They call it the most desperate place on Earth.
Although it is seemingly a world away, national media outlets have provided us with an inside look that at the very minimum, will pull at the heartstrings of the most cold and calloused person.
In Dadaab, Kenya, currently known as the world’s largest refugee camp, there is extreme famine, a horrendous stench, and in this specific part of Africa, there is death …everywhere.
The initial cause of the massive famine is severe drought that resulted in the death of livestock, the loss of crops, and the loss of the world’s most natural and basic resource: water. Children are the most affected. In the last three months, 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died. Rain is not expected to come to the area until October, so the number of deaths will be ever-increasing.
The famine news coverage is difficult to watch. I know many people who say they turn the channel as soon as coverage begins because it is “too much to witness.” I make myself watch the coverage because I think it is important for the world to see the plight of these people. In last week’s editorial I wrote about empathy being the answer to the world’s problems. Perhaps if we placed ourselves in the position of those in Dadaab we would be more inclined to do something.
There have been so many reports that have left a lasting impression on me. One in particular was about a little girl. In assessing her physical appearance, I estimated her to be around 4-years-old. She was actually 9. The starvation caused her to suffer from an infection all over her body. She was blind in one eye and had sores and scabs all over her body. The top of her head was the worst. It looked like an extreme case of cradle cap with exposed tissue.
There was another report that profiled a young mother and her 6-month-old son. Like thousands of other parents in the stricken area, this woman walked for over a month to seek help at the refugee camp. Although she finally made it and her son was given the proper nutrients to regain health, a positive outcome for the skeletal-looking boy seems unrealistic. The mother said only God can save her child now.
If there is one good thing that I can say about this horrific situation it would be the resilience of the parents. These parents are determined to get their children help. And since most hail from Somalia and neighboring areas, help is far away. The average person walks for 15 to 30 days to make it to the refugee camp. There are parents in America who won’t walk around the block to buy medicine for their child, yet these Africans are literally walking for weeks at a time.
During the voyage to the camp, some families are robbed of what little possessions they have and are beaten for not having more. Even more disturbing is bandits who either rape the Somalia evacuees or order others to rape them. In many cases brothers were told to rape their sisters. Many chose death than to do such a thing. On the trek to Kenya, it is also common to see families leaving their children on the side of the road; the ones who died before reaching the camp.
When one woman waiting to gain access into the refugee camp was asked how many children she had, she said four. Only seeing three children near her, the reporter asked where the fourth child was. The mother said the child died on the way. She said it as casually as if someone asked her the time – there were no tears, nor any real emotion. I don’t believe this woman was unaffected by the death of her child or that she was being callous. I simply believe she was in shock or maybe even denial.
The refugee camp has a capacity for 90,000. At Recorder press time, there were 400,000 people at the camp with thousands more expected. Resources in Kenya are running low so aid is needed. The Obama administration pledges to do more, but individually we all can do something. Visit www.usaaid.gov to make a donation. Your contribution will pay for water, food and vaccinations.
While famine is rampant in the area, there is hope. In most cases as long as sufferers can get help, their lives can be saved.
