A short article about the amount of refugees in the camp. There is a growing population there with refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi, Somalia and DRCongo.
CAMP, Kenya, 6 August (UNHCR) – Kakuma Refugee Camp has surpassed its capacity of 100,000 residents, creating serious concerns as more refugees continue to arrive.
The provision of life-saving assistance and important services is becoming increasingly difficult due to limited funding to cater for the growing population, particularly in the shelter, sanitation, education, and healthcare sectors
idents and members of the local community due to the limited water and other resources in the area.
However, an estimated US$16.7 million would be required to set up a second camp and UNHCR's current financial constraints mean this would likely also pose significant challenges.
This is a very recent article from the 6th August 2012 about the struggles that Kakuma refugee camp is now facing. It is a very short article mainly about the fact that the camp is exceeding its maximum population.
It was established in 1992 to serve Sudanese refugees,
The local Kenyan population is largely comprised of nomadic pastoralists from the Turkana community.
Life in the semi-arid desert environment of Kakuma is rather challenging. The area has always been full of problems: dust storms, high temperatures, poisonous spiders, snakes, and scorpions, outbreaks of malaria, cholera, and other hardships. The average daytime temperature is 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Anyone confined to a place like Kakuma is rendered automatically dependent on some form of hand-out” (2000, p. 23).
KANERE said, on January 13, 2009 at 7:44 pm
It is difficult to provide a comprehensive response to this excellent query. Generally speaking, Kenyans living in other areas of Kenya a) have never heard of Kakuma Camp; b) have heard of it but assume it is located in Sudan; or c) know the camp as the “place for lots of refugees.” Those who are well aware of the situation consider Kakuma to be a difficult place to live, for both refugees and locals. Some Kenyans view refugee camps as a danger to national security. Others view camps as worthy humanitarian endeavors. Interestingly, many NGO and UNHCR staff working in Kakuma Refugee Camp look upon Kakuma as an extreme hardship zone and eagerly await placement to new (urban) job locations. This despite their lavish living conditions as compared to refugees.