The United Nations refugee agency has expressed its concern over the future of the children in the refugee camps in Dadaab in the Kenya-Somalia border.
In a recent interview to Xinhua, Anne Campbell, the head of UNHCR Sub Office in Dadaab, said that the refugee camps in Dadaab now host more than 270, 000 refugees who are living in three different camps, far more than originally planned.
Campell said more than 96 percent of the refugees are from Somalia and there are small percentages from other countries such as Sudan and Ethiopia.
But half of the refugees are youth, young children, and there are large populations of young people inside the camps, Campbell noted.
She said the most difficulty for refugee children is actually for the teenager children.
"Because for the young children, many of them grow up in the refugee camps. They know no other kinds of lives. They are quite content with the simple life here."
"Once the children go to the secondary school, and they get some education. Now they see no future. They are not allowed to work in Kenya," she said.
According to Kenyan laws, refugees cannot work there.
The refugees have all the aspirations for a better life and they are unable to realize their dreams because they cannot leave the camps, she explained.
"And we do not have much fund to do some activities like intercommunication to allow the youth to use their talents and skills and provide them with independence so that they can earn their living and assist their families."
"And our camps are becoming more and more crowded so that we do not have enough space for children to play, such as football fields."
In the camp, "We have malnutrition rate about 12 percent Every year, there is predictable food rationing for refugees. They often feel the food is not enough but it is what is recommended by the World Health Organization," she said.
"More recently, because of the piracy, and because of drought, it is also difficult for Kenyans to have adequate food supplies. This means that the World Food Program has to buy their food from South Africa, and other places."
"And they have more difficulties of getting in food on time, affecting food rationing here. Just lasting two or three cycles, the refugees have had some ration cuts on food, especially with the maize. Some of them have been cut about 30 percent," Campbell said.
The refugee camps in Dadaab were built in 1991 to host refugees from Somalia, who flooded to the border area to avoid the civil war at home.
Source: Xinhua
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