Life in A Refugee Camp

Practice:

Preparation: The classroom is arranged. The leader provides on the Dadaab camp hosting refugees in Kenya: “Consisting of 7 different camps, it is the world’s biggest refugee camp. It hosts nearly 600,000 refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. Almost all of these refugees are those Somalians who escaped the war between the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab and Somalia. Spanning an area of 50 km2 only 90 km away from the Somalian border, the camp consists of jerry-built shelters made with pieces of cloth in the middle of a desert. It is impossible to express the pain here considering the harsh desert temperatures in Africa. Basic needs of refugees here include water, food, clothing, education, health, care, and convenient living conditions. A number of the Somalian refugees at the camp speak Arabic. The literacy rate is quite low. Most of them don’t even have any IDs. Therefore, they face a lot of difficulties in legal procedures. Let’s give an example for this with an event that happened a couple of weeks ago: One of the kids in the camp is bitten by a snake on her hand. However, since she does not have any IDs, her father has reservations about seeing a doctor. He is afraid that they would take his daughter away from him. The child remains untreated with the bite for three weeks. However, once it is swollen and threatens her life, the charity organizations in the area eventually persuade, after insistent attempts, the family to take the child to the provincial center of Garissa for treatment. Once treated, they bring back the child to her family. Joseph Ole Nkaissery, Kenya’s Interior Minister, stated that the camp would be shut down for public security reasons and a fund worth USD 10 million was allocated for the refugees to go back home. Stressing that UN and other countries did not support Kenya, Mr. Nkaissery stated that they found the militants of Al-Shabaab used this camp as a base to attack Kenya. It is not still clear when the camps will be closed, but the Kenyan government reported that they will continue to exist if the international community supports. However, all United Nations (UN) did was to ask Kenya ‘not to close’ these camps. They delivered no announcements on aid or support. And no members of the international community remarked on BM’s announcement. Due to the drought, people later started to reach regions where they could find water and food.

Warm-Up: Evgeny Grinko’s piece “Faulkner’s Sleep” is played. The leader asks students to stand up and walk around freely. “Walk as if you were in the middle of a war. Feel that you are deeply frightened. You hear the bombs. You are in a tent in the camp, feeling desperate. All you do is closing your eyes. You are very hungry but there is nothing left to eat. Only a slice of bread. You share it with your parents. You are thirsty but there is no water. Keep walking as if you were exhausted due to being thirsty.”

Game: The class is divided into two groups. Each group creates a circle. Two jigsaw puzzles on the Dadaab Camp created previously by the leader are placed in the middle of the circle. Both groups start dancing to the music. Once the music stops, they both start to solve the jigsaw puzzle. The leader plays the music again and the group dances. They continue until the jigsaw puzzle is complete. The group that completes the jigsaw puzzle first is the winner.

Improvisation:

The class is divided into four groups. Each group is given information on the example incident at the preparation stage. They are asked to depict the moment with a still image.

1. They improvise the family’s arrival into the camp.
2. They depict the family’s first day and night at the camp.
3. The scene where the child is bitten by a snake is performed.
4. The child’s treatment and return to the camp is performed.

Assessment

1. How is life in the refugee camps?
2. What difficulties do they face?
3. What can be done to improve the conditions at the camp?