Dear KANERE readers and prospective supporters:
We apologize for the delayed publication of this issue. Publication was hindered by challenges and struggles that render tenuous the very existence of free press in the Kakuma refugee camp. Indeed, without determined efforts from the entire KANERE community here and abroad we might have not come this far.
KANERE’s operations, which function on a voluntary basis, have been impeded by mounting dangers. These dangers include: threats to security, prolonged droughts, high mortality rates at the refugee camp hospital and violent conflict within the camp. The usually short rain season, for example, has intensified famine for the livestock of local pastoralists in Turkana. Inside the camp, however, flooding from rainfall in May caused considerable damage to hundreds of shelters. These themes emerge repeatedly in the articles that follow.
Luckily, there is good news as well. The KANERE community is immensely grateful to the planners who put the camp under a new address and blocking system, enhancing accessibility and directions to the camp settlement. The number of Camp and urban refugees reading KANERE daily has also gradually increased through computer and mobile phone technologies. Our readers extend discussion of these stories with comments and contributions on our blog. We encourage readers inside and outside Kakuma to support us by telling and distributing the stories to others.
KANERE’s objective is to enable and promote the existence of civil society, currently fractured and facing many perils inside the camp. Most gravely, the forceful suppression of free press has created a self-perpetuating crisis. This censorship is experienced intimately in daily life. To be sure the stories in this issue reveal multiple powerful paradoxes that are not easily resolved. Underpinning these is the persistence of human suffering!
KANERE represents the only organized effort toward a sustainable civil society inside the Kakuma refugee camp. We ask the standard-bearers of human rights stand with us and protect those whose rights are routinely violated in the Kakuma refugee camp. We hope that our readers enjoy the articles, and we encourage you all to make contributions to the Refugee Free Press and post comments on our stories so we can continue this lively conversation.
Signed,
KANERE Editor-in-chief