August 31, 2011

DADAAB, Kenya/GENEVA – After almost three months of living in temporary settlements in refugee camps around Dadaab, Kenya, over 20,000 Somali Muslims have been relocated to permanent sites in time to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting observed during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

The new camps, an extension to the Ifo camp and another called Kambioos, have everything that a new town should have – water, latrines, schools, worship centres and health posts, and 17 plots for mosques. Land has also been allocated for mosques and madrasas (classrooms where Islamic religion is taught) which will be built once the community becomes more established. On the morning of Eid, thousands of Somalis will gather in the large spaces in the middle of the new camps to pray together.

"Around 200,000 Somali refugees are celebrating Eid in Kenya for the first time," said Fred Otieno, emergency coordinator for The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) which manages the Dadaab camps for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"Faith is often a binding factor in a community. Celebrating Eid in the new camps will help refugees to re-establish their communities in the new locations," said Otieno. Massive Relocation

The massive relocation began mid-August when the LWF took a group of Somali leaders to the new location to survey the new camp. The leaders assured the community that the move was a positive one and the first families to move affirmed this by calling their friends to tell them about the new camp and to encourage them to move also.

Since January, approximately 120,000 refugees from Somalia have arrived in Dadaab. Overcrowding has forced many families to live together or to erect makeshift huts on the outskirts of the official camp. Some of these people live on floodplains, so it is critical that they move to higher ground before the rainy season begins in October.

The LWF, which has been conducting the relocation, is a member of ACT Alliance, a group of 111 churches and church-related organizations that work together in humanitarian assistance, advocacy and development.

It has taken almost six weeks to prepare for the move, but the complex planning is already paying off as people have already begun to set up makeshift shops in front of their plots. As the population of the camp grows, these will move to the planned marketplace. The plan is to move between 8,000 to 10,000 families by the end of November.

"One of the admirable traits of the Somali community is that they are very enterprising. After the first day, they were already running small shops. The move did not get in the way of their new activities, they had no problem living together in the new location," said Moses Mukhwana, LWF acting area coordinator.

Afra Mohammed and his family of three were among the first to arrive at the new site and he was relieved that his family has their own tent instead of sharing with another. "We are ready for anything because we are refugees who are looking for a place to settle," he said. "But I am happy to have this plot."

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