Refugee camp

After about an hour ride we reach the IDP camps of Mai Mahiu (one of the many camps for internally displaced refugees in Kenya) These camps are the tragic result of the 2007 elections.. Corruption and shady results..


For months following the elections, the whole country was immersed in total chaos.. The kikuyu people (the tribe of the "elected" president) were persecuted and killed by the thousands..

The second candidate to the presidentcy (probably the true winner of the commitions) finnaly steped up to accept the results and demand that the massacre stop..


Peace came back to Kenya but the casualties had been tremendous..


Thousands of families had been forced to flee from there homes and now found themselves with nothing.. Thousands of lives were tragically lost and countless others ruined..


The government tried to indemnify people and gave money to some..

This is how the IDP camps came about...


People made new friendships and got together to buy land with the indemnification money and settle down to start anew..


The camp we visit today is home to more than 600 families.. Mostly women whose husbands were killed during the post-election riots, and their children..

We are in the middle of rift valley.. Sandy land all around.. No water..


Some live in stone houses that a Kenyan NGO provided but more than half of them live in plastic tend-like constructions.. Normally a 4x3meter space where the whole family (6-7 members) sleep, cook and eat..


There is a still not finished school with some 300 children, which is apparently doing OK, and then a high school with 1300 kids and only 9 teachers!!!

A teacher here makes 22 euros/30 dollars a month and there is still no money for more...


No rain. The crops are dead so again this year: no harvest..

Fundings are scarce so the feeding program has stopped.


The children at school cannot be fed so at 12.30 they are sent back home.. they are so hungry that they can no longer study..


An iphone money's worth could feed a big family for a whole year...


This world is too crazy.......