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Kenya

Severly malnoutished baby Minhaj Gedi Farah
<p>Minhaj, two months after leaving the hospital. He&#39;s the picture of health at more than 17 pounds (8 kilos) -- nearly normal for a boy his age.</p>
<p>When Minhaj first arrived at the hospital, he was not only malnourished but also severely&nbsp; anemic.&nbsp; It took three life-saving blood transfusions and weeks of intensive feeding with Plumpy&rsquo;nut, a vitamin-enriched peanut paste, before his condition stabilized and he could be released.&nbsp; Afterward, Minhaj was treated for tuberculosis in an IRC outpatient program.</p>
Minhaj with his mother, Assiyah Dagane Osman, in the IRC hospital
Minhaj with his mother, Assiyah Dagane Osman
Dr. John Kiogora holds baby Minhaj outside the IRC's Dadaab hospital
Minhaj with IRC nutrition nurse Sirat Amin.

Baby Minhaj: Face of hope amid famine

Kenya
11.11.2011

In refugee camps in Dadaab, northeastern Kenya, the IRC aids Somalis who have fled a devastating drought and gives fortified food to malnourished young children. One of these children —  skeletal seven-month-old Minhaj Gedi Farah — became the face of the famine for millions who followed his progress in the news. Today, three months after leaving the IRC's hospital, the chubby-cheeked little boy has become a face of hope amid the crisis.

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IRC staff in Kenya treats a child for malnutrition, dehydration during drought
The IRC gives nutrition, immunizations to women and their babies in Kenya
A man teaches about HIV/AIDS in Kenya, provides testing and antiretroviral drugs
A child pumps clean water in Kenya; the IRC prevents disease, dehydration
Women sit together, part of IRC's help with medicine, legal advice, protection
The IRC in Kenya protects children through education, security and advocacy
A woman urban refugee that the IRC supports with education, safety, jobs
Students sit in an adult education class; the IRC helps them learn to find work
A woman in her sewing shop; the IRC helps people find work, start businesses

Inside our work in Kenya

Kenya
08.16.2011

Kenya is home to hundreds of thousands of refugees, and the IRC supports them and native Kenyans with clean water, health care and protection during emergencies, and with job training and education on legal rights and protections.

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<p>More than 1,300 Somali refugees arrive daily at the already overcrowded Dadaab camp in Kenya. The IRC has helped to establish reception centers where newly arrived refugees receive food, health screenings and medical referrals. Here, people gather outside the fence at one of the reception centers waiting to be admitted.</p>
<p>Many refugees arrive in Dadaab with nothing, stripped of even their clothes by militant groups or bandits who roam the area near the Kenya-Somalia border.</p>
<p>The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that about 40 percent of the Somali refugee children arriving at Dadaab are malnourished. Once they are identified as such, the children are rushed to the IRC&rsquo;s stabilization center, part of the IRC-run hospital in Hagadera, one of three sites that make up the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp. There they receive fortified food and medical care.</p>
<p>Minhaj Gedi Farahi, who is seven months old, arrived at the stabilization center weighing only six and a half pounds (three kilos) and on the brink of death. &ldquo;After a week&rsquo;s care he has gained 400 grams (almost a pound), which is a remarkable improvement,&rdquo; said the IRC&rsquo;s Dr. John Kigora. &ldquo;Against all odds, he will survive.&quot;</p>
<p>One-year-old Abdirahman Mohamed is in critical condition. Dr. Kigora and his colleagues constantly monitor the child, who is suffering from both severe malnutrition and pneumonia.</p>
<p>Halima, Abdirahman&#39;s mother, said the drought killed all her family&rsquo;s livestock&mdash;10 cows and two goats. &ldquo;We have nothing left,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We have nothing to return to.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m scared about the future.&quot;</p>
<p>At the Hagadera stabilization center, acutely malnourished children, infants, pregnant women and new mothers receive food fortified with micronutrients.</p>
<p>Abdallah Ibrahim Jare and his family walked for 25 days across the desert from their village in southern Somalia before reaching safety in Dadaab. The drought killed their crops and animals, leaving them with no food for the journey. Abdallah&rsquo;s wife died of fatigue and starvation along the way.</p>
<p>When Abdallah&rsquo;s son, three-year-old Aden Abdile Ibrahim, arrived in Dadaab, he weighed only 11 pounds (five kilos). An average three-year old boy should weigh around 30 pounds (15 kilos). After a week of treatment in the IRC stabilization center Aden has gained two pounds and is on his way to recovery.</p>
<p>Outbreaks of disease are a significant risk in Dadaab, which hosts four times the population it was built for. In response, aid groups this week launched a mass vaccination campaign against polio and measles.</p>
<p>Every morning infants are weighed and measured in the stabilization center to chart their recovery. Bashir Halane, an IRC nutritionist, checks a baby who has gained weight over the last few days.</p>
<p>Hussein Abdullahi, an IRC nurse&rsquo;s assistant (left), and nutritionist Ismail Hussein Omar, measure a refugee girl at the stabilization center.</p>
<p>One-and-a-half year old Abdi Awow Abdullah is being discharged from the stabilization center only six days after he arrived in critical condition. &ldquo;He has come back to life,&rdquo; the IRC&rsquo;s Dr. John Kigora said.</p>

A lifeline in the desert

Horn of Africa Drought, Africa, Kenya
08.02.2011

Every day hungry, exhausted, and desperately ill Somali refugees and their children are brought to an IRC-run field hospital in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports on how the refugees are being nursed back to life and health.

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Fatuma and her family stand outside a building at Dadaab refugee camp
Refugees sit on the ground under trees outside one of Dadaab's reception centers
An elderly woman, Habiba, at the Dadaabd refugee camp reception center
Beniye Issa holds her baby daughter
A severly malnourished baby is held in a woman's arms

Fleeing the Drought

Horn of Africa Drought, Africa, Kenya
07.15.2011

 At least 1,200 refugees are arriving at Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya every day from drought-stricken Somalia. They are exhausted and hungry.  Most have lost everything they owned and many have sold whatever they had left to pay for the bus or car fare.  The IRC's Sophia Jones-Mwangi tells their stories.

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Somali herder Abdikaram Ahmed Farah surrounded by the carcassess of his animals
Sheep and goats drink from a water trough repaired by the IRC
An IRC tanker truck delivers water to a drought-stricken village
Abdirahman Aden with a Somali family
Maryan Ali sits with her son and two grandaughters outside a tent
Nadhifo Abdullahi stands with some of her children outside of a tent
Men drawing water from a tanker truck as children look on

Lifesaving water

Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia
07.07.2011

As a protracted drought continues to grip many parts of the Horn of Africa and East Africa, the IRC is providing lifesaving water and other aid to thousands of people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

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A muddy street in Nairobi's Eastleigh neighborhood
A widow from Somalia sits by a sewing table in an IRC-supported shop.
A Somali refugee woman sits next to a table piled high with colorful fabrics
A Somali refugee woman sits in front of a wall of colorful textiles
The front of a school for refugee women supported by the IRC
A young Somali woman shows the henna designs on her hands
A Somali schoolgirl in Nairobi, Kenya

Urban refugees' plight

Kenya
01.19.2011

Today, almost half of the world’s refugees live in cities.  Among them are refugees from Somalia living in precarious circumstances in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
 

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Run-down buildings in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya
Adult students in a classroom being used by the IRC for English lessons
IRC vice president Anne Richard and six young Somali women in Eastleigh
A Somali refugee woman sits by a sewing machine in a craft shop in Eastleigh
Schoolboys in Eastleigh
Schoolgirls in Eastleigh

Somali refugees in Nairobi

Kenya
12.17.2010

Far away from home and family, and subject to harrassment by police, Somali refugees living in Nairobi, Kenya are in a precarious situation. The IRC and our local partners are working to ensure that refugee rights are respected, and that these Somalis and other refugees in Kenya get the help they need.

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<p>Since 2005, the International Rescue Committee has been working with refugees and local communities in the remote Turkana region of northern Kenya to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, provide basic clinical care and fight stigma. This IRC outreach worker is giving out basic information about HIV/AIDS to residents of the town of Lokichoggio, near the Sudanese border. Most people living in the region, however, are nomadic herders -- so we rely on mobile teams who travel in off-road vehicles to reach communities with vital counseling and testing services.</p>
<p>This is the HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing center at the IRC-supported Kakuma Mission Hospital in northwestern Turkana. As of August 2010, the IRC had tested more than 110,000 people for the AIDS virus in Turkana and provided access to free antiretroviral therapy for over 1,500 patients.</p>
<p>An IRC counselor demonstrates condom use during a voluntary counseling and testing session for couples. In all, our HIV/AIDS care and prevention efforts have reached more than a quarter million people -- half the population of Turkana.</p>
<p>This Somali Bantu mother-to-be is participating in an HIV/AIDS counseling and testing session at the Kakuma Refugee Camp as part of the IRC&#39;s prenatal care program. One of the biggest challenges of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS -- the risk of which can be significantly reduced with early intervention -- is identifying HIV-positive pregnant women.</p>
<p>A youth advocacy group at the Kakuma Refugee Camp uses theater to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS among the refugees from 12 African countries who live here.&nbsp; Raising awareness is the core of the IRC&#39;s strategy to prevent the disease&#39;s spread and manage its negative social impacts &ndash; especially stigma.&nbsp; Since many young people in Turkana are out of school but unemployed, the IRC recruits them to take part in campaigns reaching out to their peers.</p>
<p>&quot;Fabulous,&quot; a group of young women and girls who provide HIV/AIDS awareness outreach, talk to villagers in Lokichoggio.&nbsp; Girls and young women are particularly at risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS in Kenya -- in fact, those aged 15 to 19 are three times more likely to be infected than young men in the same age group. The IRC has been engaging members of at-risk groups, training them to promote behavioral changes that can help prevent the spread of disease.</p>
<p>Joseph Emejen (left) and Joseph Epetet, community advocates from Lokichoggio who are both HIV-positive.&nbsp; The two men are part of an IRC program that empowers people living with HIV/AIDS to educate their neighbors about the disease and to play an important role in planning local HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs. &quot;Stigma in the communities is still very high,&quot; Josepeh Emejen says. Joseph Epetet agrees. He says it is often very hard to make people understand that it is possible to be HIV-positive and enjoy a long, fulfilling life, but that it requires a healthy lifestyle, responsible behavior, and strict, life-long anti-retroviral therapy.</p>
<p>A young mother from Lodwar is congratulated by an IRC staff member as she graduates from the IRC&#39;s &quot;Families First!&quot; HIV/AIDS prevention program. The program stresses the importance of talking with children and young adolescents about sexuality, and offers caregivers advice on how best to approach sensitive subjects. &quot;According to the Turkana tradition, these things are not discussed openly,&quot; says one father who graduated from the program.&nbsp; &quot;Children usually get embarrassed and surprised when their parents try to talk to them about sexuality or diseases like HIV,&quot; he says. &quot;Since I&#39;ve started coming here, I&#39;m able to talk to them.&quot;</p>
<p>The IRC is also taking HIV/AIDS prevention messages to the classroom. These primary school teachers in Turkana are receiving life skills training from the IRC which includes a session on HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment.</p>
<p>Eregae, a presenter at Radio Sayare, Lodwar, hosts an HIV/AIDS awareness program and takes listeners&#39; questions. In remote areas such as Turkana, where access to TV, print media and the Internet is limited, radio is an important source of information. The IRC pioneered the use of radio by a nonprofit in Turkana to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS.</p>
<p>A member of the medical staff at the IRC-supported AIC Health Center in Lokichoggio gives tuberculosis medication to a young Turkana girl. Tuberculosis is one of the main killers of AIDS patients.</p>
<p>Samual Ikeny and Bethwel Lochor are administrators at the AIC Health Center. Working together with partners -- a cornerstone of the IRC&#39;s approach -- has helped us build the capacity of local organizations and put into place a lasting HIV/AIDS response that saves lives. (Updated December 2010)</p>

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Kenya

Kenya
12.01.2010

Almost three decades after the first cases of AIDS were recorded, nearly 30 million people have died of HIV-related causes.  In Kenya, the IRC has been helping refugees and local communities protect themselves from this modern plague — and the stigma associated with it.

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