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Episode 3

The camps have their own 'grey' economy, a hustling marketplace and a ready supply of men, desperate to find a job and to earn a little cash in order to supplement their rations.

Ben Rawlence tells the stories of just a few of the forgotten thousands who make up the half a million stateless citizens of Dadaab - the world's largest refugee camp, in the desert of northern Kenya, close to the Somali border, where only thorn bushes grow.

The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo.

Nisho has only ever known life in Ifo - one of the camps in Dadaab. His job as a porter in the market enables him to scrape together a little extra to help his mother, whose failing mental health fills him with anxiety. But from his position, almost at the bottom of the pile, he harbours ambitions for the future.

Read by David Seddon
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4.

15 minutes

Last on

Thu 11 Feb 2016 00:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Reader David Seddon
Author Ben Rawlence
Abridger Jill Waters
Producer Jill Waters

Broadcasts

  • Wed 10 Feb 2016 09:45
  • Thu 11 Feb 2016 00:30

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