| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (27 min. 29 sec.) ; 165621901 bytes |
| Summary |
It's a harrowing human drama growing more urgent by the day. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake, among them tens of thousands of children in immediate danger of starving to death. As the world's attention swings between chaotic swoops and loops in global financial markets and rampaging looters stomping a glass-shard-strewn swathe through the UK's high streets, an epic humanitarian emergency is struggling for attention. Now, Foreign Correspondent shines a light on the famine in - and tragic exodus out of - Somalia.Once more a catastrophe is unfolding in the Horn of Africa and we're transfixed by pictures of haunted faces and distended bellies, of huddles of humanity slumped in the sand, stoically waiting for help. A quarter of a century after Ethiopia became a byword for famine, now neighbouring Somalia is the epicentre of another and once again the call goes out for help. But who is listening?Desperate Somalis are trekking for three or four weeks to neighbouring Kenya in the hope of finding food - and sanctuary from civil war. If they're lucky they'll find a place inside Dadaab - a camp that's become a city.Dadaab in northern Kenya was once a quiet, dusty town near the Somali border but when war broke out in Somalia in the early nineties it became home to the first wave of refugees. Three distinct camps were built for 90,000 refugees, most of whom stayed and had families. Now drought, desperation and an unrelenting civil war has forced out new waves of Somalis and the surge has swamped the camp. Dadaab's population is rapidly approaching 400,000 and it is the world's biggest refugee camp. Every day another thousand people stumble in from bush - some days there are 1500 arrivals - exhausted from weeks of walking and very little food. Initially the best they can hope for is a wrist band entitling them to emergency food supplies and the hope that in three or four weeks they can be found space in a tent. If they're lucky they'll come into contact with people like Regina Muchai, of the Lutheran World Foundation, the lead manager of the Dagahaley camp who offers calm assistance and compassion to those who queue every morning outside the compound. 'I've not seen anything like what I've seen in the past two months and I've spoken to a lot of my colleagues. I don't think anybody has experienced this before.' - Regina Muchai, Lead Manager, Dagahaley campIf there is one small positive that visitors to Dadaab like correspondent Ben Knight take away, it is that a small number of Kenyan and international workers are doing remarkable things in a rapidly worsening environment. But what's also remarkable is the effort among the residents of Dadaab top get on with building their lives. The camp has an impressive and developing commercial dimension with refugees establishing small shops and businesses. Despite the impressive infrastructure of camps and food warehouses Foreign Correspondent reveals that Kenyan bureaucratic obstacles are making the refugee experience more difficult than it needs to be |
| Event |
Broadcast 2011-08-16 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Civil war -- Economic aspects.
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Droughts -- Economic aspects.
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Foreign correspondents.
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Refugee camps.
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Kenya.
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Streaming video
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| Author |
Ahmed, Shankaron, contributor
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Ahmer, Abdullahi, contributor
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Attidzah, Fafa Olivier, contributor
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Knight, Ben, host
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Muchai, Regina, contributor
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Musyoka, Humphrey, contributor
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Ominde, Mable, contributor
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