Sultan Speaks from Kakuma -the Kenyan Deathstalker, part 3
"I have patience until I die or find real help from one of the individuals, groups or organizations, and I am waiting for help from God."
Donate here to help Sultan: https://gofund.me/7142b7f7
These are Sultan’s own words, but as English is not Sultan’s first language, I have taken the liberty of making small changes to grammatical and spelling errors when I deemed it necessary for comprehension. Sultan gives you many details of daily life in the camp, but he also relays his thoughts on the probable closure of the camp.
As you will see, things in the camp have gotten worse, but as I often tell myself that I should let Sultan speak directly to you. So, here we go!
“…As for the police, since the Kenyan government announced its intention to close the Kakuma refugee camp in 2021, they detain refugees in an arbitrary way. And for the sake of the release from prison, arbitrarily they ask for money. As a result, the local population created many problems with the refugees in order to obtain funds, and the local residents of the Trokana tribe ask for money from the refugees in the camp more than before. Some even ask you against your will to give it and threaten you.
In early January, the organization that sponsors water provision in Kakuma refugee camp met with refugee leaders in Kakuma refugee camp. And I told them that the water will be paid and the reason is that there are no donors, but I did not specify a date for that. Also, at the level of organizations operating in the Kakuma refugee camp, the number of employees was reduced, and salaries and wages were reduced and came late.
Since the Kenyan government began resuming registration activity in Nairobi, approximately 500 refugees arrive in Kakuma refugee camp every week, and the number of refugees who have entered Kenya is estimated at about 10,000 refugees awaiting registration. And moving to Kakuma camp, a large number of them are from Congo, and the rest are few from Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. There are also a very small number of LGBT refugees. The Kenyan government also sends some without registration documents, and they are registered directly in the Kakuma refugee camp.
The merchants also tended to secure their shops by paying the police and members of the refugees who followed the refugee merchants, and even some local residents from the Trokana tribe were hired to guard at night. From 6 pm to 6 am, while some refugees fled the camp to other camps such as Uganda and Ethiopia, and some left the camp and settled in cities inside Kenya.
Most aid organizations have changed employees. Also from this year, secondary schools are not free, but the student must pay the tuition fees, and the names of the hospitals that were affiliated with the organizations were changed to other names and came under the administration of the Kenyan government in preparation for being fee-based like Kenyan hospitals in cities. Kakuma refugee camp is also located on an international road linking Kenya with South Sudan. Now the government is working on restoring and expanding this street, paving international roads and building new ones. The company also reached the electricity production company through solar energy, and the company began to work, but the electricity service has not yet reached the homes of the subscribers of its customers, and it is a commercial company. In the past one telecommunications company in the camp, now we have two telecommunications companies.
All these things suggest that the Kenyan government will work to give the refugees in Kakuma refugee camp Kenyan citizenship so that this number is invested in the upcoming elections at the end of the current year 2022. In November 2021, the Kenyan government denied ORAM (an organization that works to assist LGBTI refugees) entry to the Kakuma refugee camp.
For me, after I finished the eligibility interview and the dose of the CoronaVirus Covid 19 vaccine, and I saw the conditions that I was told about, I did not feel satisfied and began to feel a panic attack, and anxiety and psychological tension became more than I could handle. I have patience until I die or find real help from one of the individuals, groups or organizations, and I am waiting for help from God.
What I am thinking about now is to find a way to settle down and be safe, even if it is in Kakuma refugee camp, so that I can make myself a business that guarantees me self-sufficiency and daily income for my personal expenses Leaving the dependence on the fundraising campaign, and this work does not cause me to face security problems again. I try to plan for that, and I wrote a plan for that, but I do not have the funding.
After I finished the eligibility interview in October I went to the office in December in order to find the paper which is the result of the eligibility interview and my recognition as a recognized refugee in Kenya by the Kenyan government and the United Nations Refugee Agency. But the response was very harsh on my heart, which is to attend two years after the interview to see the result, and this is what encouraged me to go to Nairobi. I gave up 4 years of my life, and this office tells me to come to us for a review after two years… and maybe after two years, the result is not ready, and it may be ready by refusal. These people are unscrupulous. I am trying to find an answer from them, but so far I have not been able to do so. Security threats still persist, some incidents are repeated, and the reason for this is the siege imposed on refugees in Kakuma refugee camp and the spread of alcohol and drugs of all kinds in Kakuma refugee camp."
In part 4, we will learn more from Sultan about his childhood in Saudi Arabia.
These are Sultan’s own words, but as English is not Sultan’s first language, I have taken the liberty of making small changes to grammatical and spelling errors when I deemed it necessary for comprehension. Sultan gives you many details of daily life in the camp, but he also relays his thoughts on the probable closure of the camp.
“…As for the police, since the Kenyan government announced its intention to close the Kakuma refugee camp in 2021, they detain refugees in an arbitrary way. And for the sake of the release from prison, arbitrarily they ask for money. As a result, the local population created many problems with the refugees in order to obtain funds, and the local residents of the Trokana tribe ask for money from the refugees in the camp more than before. Some even ask you against your will to give it and threaten you.
In early January, the organization that sponsors water provision in Kakuma refugee camp met with refugee leaders in Kakuma refugee camp. And I told them that the water will be paid and the reason is that there are no donors, but I did not specify a date for that. Also, at the level of organizations operating in the Kakuma refugee camp, the number of employees was reduced, and salaries and wages were reduced and came late.
Since the Kenyan government began resuming registration activity in Nairobi, approximately 500 refugees arrive in Kakuma refugee camp every week, and the number of refugees who have entered Kenya is estimated at about 10,000 refugees awaiting registration. And moving to Kakuma camp, a large number of them are from Congo, and the rest are few from Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. There are also a very small number of LGBT refugees. The Kenyan government also sends some without registration documents, and they are registered directly in the Kakuma refugee camp.
The merchants also tended to secure their shops by paying the police and members of the refugees who followed the refugee merchants, and even some local residents from the Trokana tribe were hired to guard at night. From 6 pm to 6 am, while some refugees fled the camp to other camps such as Uganda and Ethiopia, and some left the camp and settled in cities inside Kenya.
Most aid organizations have changed employees. Also from this year, secondary schools are not free, but the student must pay the tuition fees, and the names of the hospitals that were affiliated with the organizations were changed to other names and came under the administration of the Kenyan government in preparation for being fee-based like Kenyan hospitals in cities. Kakuma refugee camp is also located on an international road linking Kenya with South Sudan. Now the government is working on restoring and expanding this street, paving international roads and building new ones. The company also reached the electricity production company through solar energy, and the company began to work, but the electricity service has not yet reached the homes of the subscribers of its customers, and it is a commercial company. In the past one telecommunications company in the camp, now we have two telecommunications companies.
All these things suggest that the Kenyan government will work to give the refugees in Kakuma refugee camp Kenyan citizenship so that this number is invested in the upcoming elections at the end of the current year 2022. In November 2021, the Kenyan government denied ORAM (an organization that works to assist LGBTI refugees) entry to the Kakuma refugee camp.
For me, after I finished the eligibility interview and the dose of the CoronaVirus Covid 19 vaccine, and I saw the conditions that I was told about, I did not feel satisfied and began to feel a panic attack, and anxiety and psychological tension became more than I could handle. I have patience until I die or find real help from one of the individuals, groups or organizations, and I am waiting for help from God.
What I am thinking about now is to find a way to settle down and be safe, even if it is in Kakuma refugee camp, so that I can make myself a business that guarantees me self-sufficiency and daily income for my personal expenses Leaving the dependence on the fundraising campaign, and this work does not cause me to face security problems again. I try to plan for that, and I wrote a plan for that, but I do not have the funding.
After I finished the eligibility interview in October I went to the office in December in order to find the paper which is the result of the eligibility interview and my recognition as a recognized refugee in Kenya by the Kenyan government and the United Nations Refugee Agency. But the response was very harsh on my heart, which is to attend two years after the interview to see the result, and this is what encouraged me to go to Nairobi. I gave up 4 years of my life, and this office tells me to come to us for a review after two years… and maybe after two years, the result is not ready, and it may be ready by refusal. These people are unscrupulous. I am trying to find an answer from them, but so far I have not been able to do so. Security threats still persist, some incidents are repeated, and the reason for this is the siege imposed on refugees in Kakuma refugee camp and the spread of alcohol and drugs of all kinds in Kakuma refugee camp."
In part 4, we will learn more from Sultan about his childhood in Saudi Arabia.
Donate here to help Sultan: https://gofund.me/7142b7f7
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