Kakuma Refugee Camp Holistic Support

At the end of 2017, IsraAID partnered with the Japan Platform and Japan IsraAID Support Program (JISP), to construct and set up a new Child Resource Centre in Kalobeyei refugee settlement area, Kenya. Construction just started and is already well under-way - we hope to open it to the children of Kalobeyei in the next month! 

Kalobeyei settlement is a few kilometers away from Kakuma refugee camp, with a population of 35,000 refugees. Until now, there hasn't been any Child Resource Centers for the children in this area. As of January 2018, UNHCR reported that 107,547 refugees, out of the 185,449-refugee population in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, are children aged 17 and below - so, there remains an urgent need for more resources to provide safe places for children both in Kakuma refugee camp and the Kalobeyei refugee settlement area.

This week, we started training the future facilitators for the JPF-funded, JISP and IsraAID Children Resource Center. There were 24 participants, among them many refugees and members of the host community, who joined the six-day workshop led by IsraAID's mental health professionals. Some of the participants shared its impact:

‘I am grateful for the training opportunity that IsraAID has offered us. The information and skills we have received here has helped us to understand how to respond to the needs of our children. I will share what I have learnt in my community so that our children can be taken care of and that they have a safe community to live in.” Betty, Chairperson for Kalobeyei refugee settlement area.

Sarah, a resident of the host community, commented: "I am very happy to participate in this training because I am learning a lot of new skills. Those tools will help me relate to the refugee children better and will help me manage groups of children in the future."

“When I was in primary school, my teacher beat me for something I had not done. He called me a thief and punished me in front of all my classmates. I was embarrassed and have believed, since then, that maybe indeed I am a thief. From this training, I now understand the importance of responding to children with careful attention. It is always important to listen to the child, and only when there is proof that the child has done something wrong, then the adult must speak to a child in a way that encourages good behavior in children, rather than labelling them”. Training participant remarking after a role-play activity during the Psychosocial Support training workshop. 

Meanwhile, IsraAID's activities continued in our other Child Resource Center in Kakuma refugee camp:

At the center, our facilitators engage the children daily and provide psycho-social support, indoor and outdoor play, and creative and therapeutic activities. In January alone, over 2,300 children accessed the center. Most of the children are of Southern Sudanese nationality (1,254), and the rest are from the Congo, Burundi, Somalia and Rwanda.

The newest developments include:

• Our karate club registered lots of additional members resulting in the formation of two clubs! - one has children over 11 years old, and the second, has children between eight and ten years-old.
• Our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilitator engaged the children in interactive hygiene practice lessons about the appropriate use of the toilet and hand washing facilities.
• Our soccer club has also expanded, and there are now two active soccer teams.

We look forward to sharing more updates soon!!