Category: Letter from the Editor

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Letter from the Editor Peace and Security

Editorial Note

Dear KANERE Readers and Supporters,

It has been a year since the last issue of KANERE was published, but we are back again with strong determination and resilience despite constantly facing obstacles in terms of humanitarian funding. Most international donors have routinely or continuously funded International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) with little knowledge of programming and service delivery on the ground. Sadly, this has sidelined the funding of critical refugee-led media organizations, including KANERE. This is simply due to KANERE’s critical reporting that sheds light on the lack of accountability by humanitarian organizations, issues of fraud and corruption, and incidents of violent insecurity across refugee camps, exposing where camp authorities have failed.

Would there be any evaluation of the aspects of triple nexus over the work of KANERE’s reporting in the old Kakuma and Kalobeyei establishments over the fragile peaceful relationship between refugees and the host population?

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Contributors Feature Reports Human Rights Kakuma Town and Kenya Letter from the Editor News Updates Peace and Security

REFUGEE KILLED IN STRUGGLE OVER FIREWOOD

By Qaabata Boru KANERE Staff Investigative Journalist – February 2021

One South Sudanese refugee teenager killed and another sustained injuries in a fight over firewood collection in Kakuma.

Firewood in Kakuma is most challenging need as default energy source: KANERE File/Qaabata Boru
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Human Rights Humanitarian Services Kakuma Town and Kenya Letter from the Editor News Updates Quotes of the Month

Water Shortage in the new settlement in the middle of the pandemic

By Akuna Denza – KANERE Staff Writer, February 2021

Kalobeyei residents face a shortage of water as women turn to alternative sources to alleviate/mitigate the water concern.

A refugee woman drawing water from a lagga (river) in Kalobeyei village 2/ KANERE Kalobeyei
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Community and Culture Letter from the Editor News Updates Quotes of the Month

Letter from the Editors

Dear KANERE readers,

We are pleased to publish a new edition of Kakuma News Reflector (KANERE).

Since 2008, KANERE has focused on issues that matter to refugees based in Kakuma refugee camp. We continue to report under adverse conditions, in the face of immense financial and security challenges.

In this publication, we offer fact-based insight and analysis from the ground to our readers and supporters. The stories in this edition draw attention to how refugees are reluctantly abiding by necessary restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as recently enacted enforcement measures, we examine the impact of climate change on refugees and its role in the growing number of refugees being displaced within Kakuma camps.

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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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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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Arts Contributors Letter from the Editor News Updates Opinion

To: The Editor of Kakuma News Reflector

I have been a reader of KANERE for a long while. Many refugees like myself feel that KANERE is the only independent media that gives voice to refugees in both the Kakuma camp and the Kalobeyei settlement.

I would like to raise some concerns about the different ways that refugees all over the camp have been suffering, sometimes due to oppressive humanitarian policies. We hope future publications will cover these issues:

The first issue is about the rations on which we survive in Kakuma. You are denied a ration card if you have missed two food distributions. If you miss, your ration card is permanently deactivated and you are told to register anew. Imagine, someone has stayed ten years and then misses just three months, and they are required to start everything as if they are a newcomer.

The ration system becomes a way to police people, as if we are locked up in the camp. I know a family of five who were in Nairobi for medical reasons. When they came back to Kakuma, they discovered that their ration card had been deactivated. After staying months without a ration, the card was finally activated but recognizing only two people in the household. What kind of humanitarian treatment is this? I have attached a photo of a family begging to the agencies to open up their ration card. I hope you will find a space to publish that photo.

The second issue is about mental health. A lot of people who have been suffering due to mental illness, and the numbers of suicides are rising. It is good to create awareness about suicide prevention, but doing this only occasionally cannot help us. Refugees need counseling, and I hope KANERE will raise this issue in future editions to sound the alarm for organizations and donors.

The third issue concerns documentation. The Refugee Affaires Secretariat (RAS) is understaffed. They need to add additional employees and budget so that they can more adequately serve refugees. It takes so long for us to retrieve vital documents and permissions. The latest figures that I have seen show that around 23,000 asylum seekers are waiting for decisions on their status. They lack interpreters, and this is a big challenge especially for those who do not speak Kiswahili.

Finally, the issue of Coronavirus: Refugees both in Kakuma and Kalobeyei are panicking due to news of the pandemic. I do not think the agencies will save us if the virus reaches here. Please let the world know that we have nothing to rely on. May Allah protect all of us.

I hope you will publish the above message.

Yours faithfully

Essa Suliyman – Kakuma Refugee Camp

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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the editors

Dear KANERE readers,

Welcome to our latest edition. We have had a long stretch without a new publication, largely due to the lack of funding for our operations, as well as interruptions while some staff and volunteers were moving from the camp to urban areas of Kenya or out of the region. However, our dedicated team in Kakuma – with the support of founding members abroad – will continue to work toward making KANERE a source of quality journalism.

Many of our stories are pertinent to various stakeholders in Kakuma, including refugees, the international community, and the humanitarian organizations that deliver aid. However, some of the stories will primarily be of interest to our audiences who live or have lived in the camp.

On July 10, armed conflict between Somali refugees and members of the host community resulted in at least three injuries, including that of a child. Our story includes analysis of the ways that such conflicts escalate and the repercussions for businesses and humanitarian operation in the camp.

In April, the Government of Kenya undertook a biometric registration process of all residents of the country in an attempt to prevent impersonation and fraud, authenticate personal data, and enhance access to government services. However, the programme has been criticized by citizens and right groups for publicizing citizens’ private information in violation of the constitution. A few months later, neither UNHCR nor the government’s Refugee Affairs Secretariat (RAS) has commented on the ongoing biometric registrations of refugees in Kakuma. This silence has left many camp residents feeling uninformed.

This edition also includes articles covering an array of other issues pertinent to those living in Kakuma, including water shortages, a new mobile application designed for camp residents, and the lack of support for shelter maintenance and safety inspections. As is often the case, a number of the stories are distressing: we cover a wave of suicides by women in Kakuma, the murder and mutilation of a child in an outlying area of the camp, and the unsolved case of a bodaboda (motorbike) driver from Burundi whose murder remains a mystery to the community.

In an effort to use KANERE as a forum for perspectives from the refugee and host communities, we have included in this edition perspectives solicited from residents about Kalobeyei, a new site of refugee warehousing that has been described as an “integrated settlement”. We present a range of viewpoints on the prospects for integration at this site, some optimistic and others critical. Looking ahead, there is some disagreement on whether Kalobeyei should be called a new settlement or merely an extension of the Kakuma camps, an issue that will be discussed in our next edition.

As always, we thank all KANERE members and supporters for supporting the continuation of KANERE’s vital work disseminating up-to-date information and amplifying advocacy efforts by and for refugees. We strive to maintain a fair editorial decision emphasizing openness and integrity, and we continue to welcome submissions of timely stories and critical opinions to be considered for publication.

We also welcome commentary from camp residents, members of the host community, and those working within the humanitarian organizations to provide services to the warehoused populations. To contact our editorial team at KANERE, drop us an email at Kakuma.news@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Qaabata Boru, Elias Lemma & G. Ibrahim

KANERE Editorial Team

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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the editor

Dear KANERE readers,

I was recently speaking to a friend who was unfamiliar with KANERE. I described the newsletter as “unique,” and when asked what makes KANERE different from other publications in Kakuma, my response was quick: its independence. There are a number of so-called “refugee magazines” that operate in the camp. They are branded with the refugee label but are run by humanitarian agency staff like Film Aid. These organizations are funded by the UN Refugee Agency, and it is in their interest to shape the portrayal of refugee camps in Kenyan and international media to convey a “humanitarian-positive” view. Such narratives are not attuned to the perspectives and opinions of refugees themselves. This is how KANERE is different: its independence allows it to attend to refugees’ interests in a manner that is not mediated by agencies and external institutions.

Of course, there have been hurdles in sustaining this publication. When I moved from Kenya to Canada in 2017, most of my former responsibilities were passed to the incoming editor Elias Lemma. Elias then left for the US shortly thereafter under the refugee resettlement program. This was welcome news and a positive turning point in Elias’s life, as he had remained in Kakuma for nearly 15 years, despite his critical protection needs as an exiled journalist. But these transitions caused some setbacks, interrupting the smooth operation of the newspaper. Nonetheless, the KANERE team remained passionate about their reporting tasks. In early 2018, Elias transferred the editorial roles to G. Ibrahim, who is currently the managing editor of KANERE, leading the team of young and dedicated refugee journalists and reporters in Kakuma.

For refugees who are largely dependent on aid rations for survival, life in a camp like Kakuma is a series of ups and downs. The very existence of the camp, established in 1991, is a failure of the international law and a tacit acceptance of refugee warehousing. But within this context, there have been both positive and negative developments in terms of service delivery and the pursuit of durable solutions to the protracted displacement. This issue provides a lens on several of these developments.

The implementation of an innovative technological application of refugee verification known as Kiosk to Access Services and Information (KASI) has supported communication between refugees and agency staff. Agencies are promoting KASI as a way to allow refugees to access key information in their files. But for many refugees, lack of mobile phones and computer literacy remains a challenge.

The repatriation programs for refugees from Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi continue to provide a means for people to return to their countries of origin. These programmes are intended to be implemented strictly on a voluntary basis, but for many refugees’ personal and social circumstances, these countries remain unsafe for return.

Along with several other stories, we have also included a security update pertaining to the death of two refugees by gunshot wounds in Kakuma, which followed incidences of alleged robbery by violence.

As always, we welcome comments, opinions, criticisms and expert contributions to our editorial section, which can be submitted to us at kakuma.news@gmail.com.

As we move into 2019, Happy New Year from all of us at KANERE!

Sincerely,

Qaabata Boru, Elias Lemma & G. Ibrahim

KANERE Editorial Team

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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the editor

Dear KANERE readers,

Welcome to this special edition that comes as the first of the year 2018. The Kakuma News Reflector didn’t have any publication over 2017 as a result of staff going for different things that includes: studies, work and traveling abroad.

However, KANERE is back on reporting again. The paper will remain purely a refugee run news service providing balanced and often untold horrible stories of camp life, humanitarian service deliveries and human rights.

As you may know, Kakuma is a highly cosmopolitan camp and life is one of continual dynamics which is fostered by the humanitarian setting of keeping the existing numbers and alternating new arrivals into the camps as sources of aid business. The more the numbers of refugees, the more campaigns would be momentum for more funding to the camps. Also, it’s a problem when there is a reduced number of refugees in the camp as the effect would be little funding which often leads to reduction in staffing, creating of gaps and cartels on refugee operation in-country or at the Africa bureau.

Nonetheless, despite the continuing high numbers of residents, Kakuma and Dadaab have encountered the worst humanitarian times recently as result of famine. Food rations were cut twice in 2017 as an outcome of condensed funding from the UN body after president Trump came to power. Several humanitarian agencies had to decelerate some of their refugee assistance programs in Kenya including RSC Africa – US Refugee Admission Program.

In Kakuma refugee camp, Trump’s negative policies on refugees have led to a perception of reduced freedom, safety and social connection among the refugee families who are torn apart globally.

Over several months Kakuma has experienced insecurity problems that has resulted in looting of homes at night, attacks that have caused injuries including sexual violence often committed by thugs who are armed with guns.

In an article from later April, a political refugee was murdered in the camp by Kenyan armed forces on an unjustified allegation of theft. Eight months down the line the murder of a refugee man remain a misery to relatives and the community.

A story on Kenya’s black market in “Refugee real estate” details its informal system of shelter ownership, and lack of formal legal protection that allow systematic corruption inside the camp among other stories.

We would like to welcome comments, opinions, criticisms and expert contribution to our editorial by writing to us at kakuma.news@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Qaabata Boru

Editorial Executive – KANERE