August 30, 2011

DADAAB, Kenya/GENEVA – Mahadu Biriye beams at this writer from across the desk, her headscarf artfully tied around her head. Warm and friendly, she talks about the program she runs for women in the refugee camps in and around Dadaab.

Biriye is the matron of the women's refuge or "Safe Haven" in Dadaab. She has a background in counseling and offers empathy and understanding to the women who find their way to the Safe Haven at Hagadera camp in Dadaab, northeastern Kenya.

The Haven can accommodate up to 120 people – women and children fleeing desperate situations – and at one time there were as many as 100 people there. "Mostly, they encounter problems with their male relatives," says Biriye.

A group of about 20 rectangular buildings with blue roofs sits within a fenced compound on the outskirts of Ifo, the largest of five refugee camps in Dadaab, where The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) manages the complex for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Almost devoid of trees, the haven might seem desolate when you first arrive, but Biriye's welcome and the happiness of the families who live there is evidence that the program is fulfilling its purpose. To the three families who currently live there, it is a welcome sanctuary.

The Safe Haven is run by the LWF, and women and children are referred there by any of the many humanitarian organizations working in Dadaab, including other implementing members of the global network of church bodies, ACT Alliance.

Although women and their families are only supposed to stay at the center for a maximum of three months, some of the families have been there for up to three years. Sometimes, the problems that force women to seek out the Safe Haven are resolved and they can resume their lives in the community.

Statistics provided by the UNHCR put the total number of refugees in the Dadaab camps at 423,361 by 28 August, with Somalis representing more than 95 percent of the individuals from 12 African countries. Women make up 50.4 percent of this figure. Rape, Early Marriages One woman in the center had been subjected to a brutal rape, but had sought refuge in the haven not to escape her attackers, but to escape the stigma that she experienced in the community. While she was in the refuge, her husband found a home in another part of Dadaab and she was planning to move back there with her children.

Girls often come to the safe haven to escape early marriage. Traditionally, in Somali culture, women are promised to their husbands when they are teenagers. Around the age of 15, teenage girls are engaged and their husbands pay a dowry to the girls' families.

Biriye spoke of cases where Somali men living overseas had come to the camps in Kenya to find young Somali women to marry. She said that the price or dowry paid to the family of the bride could be as much as Ksh 50,000 (around USD 530). To a family that has lost everything, the price is enough for them to marry their daughters to people they don't know.

One resident in the haven had sought refuge from her relatives at the age of 14 because they were pressuring her into an early marriage. She had been at the Safe Haven for almost three years and was in the process of seeking asylum in the United States.

The Safe Haven is not the only program aimed at improving the situation of Somali women in Dadaab. Social workers are employed at many locations within the camp and they help identify people who have been subjected to violence or abuse. Biriye also said that there had been a campaign to stop early marriage, with some success. Counseling A safe place to live is only part of the remedy to violence and abuse. The other part of the solution is finding a way out of the cycle of violence–a durable solution.

Counseling, literacy classes and an income-generation program are also run in the compound. The bags and bracelets produced by the women in these programs have become something of a fashion statement among workers in Dadaab.

In a shop operated by the UNHCR, the Safe Haven bags sell out almost as soon as they come into stock. Other non-governmental organizations place bulk orders with the women for items such as computer cases.

In a place like Dadaab, the problems that refugees face can often seem overwhelming. This is especially true of women, whose problems do not abate after they leave their home country. Programs like the Safe Haven offer a solution to some of the problems that Somali women experience – a lasting solution and a life free from violence.

Lutheran World Information
Written for LWI by Melany Markham in Dadaab, Kenya, with additional information from LWI.