Kitale, Kenya - 21 Jan 2008 -
Emergency response specialists from the International Rescue Committee in western Kenya are expanding efforts to assist thousands of people displaced by violence that followed last month’s presidential election.
Here in the Rift Valley, at least 80,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, often with no advance warning.
Gillian Dunn, the IRC’s director of emergency response, led a team that has just spent four days distributing basic hygiene supplies, assessing needs and determining which locations will be best served by an IRC response. She and her colleagues — including health coordinator Dr. Vincent Kahi and field coordinator Kephas Indangasi — are working closely with the Kenyan Red Cross and local authorities.
For the uprooted Kenyans, life is difficult. “Many people fled their homes with absolutely nothing and they have nothing,” Dunn said. “They are barely scraping by.”
The displaced people are forming makeshift settlements on athletic fields, in schools and churches or on the grounds of other buildings. Some of the displaced are living in tents, the less fortunate are sheltering under tarpaulins thrown across ropes.
Dunn said the IRC is basing its Rift Valley operations here in the town of Kitale, near Kenya’s border with Uganda, and would support the Red Cross to deliver emergency relief services at 12 settlements.
“We are preparing a range of assistance activities aimed at preventing the spread of disease, including latrine construction, water supply, distribution of soap and other cleaning items, and hygiene education,” Dunn said. “We’ll also distribute more emergency materials as needed. It’s very cold at night, and people are sleeping on the ground. We’re especially concerned about children getting upper respiratory tract infections. Clothing, hygiene supplies, cooking utensils, and mosquito nets are also on the list of priority items.
