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.
Vendors sell food to those waiting in the security queue. A rope is put in place to keep the crowd away from the food distribution exit. A refugee-staffed security group called the Community Peace and Protection Team (CPPT) is responsible for monitoring the security line outside.After making it through the initial queue, refugees sit in the classrooms at Unity Primary School, which have been established as a waiting area. While Kakuma camp residents still receive some of their assistance as in-kind food items, those at the nearby Kalobeyei Settlement receive all of their assistance in the form of electronic transfers, at KSh 1400 per person per month. Some Kakuma residents have called for their assistance to be changed entirely to cash assistance as well, which would make it unnecessary to queue for long hours at the distribution centers.The classrooms become hot under the afternoon sun. Some people move to the shade outside the classrooms to escape the heat.There is a water point inside the school where those who become thirsty can take water while they wait to move into the food distribution centre. For the sake of social distancing, security regulates the number who collect water at one time.After they are released from the waiting area at the school, refugees queue again to have their temperature screened, after which they can enter the food distribution point. There have been rumors that some families are refusing to collect their food rations due to fear of contacting the contagious disease. However, Zone 3 leader Abraham Machiek was reached for comment: “I have not heard of any family turning down the current ration food. I went to the distribution point on day one for observation and everything was running smoothly”.People exit the food distribution point after receiving their rations. This food must last 61 days rather than the usual one month cycle. One South Sudanese woman explained, “It means a lot to receive the additional assistance, looking at the way coronavirus is spreading. But in terms of feeding, the food is not enough to take us through 61 days. The rice will last only a short time.’’Food recipients load their rations onto motorbike taxis to return home. I asked one of the motorbike drivers how he feels about working amidst a pandemic. “It is money, bro,” he replied. “Just money.”
