Eye witness account from camp for internally displaced people in Nakuru, Kenya
Jon Bugge, Save the Children's emergency communications and media officer, writes from Kenya.
Tuesday 15 January 2008
The short drive from the guesthouse to the office was congested with the usual Nairobi traffic. Was it my imagination or was there palpable tension in the air? Perhaps, with the knowledge that the hotly contested parliament was due to open today, I was superimposing tension onto an everyday scene. Maybe it was simply people going about their normal daily lives - people struggling to get by without much time or energy to afford to follow politics. Would either side of the disputed election make the lives better for your average Kenyan child? Yet it is those very same Kenyan children who are at the brunt of the politically motivated violence.
The office, as most in the city, was only open for half the day. There was a definite atmosphere of apprehension in the office. The emergency team was busying itself ahead of the flight to Nakuru in the Rift Valley. The other staff discussed the emergency action plan that had been designed; in case of civil unrest certain houses would be designated safe houses - their owners were busy stockpiling basic commodities, enough to last a week.
The drive out to the airport passed large groups of policeman, which added to the sense of foreboding. Once there a steady stream of tourists were deposited on the runway fresh from safari. They exchanged puzzled looks with the waiting group of humanitarians who were sitting alongside five large recreation kits waiting for their pilot.
The tiny ten seater plane rattled down the runway. Once airborne the city slums of Nairobi were clearly visible, a patchwork of rusting corrugated iron roofs. There had been violence in these slums - some of the largest in the world - but it all seemed calm from several thousand feet.
The Rift Valley opened out below the plane it all its majesty. Beautiful lakes dotted the valley floor - iridescent greens punctuated by vibrant pinks as flocks of flamingos moved across the water.
We arrived in Nakuru and met with the provincial education department who gave us an overview of the impact of the problems on the pupils, teacher and school in the Rift Valley province. From here we went to the Nakuru showground - the main IDP camp in Nakuru. Here thousands of people - the exact number is not known because people arrive and leave everyday - have made makeshift shelters in the showground stadium and under donated tents or tarpaulins. Some people just sit with their belongings in the middle of the showground.
People wait in line for handouts - either second hand clothes or basic food rations. A community kitchen has been set up to serve meals to most of the people. The site is secure with a permanent fence around it and volunteers who monitor traffic coming into the camp. People are registered coming into the camp but it is harder to keep track of when they leave.
Some people do not want to return to their homes but instead wish to go back to their ancestral tribal lands. The children seem to almost see it as a big adventure jumping around on the sacks of clothes and other belongings they were able to take from their houses when they fled. Others still sit in stunned silence, muted by what they have seen.
