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Community and Culture Education Health Humanitarian Services Kakuma Town and Kenya News Updates

A VIRUS. A CAR-MOUNTED LOUDSPEAKER. A STORY

Shirley Owenga – KANERE Guest Writer November 2020

When you think of a refugee camp in Kenya, you might imagine the rumble of canter trucks carrying food; wind blowing through rugged tents; a vast dusty field with a patch of grass here, a patch there; countless children playing make-shift games in second-hand clothing.

A child wearing mask in host community neighborhood during Kanere’s broadcasting sessions in Kalobeyei Village one, October 2020/KANERE

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Letter from the Editor News Updates Opinion Quotes of the Month

Letter from the editors

Dear KANERE readers and supporters,

We are delighted to publish a new edition of Kakuma News Reflector or KANERE.

Like the previous issue, this edition focuses on Covid-19 coverage. As an independent and refugee-lead media organization, KANERE has been at the frontline in thwarting misinformation and making sure that refugees in Kakuma and Kalobeyei have access to the valid information that is needed for an effective public health response. Following a partial lockdown announcement in Kakuma and Dadaab, effective from April 29th, the first coronavirus infection in Kakuma camp was confirmed on May 25th.

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Education Feature Reports News Updates

Soap Production Initiative

By Baluu Wol Makuach – KANERE Staff Writer, May 2020

Students at Kakuma Refugee Secondary School are responding to the Covid-10 pandemic by manufacturing detergent soaps for sale to the community.

Rebecca is adding Sodium Hydroxide to the mixture to lower the PH of the mixture: Photo/KANERE

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Community and Culture News Updates

Ramadan in Kakuma under COVID-19 Pandemic

By Hibo Mohammed – KANERE Staff Writer May, 2020

The Muslim community of Kakuma is made up of various nationalities majority coming from Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan and Burundi. Muslims in Kakuma adhere to fasting during Ramadan. For breaking the fast (iftar), fresh fruits are available all around the markets. Residents purchase them in larger quantities to make juice. However, due to covid-19, social and religious gatherings are banned across the country.

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Human Rights Humanitarian Services News Updates

Refugee family ask for justice in killing of son by police during curfew

KANERE staff writer, May 3, 2020

A refugee from South Sudan died on April 26th while receiving treatment at IRC hospital in Kakuma 4. The deceased identified as Sunday Peter was a 22-year old resident of Kakuma 4, Block 1 Zone 2 and a Form One student at Vision Secondary school.

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Community and Culture News Updates

Pastor takes a bicycle to save refugees from the Pandemic

By Hibo Mohammed KANERE Staff Writer, May 2020

75-year-old Pastor Juba Lungula from the Democratic Republic of Congo arrived in Kakuma Refugee camp in 2012, leaving his family back home. It had always been his passion to preach the Gospel.

Pastor takes bicycle to preach Covid-19 awareness by using illustrations around the camp communities/Photo by KANERE

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Human Rights News Updates

Asylum Seeker Commits Suicide at Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kakuma

By KANERE staff writer, March 10, 2020

An asylum seeker was found dead at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church compound in Kakuma refugee camp one on Saturday, February 9 2020 in an apparent suicide.

Asylum Seeker Commits Suicide at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kakuma after waiting RSD for 7 years contrary to 1951 convention/ KANERE

The man was an Ethiopian national in his 40s named Endalkachew Seifu, who had fled his country in the year 2013, as reported by his close friend.

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Business and Development Community and Culture News Updates

Local solutions for global problems

By Santos Madhieu – KANERE Staff Writer, May 2020

Meet Samson, a 22-year-old Congolese designer who came to Kakuma Camp in 2015 and is now helping to fight the Coronavirus by making free face masks for both refugees and locals.

Samson, a refugee designer helping to fight Coronavirus through masks provision: Photo/KANERE

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Letter from the Editor News Updates Opinion Quotes of the Month

Covid-19 Coverage by the Kakuma News Reflector

By the KANERE Editorial Team

The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (aka COVID-19) has already impacted many countries around the world, especially in China, Iran, Europe and the United States.

In Africa, at least 52 countries have confirmed cases. Over 13,000 people have tested positive, and more than 700 of them have died. Kenya reported its first case in mid-March, and as the virus continues to spread to new counties, refugees in Kakuma are anxious that the virus will eventually reach the camp.

In the coming weeks, the Kakuma News Reflector will make Covid-19 a special focus. The editorial team is working overtime to report on the responses by humanitarian agencies and the government, as well as the ways that communities are dealing with the threat.

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Feature Reports Humanitarian Services News Updates Quotes of the Month

Photo Essay: Two months food assistance distributed in anticipation of potential lockdown

By Baluu Wol Makuach – KANERE Staff Writer April, 2020

On April 2nd, KANERE correspondent Baluu Wol Makuach visited Food Distribution Point 1 to see how the World Food Programme (WFP) was delivering rations under the increased health precautions. To curb the spread of Covid-19 in Kakuma, WFP is distributing a double ration of two months of relief food to beneficiaries.

This is the first story published in KANERE’s Photo Essay series, told through images rather than a conventional written article.

Refugees wait to be screened by KK Security officers in the security queue outside Food Distribution Point 1. UNHCR, along with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), instituted precautionary health measures to be followed by refugees while coming to collect their food. This includes thermal screening, two-meter social distancing, hand-washing, and limiting the number of people present in the collection zone to fewer than ten. But outside, crowding put many people into close proximity to one another.