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Kenya: Reconnecting lives

08-11-2013 Photo gallery

The Kenyan Red Cross, in partnership with the ICRC, continues to carry out tracing activities to restore family links at Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. Refugees who live there use a free mobile phone service to contact relatives and keep in touch with them. There are more than 120,000 people from different nationalities living in the camp, which was established in 1992.

  • Life in the camp is challenging. The area has frequent dust storms and high temperatures. The average daytime temperature is 40 degrees Celsius. Kakuma refugee camp is located in the Turkana District of north-western Kenya, 120 kilometres from Lodwar City and 95 kilometres from Lokichogio, near the South Sudan border.
    • Life in the camp is challenging. The area has frequent dust storms and high temperatures. The average daytime temperature is 40 degrees Celsius. Kakuma refugee camp is located in the Turkana District of north-western Kenya, 120 kilometres from Lodwar City and 95 kilometres from Lokichogio, near the South Sudan border.
      © ICRC / C. Goin
  • Every day, Kenya Red Cross volunteers help about 400 people call their relatives in different parts of Africa and beyond. More than 20 volunteers help refugees in the camp restore contact with their families through mobile phone calls.
    • Every day, Kenya Red Cross volunteers help about 400 people call their relatives in different parts of Africa and beyond. More than 20 volunteers help refugees in the camp restore contact with their families through mobile phone calls.
      © ICRC / C. Goin
  • A Kenya Red Cross volunteer dials the number of one of the refugee’s relatives. Putting people back in touch with their loved ones is a major challenge for the ICRC and the Kenya Red Cross. The work includes locating people, exchanging messages, reuniting families and seeking to clarify the fate of those who remain missing.
    • A Kenya Red Cross volunteer dials the number of one of the refugee’s relatives. Putting people back in touch with their loved ones is a major challenge for the ICRC and the Kenya Red Cross. The work includes locating people, exchanging messages, reuniting families and seeking to clarify the fate of those who remain missing.
      © ICRC / C. Goin
  • Refugees gather at the Kenya Red Cross office to call their relatives. Although most of the refugees living in the camp come from Somalia and South Sudan, there are many others who have fled from Ethiopia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Uganda, and Rwanda, among others. Today, the camp population stands at over 124,000 refugees, for a theoretical capacity of 50,000. It was originally established in 1992 to serve Sudanese refugees.
    • Refugees gather at the Kenya Red Cross office to call their relatives. Although most of the refugees living in the camp come from Somalia and South Sudan, there are many others who have fled from Ethiopia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Uganda, and Rwanda, among others. Today, the camp population stands at over 124,000 refugees, for a theoretical capacity of 50,000. It was originally established in 1992 to serve Sudanese refugees.
      © ICRC / C. Goin
  • ICRC officials hold a meeting with Kenyan Red Cross volunteers to discuss issues related to the tracing programme. If there are unaccompanied children, the organization tries to locate their family and ensure that contact is restored. If conditions allow, the ICRC helps reunite the family.
    • ICRC officials hold a meeting with Kenyan Red Cross volunteers to discuss issues related to the tracing programme. If there are unaccompanied children, the organization tries to locate their family and ensure that contact is restored. If conditions allow, the ICRC helps reunite the family.
      © ICRC / C. Goin
  • Kenya Red Cross volunteers load a truck with all the elements required to place mobile tents in different parts of the camp. This enables refugees to walk shorter distances to gain access to the mobile phone service.
  • A refugee talks to her relative. Due to armed conflicts, families are often separated as they flee across borders to different countries or even continents. The increasing availability of the mobile phone service and other tracing tools has helped thousands of refugees regain contact with their family members.
  • A Kenyan Red Cross volunteer dials the phone number of one of the refugees who has come to the mobile tent.
  • A woman in Kakuma refugee camp speaks with her loved ones.Every year, thousands of family members are separated by conflicts, natural disasters and migration. People suffer terribly when they lose contact with their loved ones and don’t know where they are or whether they are safe. Under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, families who are separated by conflicts, other situations of violence and natural disasters have the right to know what has happened to their relatives.

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