International Rescue Committee (IRC)

A lifeline in the desert

Photos: 
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<p>At the Hagadera stabilization center, acutely malnourished children, infants, pregnant women and new mothers receive food fortified with micronutrients.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<p>Hussein Abdullahi, an IRC nurse&rsquo;s assistant (left), and nutritionist Ismail Hussein Omar, measure a refugee girl at the stabilization center.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
<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><br /><br /><em>Photo: Peter Biro/IRC</em><br /><br />
Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

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.