Somali refugee camp expanding into Kenya's third-largest "city"

Nairobi, Kenya, August 18 (ENInews)--The Dadaab refugee complex in
northern Kenya, where several Christian relief agencies are delivering
humanitarian aid to Somali migrants fleeing drought, war and disease, has become
Kenya's third-largest "city."

With a population of nearly 450,000, the community of white tents and
makeshift houses is located about 100 kilometers from the Somali border. More
than 1,000 severely malnourished people arrive daily, fleeing the drought and
famine affecting more than 12 million people. Opened in 1991 and
originally meant to hold 90,000 people, the complex is bursting at the seams and
there are indications many are seeing it as a permanent home.

"We talked to one of the ladies (at the camp) who said she was there with
her four children," said the Rev. Elieshi Mungure, Africa regional
secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, which is managing the camp for the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees. "We asked her if she would go back to
Somalia if there would be food and peace. She responded no, she wouldn't go
back because she has everything she needs here. Although she is sleeping in a
tent, she said, this is a better life than where she came from," Mungure
said.