IAFR Kakuma

New people - mostly women and children - arrive at Kakuma every day. We went to a refugee reception center today to visit with some of them.

It was overwhelming.

It turned out that the group we spoke with were originally from Burundi - Gatera's homeland. He was able to share with them how he once arrived at a Kakuma refugee reception center and spent over 19 years in the camp before being resettled to the USA in 2016.

They told him that they didn't know what was going to happen to them. They didn't know how long they would have to wait in the reception center before given a proper shelter in the camp. In the meantime, they lived in UN tents with dirt floors. One woman said that she heard that they would have to wait 7 months before receiving a shelter.

They had survived the trauma of forced displacement and the dangerous journey to Kakuma refugee camp. Now their futures would be determined by people they would never see. Where they lived, what they ate, and how much water they could receive each day would be dependent on the decisions of those nameless people.

Their future depends on what the nations of the world decide to do with them. Perhaps we will leave them there and forget about them? They will become like many in Kakuma who have been there for over two decades with no end in sight. Or perhaps we will choose to care and offer them place - somewhere they can put down roots and rebuild their lives?

Whatever happens, IAFR is committed to showing up in Kakuma in life-giving ways. I am deeply grateful to our financial partners that make it possible to do so.