Uncompensated Internally Displaced People

For 2 days now I have read countless articles about the politics behind IDP’s.Since Directaida is  about direct aid and not something involving lot’s of money and time I will just skip talking about the political reasons and issues and just get right to the point. In a nutshell:

***Accusations of irregularities during the December 2007 elections in Kenya sparked widespread violence.The violence began when Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) declared victory in the elections. In response, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) claimed widespread irregularities
and fraud, sparking rioting across the country between supporters of the rival parties. The unrest
also enabled some groups to act on long-standing grievances over land, and forcible appropriation
has led to large-scale displacement, particularly in the Rift Valley and western Kenya.Estimates of the current number of IDPs range from 400,000 to 600,000, though patterns of displacement
are fluid and accurate data is difficult to obtain.

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE DISPLACED PERSONS
The response to internal displacement in Africa is minimal, delayed or non-existent. The response of governments to the protection needs of IDPs is generally poor. In Kenya, it is considered in the interest of state security to deny journalists, researchers and members of the humanitarian community access to information on IDPs. In access to clash zones at the height of displacement was due to on-going insecurity, but sometimes it resulted from deliberate obstruction by the government or its agents. As with refugees, governments are quick to deny or withhold information about the suffering of their own nationals.In Kenya, the problem of refugees and forced displacement falls under the Ministry of
Home Affairs, Immigration and Police departments. The draft refugee bill does not address the problem of IDPs at all, nor does the refugee desk at the Ministry of Home Affairs. Instead, the IDP problem has been shifted to the Relief department at the Office of the President. An interview at OP revealed that no-one is specifically charged with addressing the problem of those displaced during or around election time. Relief,including food, medicine and other basic necessities, is provided for victims of cattle
rustling and natural disasters only.***

A group of volunteers and I got together and visited 2 IDP camps, home to about 170 people, near a city of Naivasha. It is important to say that this trip was not a part of any Government or  (local) Non Government Organization. Izzo is a local Kenyan gentleman who guided us to the camps. Izzo and his friends ( and several volunteers out of our group) have been helping every second Friday for 9 months now. This trip is purely supported by the money volunteers put in. Our group had 15 volunteers and we were able to purchase 4 bags of rice 90kg each,6 bags of Maize Flour also 90 kg each, 50kg of cooking fat, a big bag of lollypops. One of the volunteers also brought 4 big bags of used children clothing. We arrived in Naivasha on Thursday evening, divided the food into 170 portions, and drove to the camp the next day to hand  out the food..                                                                                  

 

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  ( We packed the food the night before)

 

The first camp we visited was home to 15 families who fled their homes back in 2007.Those people were not supported by the government, and did not own the land they lived on. As a matter of fact the land they live on belongs to a school that will be built there some time soon and the 15 families will have to be moved by the end of this month. No one knows where to.

( This tent is home to 6 people)

The tents they live in are built out of old cement bags, used rice bags and old worn down plastic strung onto some tree branches. They ( tents) are home to families of 4-9, despite being barley big enough for one to two people. The one I visited was a home to 8 . In the tent there was plastic on the ground and nothing else. I can not imagine sleeping there on a nice dry night, let alone think about what happens when it rains.

This area is suffering a bad drought and water is a 4 km walking distance away. They are forced to buy dirty water and store it in sulphuric acid containers as that’s all they have. 

( Izzo holding the “water” storage tank)

These people have literally nothing. They use dried donkey dung and old corn cobs to make fire for cooking.

(the toilet)                         ( home to 9 people)

The second camp we visited is compensated. Although it seems like a luxury camp compared to the first one they still have literary nothing except for slightly larger tents given to them by the UN and some of the people were able to buy the land their tents stand on.

 

  ( the better tent )

We unpacked the food out of the van in this (compensated) camp,but all families including the 15 from the first camp ( they are located next to each other) got handed out potions of food. We had a list of families and portions were handed out according to the family size. Although it seemed like a lot of food , we were only able to give them 2-3 meals each. Izzo and I are hoping to get many more volunteers and donators willing to spend money to feed the people living in these two IDP camps.

Thank You for taking your time to read this.

Please watch the video :

 

 

  I wish to come out every second Friday and spend your donation towards aiding the two camps.

I would like to thank the DUAN Family who generously donated the money which I put towards the food we handed out this past weekend.

To make donations towards this project please leave a comment !!

or send me an email aida@directaida.com

phone +254 714791548

I am currently accepting donations through WESTERN UNION KLICK HERE TO DONATE

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