afterwards, we still had tasks to do with our colleagues, who are also our roommates. I found life to be very beautiful, sharing a lot with each other and having the people around me in mind. (The only negative thing was that Excel spreadsheets haunted me even in my dreams at night. :D) I have rarely seen people who are so passionate and dedicated to helping others, especially refugees, and I was deeply impressed and inspired. (If you have any extra money and would like to support projects that directly benefit refugees in Kakuma in order to enable their participation, please feel free to contact me.)

When I left Freiburg, besides the people, I missed my bicycle (and not overcooked spaghetti) the most. One morning, I was at the gym on the compound at 5 a.m., completely drowsy on a bike, and even though it didn't move forward, it was pretty cool to finally pedal again. Someone saw me struggling and told me that they have a second bike and a cycling group. So, in the last few weeks, I discovered Kakuma in a completely different way in every free moment. My radius of movement on foot was very limited because I couldn't walk around in the area for too long due to the heat. My first trip with the cycling crew was a 40 km ride through the entire camp in Kakuma to Kalobeyei, the alternative camp. I saw so many new places and met so many people. All my cycling friends work for different international organizations, WFP and UNHCR, and I also gained interesting insights into their work. During the week, if work allowed, we went on wonderful sunset tours in all directions of Kakuma, with Venus and Jupiter shining above us. Before, I thought Kakuma was quite small and only stretched along the highway, but I was completely wrong. While cycling, the children in the streets regularly tried to catch and touch me and often ran alongside and behind me for minutes.

In Nairobi, I was able to spend some time with my friends from Nairobi. But I needed the first few days to detach myself from Kakuma. It was only then that I realized what it means to live and work in a so-called hardship area. Kakuma has captivated and fulfilled me so much that I only realized after leaving how demanding and exhausting the time was.

I think Nairobi is such a livable and vibrant city. Some major roads border directly on Nairobi National Park, and while driving by in an Uber, I saw giraffes, zebras, antelopes, and more. Nairobi is already about 10-15 degrees colder than Kakuma and especially in the evenings, I was freezing, but still 25 degrees warmer than my first morning in Germany at a pleasant -1°C.

In the next weeks and months, I will have many voices from Kakuma in my ear as I transcribe the interviews and write my thesis about the camp and the impact of the climate crisis. I am looking forward to being able to still be in Kakuma in my mind and to delve into all the experiences in a different way. The climate crisis has long since arrived in Kakuma and the people experience and feel it with their entire bodies and psyche. The heat and drought, the water scarcity, and the desolateness, I was able to feel them with my whole body over and over again. It exhausted and drained me. But in Kakuma, I was in such a privileged position, with so many resources and support systems. And with the possibility to leave at any time.

I am infinitely grateful for all the people I have met in the past months. And also for all of you in Germany who have accompanied me from afar. Thank you!

See you soon

Akolong (the Turkana name given to me - it means sunny)