Camps In Kenya Research Articles

Using life cycle sustainability assessment to trade off sourcing strategies for humanitarian relief items

PurposeWhile interest in supply chain sustainability has risen over the past few years in academic and business worlds, very little research has been conducted on sustainability in humanitarian supply chains, specifically. This study aims to contribute to the development of the field by conducting a life cycle sustainability analysis (LCSA) of sourcing scenarios for a core relief item in a humanitarian supply chain.MethodsThis paper is structured according to the LCSA framework developed by Guinée et al. (Environ Sci Technol 45(1):90–96, 2011). The relief item analyzed is a kitchen set supplied by a UN agency. Environmental, social, and economic impacts of two sourcing scenarios for a kitchen set are mapped: one international and one local. Sources of data include interviews, company records, and online databases. Results are analyzed using the ReCiPe method to assess environmental impact and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) guidelines to assess social impact.Results and discussionWe show how LCSA can be used to map the sustainability of two sourcing scenarios for kitchen sets in a humanitarian supply chain along triple bottom line dimensions. We report findings on sourcing scenarios for distribution to two refugee camps in Kenya: one from a supplier in India and one from a supplier in Kenya. We use an environmental life cycle analysis (LCA), a social LCA, and a life cycle costing (LCC) to analyze differences and similarities. We find that local sourcing is preferred over international sourcing on two out of the three sustainability dimensions—environmental and social impacts. Humanitarian organizations may further use this paper as a guideline to develop their own sustainability assessments of supply chain scenarios.ConclusionsThe results of our study provide a fresh, sustainability-focused perspective on the debate over international vs. local procurement. This paper is the first to apply LCSA to a humanitarian context. It also addresses a void in the sourcing literature by determining the sustainability impacts of different sourcing strategies. The study evaluates only two sourcing options and also uses a limited number of data sources.

“So What's the Difference?” Talking About Race With Refugee Children in the English Language Learner Classroom

This study examines how an English language learner (ELL) educator negotiated conversations about the intersectional nature of race in an elementaryELLclassroom using a critical literacy framework. Few studies examine the ways in which teachers of young children negotiate conversations about the complexities of race with their students. Even fewer address the way in which African refugee children can explore the contested nature of racial labeling as a part of language instruction in the classroom. The students in this study experienced a history of persecution and displacement in Somalia in the 1990s. Their experiences in Somalia, relocation to refugee camps in Kenya, and finally relocation to the United States exposed their families to the very real impact of static and stereotypical notions of race. Through the lens of critical literacy, classroom interactions and activities are analyzed through one cycle of literacy events in anELLclassroom. Findings show thatELLeducators can explore the contested nature of racial identities in ways that support and enhance language instruction. Findings also highlight the complexities of immigrant and refugee identity positions, even among members of the same group.

In Two Maine Towns, Schools Address The Mental Health Of Refugee Children.

School-based programs in Auburn and Lewiston help meet the unique health needs of refugees from war-torn Somalia.

Real-Time Monitoring and Evaluation of a Visual-Based Cervical Cancer Screening Program Using a Decision Support Job Aid.

In many developing nations, cervical cancer screening is done by visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA). Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of such screening programs is challenging. An enhanced visual assessment (EVA) system was developed to augment VIA procedures in low-resource settings. The EVA System consists of a mobile colposcope built around a smartphone, and an online image portal for storing and annotating images. A smartphone app is used to control the mobile colposcope, and upload pictures to the image portal. In this paper, a new app feature that documents clinical decisions using an integrated job aid was deployed in a cervical cancer screening camp in Kenya. Six organizations conducting VIA used the EVA System to screen 824 patients over the course of a week, and providers recorded their diagnoses and treatments in the application. Real-time aggregated statistics were broadcast on a public website. Screening organizations were able to assess the number of patients screened, alongside treatment rates, and the patients who tested positive and required treatment in real time, which allowed them to make adjustments as needed. The real-time M&E enabled by “smart” diagnostic medical devices holds promise for broader use in screening programs in low-resource settings.

Cultural Causations and Expressions of Distress: a Case Study of Buufis Amongst Somalis in Johannesburg

Buufis is a well-known concept amongst Somalis at home and in the diaspora, although its meaning shifts across time and space. Literally meaning ‘to blow, or inflate’ in Somali, buufis initially referred to the dream of resettlement amongst Somalis in refugee camps in Kenya in the early 1990s, spreading to refugee camps across Africa through transnational networks and mobility, and later used by scholars to describe a form of mental illness that ensued when this dream of resettlement was not realised. In this paper, I examine the use of buufis amongst Somalis in Johannesburg, South Africa to describe multiple forms of distress. By exploring the narratives of a group of Somali refugees and asylum seekers, I show how a range of social, economic and political factors intersect to create triggers of distress. These are identified and articulated by the respondents as a state of buufis associated with feelings of distress, unhappiness and a desire to escape their current situation in the city. I argue that buufis is part of an invented language used and adopted to give meaning to cultural expressions of distress by self-settled Somali refugees and asylum seekers in Johannesburg. Underlying this argument is a call for a broader understanding of mental health perceptions, outcomes and responses that moves beyond biomedical perspectives in order to better understand and respond to some of the experiences raised here.

The Palliative Role of Green Space for Somali Bantu Women Refugees in Displacement and Resettlement

ABSTRACTThis article investigates recollections of place attachments among a sample of Somali Bantu women refugees who have resettled in a town in New York State, USA. Using photo-elicitation and narrative interviews we explored their recollections of place attachments in Somalia, their home of origin, in Kenya, where they lived in refugee camps for more than a decade and in community gardens in New York State. We asked about memories of farms in Somalia, of gardens in the Kenyan camps and of the community gardens in resettlement because we were interested in the role of green space in their experiences of displacement and resettlement. Green spaces were important in all three locations but especially with respect to the therapeutic, restorative and spiritual capacities in the gardens in both the camps in Kenya and in resettlement in the United States. The results of this research suggest that emplacement and meaning making in green spaces through farms and gardens in Somalia, in camps, and in community gardens in resettlement served a variety of palliative functions.

The Refugee Camp as Warscape: Violent Cosmologies, “Rebelization,” and Humanitarian Governance in Kakuma, Kenya

This paper approaches Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya as a “warscape” and explores the role that multiple understandings and experiences with violence play in the everyday organization of the camp. The dynamics of war-related imageries and various forms of past, present and symbolic violence translate into power processes and forms of spatial and social ordering that are explored as processes of place making. Rather than seeing violence as something exceptional, this paper explores how over the years of its existence since 1992 the camp was shaped by the narratives, experiences and understandings of violence and rebel histories, and the associations between refugees and armed movements.

‘Digging Aid’: The Camp as an Option in East and the Horn of Africa

The 22-year-old Kenyan refugee camp of Kakuma has in many ways developed into an accidental city, and challenges the imagery of refugee camps as seclusion sites and warehouses of wasted lives. Conceptually, the camp is not only a physical structure, but also indicates a relation between humanitarian actors and beneficiaries of aid. In the camp, this relation is intimate, but the relation between refugees and aid actors does not stop at the camp's boundaries. Increasingly, humanitarian and other actors are recognizing that the refugee camps in Kenya are becoming a 'normal' part of the regional socio-economic landscape. People strategize and/or find themselves, as individuals or as part of social networks, in different proximities to humanitarian action. This is a fluid process. People are sometimes in the camp, sometimes in the city and sometimes in South Sudan, Uganda or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they relate in different ways to aid. This article explores the ways in which people seek and maintain access to the camp and how the Kenyan camps become a part of livelihood options available in the region.

Prevalence of unrepaired third- and fourth-degree tears among women taken to the operating room for repair of presumed obstetric fistula during two fistula camps in Kenya.

More than 2 million women on earth today are said to be suffering from obstetric fistula (OF), a communication between the vagina and either the urinary tract or rectum. Since unrepaired third- and fourth-degree perineal tears often manifest with symptoms identical to OF, we hypothesized that the global burden of OF is in part due to these unrepaired deep obstetric tears. Four consultant gynecologists retrospectively reviewed the medical and operative records of all obstetric fistula cases that underwent surgical repair during the July and August, 2014, Kenyatta National Hospital and Embu Provincial Hospital Fistula Camps in Kenya. One hundred and eighty charts were reviewed. All 180 women had fecal incontinence (FI), urinary incontinence (UI), or both as their primary complaint. Sixty of the 180 (33%) women had isolated FI as their presenting symptom, and at operation, 57 of these 60 (95%) were found to have unrepaired third- and fourth-degree obstetric tears. Ninety-two of the 180 (51%) women with OF symptoms ultimately had true OF confirmed at operation. These findings suggest that many women with OF symptoms in Kenya may harbor unrepaired third- and fourth-degree tears. Additionally, women with isolated FI may be more likely to suffer from third- and fourth-degree tears than from true OF. Immediate postpartum diagnosis and repair of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears could significantly reduce the overall burden of women with symptoms of OF.

Gender, Home & Identity: Nuer Repatriation to Southern Sudan by Katarzyna Grabska (review)

Katarzyna Grabska, Gender, Home & Identity: Nuer Repatriation to Southern Sudan. Suffolk: Currey, 2014. 240 pp.Acondition that marks the lives of millions of people throughout the world, conflict-induced displacement often results in social ruptures and dislocation for affected women, children, and men; it may also open up possibilities of subverting gender and generational inequalities, leading to the emergence of transformed social hierarchies.Katarzyna Grabska's compelling book, Gender, Home & Identity: Nuer Repatriation to Southern Sudan, is a sensitive account of the lives of a group of South Sudanese refugees and their gendered experiences of war-time displacement and eventual repatriation. Her analysis is based on multi-sited ethnographic research carried out in Kenya and South Sudan between April 2006 and September 2007. More specifically, her book follows the efforts of 17 Nuer families and over 50 additional individuals who fled their homes in order to escape the violence that tore their communities apart during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Their initial flight was followed by long-term displacement throughout Sudan and several East African countries until they settled in Kakuma, a refugee camp in northwestern Kenya where they remained for years.The Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), the primary cause of the displacement discussed in Gender, Home & Identity, resulted in the displacement of four million women, children, and men, including large numbers of Nuer, the second largest ethnic group in the country. Some stayed in camps for internally displaced persons in the northern capital, Khartoum. Others sought safety in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia during the long years of conflict. The signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army-Movement (SPLA/M)-the main South Sudanese rebel group-facilitated the return of more than two million refugees, including many of the Nuer families whom Grabska had met first in Egypt in 2002, and later in Khartoum, Kenya, and eventually South Sudan.Thus, after decades of life in exile, some of them arrived in L[varepsilon]r,1 a county capital in South Sudan's Unity State and Upper Nile region. In the long and tumultuous process of displacement and emplacement, their lives were irreversibly changed in unexpected and significant ways. Faced with the challenges of settling in and creating new homes in a place they barely remembered (or never actually knew), and adjusting to local expectations of proper behavior for females and males, they often felt uprooted all over again. Described in rich ethnographic detail by Grabska, their experiences provide a historically-situated framework for a broader discussion of the intersection of gender, violence, and displacement, as well as their consequences for contemporary involuntary migration flows.Indeed, one of the main strengths of the book is Grabska's detailed interrogation of the multifaceted ways in which identity, gender, and generational relations have been redefined in South Sudan as a result of war, displacement, return, and (re)integration. Combining insights from the fields of anthropology and refugee, migration, feminist, and gender studies, her account of the struggles faced by those displaced, as well as those who stayed behind, underscores Nuer efforts to (re)create a sense of home, community, and nation in spite of very challenging circumstances. Her analysis also reveals the complexity and fluidity of the profound social changes that took place during and after the war.Gender, Home & Identity's key argument is that women's and men's experiences in situations of displacement vary with regard to the contexts of their exile and the circumstances of their post-war emplacement. Guided by this premise, Grabska analyzes how Nuer women and men, young and old, navigated the social conditions of war and violence, actively adjusting, adapting, subverting, and negotiating their social place both in exile and after their return home. …

The Resilient Voter? An Exploration of the Effects of Post-Election Violence in Kenya’s Internally Displaced Persons Camps

Election-related violence, because it is meant to coerce voters, may have an adverse effect on individual attitudes towards elections—and towards democracy in general. Victims of election violence may come to associate voting with conflict, which may in turn translate into lower levels of support for democratic processes and an unwillingness to participate in future elections. This may be especially true when repeated instances of electoral violence take place, as has been the case in Kenya. To explore the possible relationship between electoral violence and democratic alienation, interviews were conducted in two internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Kenya: one which housed primarily government supporters and one which housed primarily opposition supporters. Among interviewees—all of whom were victims of past electoral violence—there were pronounced differences in stated willingness to vote in future elections. These differences depended on the individual’s perception of freeness and fairness of elections and whether the individual’s candidate or party of choice won or lost. Additionally, as ethnicity is an important factor in vote choice and partisan support, this translates into stark differences between ethnic groups. These findings suggest that electoral violence may have an uneven effect on democratic attitudes and participation.

Mil Vezes Boa Noite

Diretora: Erik Poppe Produção: Ahmed Abounouom, Geir Eikeland Henning, Pedro Garde, Finn Gjerdrum, Stig Hjerkinn Haug, Stein B. Kvae, Jackie Larkin, Lesley McKimm, Kaare Storemyr Guión: Erik Poppe, Harald Rosenløw-EEG Título original: tusen dios ganger natt Ano 2013 País de origem: Noruega / Irlanda / Suecia Gênero: Drama Cor: Cor Duração: 117 minRebecca (Juliette Binoche) é uma das fotojornalistas de guerra de maior prestígio no mundo, famosa por gravar imagens perigosas e assustadoras nos cenários mais terríveis, em um esforço para tentar relatar o custo real da guerra no contexto moderno. Mas ela também é uma esposa e mãe que deixa o marido e duas filhas jovens cada vez que você viajar para um novo zona de combate. Depois de uma experiência de quase-morte durante o registo de um ritual de uma mulher suicida, seu marido Marcus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) dá-lhe um ultimato: ou renúncia à profissão perigosa ou perdido família com quem você sempre pode contar ao retornar de uma viagem de negócios. No entanto, a convicção de que suas fotos podem fazer a diferença incentiva as pessoas a permanecer em sua determinação, o que torna difícil para ela se afastar completamente do seu trabalho. Com uma oferta para tirar fotos em um campo de refugiados no Quênia, como um espaço supostamente seguro que permite que sua filha Steph (Lauryn Canny) para se juntar a ela, Rebecca fica cara a cara com o risco que cada vez que retorna sua profissão e retorno ao trabalho em zonas de conflito.

Nutrition among men and household food security in an internally displaced persons camp in Kenya.

To determine the nutritional status of men and the food security status of their households in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Kenya. A descriptive, cross-sectional study using a questionnaire and biometric measurements was completed in June 2013. IDP camp, Rongai, Kenya. A total of 267 men aged ≥18 years residing within the camp were recruited via respondent-driven sampling. Statistical associations between categorical variables were analysed using Pearson's χ 2 tests, while independent t tests were used for continuous variables. Among the men surveyed, we found a mean BMI of 20·3 (sd 2·5) kg/m2, with 23·9% of participants in the underweight category (BMI<18·5 kg/m2). The mean Individual Dietary Diversity Score was 6 out of a maximum score of 9. The mean Household Food Insecurity Access Scale score was 11·6 (sd 6·8), with 180 participants (71·7%) residing in households categorised as severely food insecure. Low monthly household income (<2000 Kenyan Shillings, or $US 25) was associated with a higher food insecurity score (P<0·001), greater likelihood of residing in a severely food-insecure household (P<0·001), low dietary diversity score (P<0·05) and being underweight (P<0·01). While the nutritional status of men in the IDP camp is comparable to non-displaced men in Kenya, household food insecurity is relatively high. Efforts to improve food security for the future are essential to minimise the impact of severe food insecurity on mental health, disease profiles and family well-being reported in other IDP settings.

Lessons from introducing a livelihood project for unaccompanied children into an existing child protection programme in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya

Evidence shows that displacement, family separation and economic status are risk factors for child protection concerns and children's mental health, and that violence and economic status are risk factors for children's physical, emotional and social development. Family based care, community social support and economic strengthening have been shown to moderate such risk factors. This article explores the introduction of a livelihood project for unaccompanied children into an existing child protection programme in the Dadaab refugee camp complex in Kenya, with the primary objective of strengthening the household economy of foster families and improving the care of the fostered children. In this article the authors reflect on the programme's work in recognising and building on existing traditional clan-based family tracing and care mechanisms for unaccompanied and separated children, as well as the importance of understanding the particular needs of specific groups of children such as those without appropriate care. They discuss issues of insecurity and lack of funding affecting programme quality and programme monitoring, and discus challenges of project design. Consideration of how such challenges can impact on existing traditional care mechanisms is shared. The authors argue for greater acknowledgement and efforts to build on traditional child protection mechanisms within wider debates on child protection systems; greater understanding and consideration of the needs of unaccompanied children in particular contexts; better monitoring of the outcomes of child protection programmes on the children they serve; and adequate and sustained funding for child protection in emergencies.

An agent-based modeling approach applied to the spread of cholera

Cholera is an intestinal disease and is characterized by diarrhea and severe dehydration. While cholera has mainly been eliminated in regions that can provide clean water, adequate hygiene and proper sanitation; it remains a constant threat in many parts of Africa and Asia. Within this paper, we develop an agent-based model that explores the spread of cholera in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Poor sanitation and housing conditions contribute to frequent incidents of cholera outbreaks within this camp. We model the spread of cholera by explicitly representing the interaction between humans and their environment, and the spread of the epidemic using a Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered model. Results from the model show that the spread of cholera grows radially from contaminated water sources and seasonal rains can cause the emergence of cholera outbreaks. This modeling effort highlights the potential of agent-based modeling to explore the spread of cholera in a humanitarian context.

“Unsound” minds and broken bodies: the detention of “hardcore” Mau Mau women at Kamiti and Gitamayu Detention Camps in Kenya, 1954–1960

From 1954 to 1960, the British detained approximately 8000 women under the Emergency Powers imposed to combat the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya. Kamiti Detention Camp was the main site of women's incarceration, and its importance has been widely acknowledged by scholars. However, new documentary evidence released from the Hanslope Park Archive since 2011 has revealed the existence of a second camp established for women at Gitamayu, created in 1958 explicitly to deal with the remaining “hardcore” female detainees. This article examines the British struggle to contend with the hardcore Mau Mau women in the final years of the Emergency Period, one that was marked by uncertainty, violence, and an increasing reliance on ethno-psychiatry. Debates about how to deal with this group of women engaged and perplexed the highest levels of the colonial administration, generating tensions between legal, political, and medical officials. At the center of these debates was the question of the female detainees' sanity, with some officials pressing for these women to be classified as insane. The charge that hardcore women were “of unsound mind” was used for a variety of purposes in the late 1950s, including covering up the abuses in the camps. Examining the British approach to these detainees illuminates how ideas about gender, deviancy, and mental health shaped colonial practices of punishment.

Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff (review)

Reviewed by: Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff Hope Morrison Bassoff, Leah. Lost Girl Found; by Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca. Groundwood, 2014. 212p. Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-55498-416-9 $16.95 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-55498-418-3 $14.95 R Gr. 8-12. While the Lost Boys of Sudan have received public attention, very little has been paid to the girls who were caught in the crossfires and complexities of the Sudanese conflict. This novel follows the life of such a girl, Poni, a young Didinga girl living in southern Sudan. Even before the war, Poni’s life is filled with much strife, due in large part to her frustration with the limitations placed upon her by gender; she is determined to get an education and to avoid being forced into marriage, despite the expectations of her tribe. When her village is attacked, she escapes and walks for weeks, amid constant death and destruction, until she arrives at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. After many months at the camp, she leaves Kakuma and travels to Nairobi, where she is taken in by Sister Hannah and promised an education in exchange for hard work. The plot is both riveting and at times chilling (particularly the graphic depictions of violence and death), but it is Poni herself who carries the novel; there is a detached sadness to her narration that exudes both despair and depth, and the rich imagery and carefully crafted details further elevate the tone. As a note explains, Bassof, a writer, and DeLuca, an anthropologist, met at a conference about Sudan and decided to cowrite this novel to give a female voice to the story of Sudanese refugees, and Poni’s character is a composite of the many stories they heard in their research. This is girl power in its truest form, and Poni’s story is certain to profoundly impact all who take it in. An author’s note, timeline, list of further reading/viewing, and glossary are included. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Examining strain diversity and phylogeography in relation to an unusual epidemic pattern of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in a long-term refugee camp in Kenya

BackgroundA recent longitudinal study in the Dadaab refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border identified unusual biannual respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) epidemics. We characterized the genetic variability of the associated RSV strains to determine if viral diversity contributed to this unusual epidemic pattern.MethodsFor 336 RSV positive specimens identified from 2007 through 2011 through facility-based surveillance of respiratory illnesses in the camp, 324 (96.4%) were sub-typed by PCR methods, into 201 (62.0%) group A, 118 (36.4%) group B and 5 (1.5%) group A-B co-infections. Partial sequencing of the G gene (coding for the attachment protein) was completed for 290 (89.5%) specimens. These specimens were phylogenetically analyzed together with 1154 contemporaneous strains from 22 countries.ResultsOf the 6 epidemic peaks recorded in the camp over the period, the first and last were predominantly made up of group B strains, while the 4 in between were largely composed of group A strains in a consecutive series of minor followed by major epidemics. The Dadaab group A strains belonged to either genotype GA2 (180, 98.9%) or GA5 (2, < 1%) while all group B strains (108, 100%) belonged to BA genotype. In sequential epidemics, strains within these genotypes appeared to be of two types: those continuing from the preceding epidemics and those newly introduced. Genotype diversity was similar in minor and major epidemics.ConclusionRSV strain diversity in Dadaab was similar to contemporaneous diversity worldwide, suggested both between-epidemic persistence and new introductions, and was unrelated to the unusual epidemic pattern.

PM345 Low Risk Surgery In Women Over Aged 50 Years: Is There Need For Preoperative Tests?

Introduction: Around 200,000 people were displaced from the post-election violence that occurred in Kenya in 2007 and 2008. Objectives: To assess the cardiovascular risk factors of men living in an internally displaced persons camp in Kenya. Methods: Cross sectional survey of 267 men who live in the Shalom Internally Displaced Persons Camp in the Rift Valley in Kenya. Respondent driving sampling technique was used to recruit the men. Data on cardiovascular risk factors was collected using a questionnaire (WHO STEPwise instrument) that asked about tobacco use, alcohol consumption, history of raised blood sugar. Biometric measures were taken of blood pressure, weight and height for BMI and waist hip circumference. Results: Demographic characteristics were: mean age 37 years, 84.5% were of Kikuyu ethnicity, 36% had no schooling or had not completed primary school, over half were married and the average household size was 7 people. Half were employed (predominantly in agriculture) and median monthly household income was 2500 Kenyan Shillings ($AUD 31.86). Results for cardiovascular risk factors were: 36% daily smoking, 31% consumed alcohol in past 30 days, 10% had BP 140/90 and a quarter were underweight (< 18.5 BMI). Conclusion: The overcrowded living conditions in the small mud houses in the camp are very basic with inadequate sanitation and access to fresh water. These difficult living conditions which accompany the range of cardiovascular risk factors identified among the men will lead to poor health outcomes unless the health, living conditions and access to health facilities improve. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared

PM344 Cardiovascular risk factors among men living in an internally displaced persons camp in Kenya

PM344 Cardiovascular risk factors among men living in an internally displaced persons camp in Kenya