The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) provide our food ration. We have seen allocations becoming less than they once were because of supply shortages and a lack of global funding for the WFP.
(From a balanced viewpoint, please read our relevant comment at the end of this article.)
Collecting our food rations
Our ration card allows us to access our food allocation. We collect our rations every month. Sometimes, we get double rations that have to last two months. We get what is available, which is seldom enough to stop us being hungry.
At food supply, we insert our ration card into a computer system. The attendant then knows how much food we will get, preventing people from taking more.
Food delivery, storage and security
Food destined for consumption by camp residents is transported by lorries from Mombasa and Nairobi, escorted by armed Kenya Defence Force. A week before food distribution commences, dozens of UN lorries arrive at the camp. There are three food distribution centres, (Kakuma 1. 2 and 4). All are highly guarded. They have to cater for the relevant percentage of over 200 thousand camp residents, usually at the start of the month, and over a period of a week or ten days.
Groups of camp residents have to attend as their schedule dictates. Long queues form and delays are frequent because of the number attending. Arm guards and police are in attendance to keep law and order. Despite this ‘protection’, it is an environment where we are vulnerable to verbal abuse, humiliation and attack.
Food variety
Food varies from month to month. Usually, it consists of rice, sorghum (a grass-grown seed), wheat seeds, yellow peas, or beans. Sometimes, there is no rice. Besides fortified oil, rations never include other food commodities like fresh vegetables, bread and other ingredients.
Diet – nutrients, fibre, protein and carbohydrates
As we understand it, the WFP provides foods which meet minimum dietary requirements. Each contains either protein and nutrients, carbs, fibre and vitamins, and mineral trace elements. While we may not argue with that, there is no variety, and the amount of food we receive often leaves us hungry.
Quantity of food per person.
A single person is given a total quantity (a combination of what is available) between a minimum of 3 kilos and a maximum of 6 kilos. The amount depends on supply, availability and how long we have to make it last. We usually get half a litre of fortified oil with a month’s supply of rations.
Supplementary items
Breastfeeding mothers get 3 kilos of soya millet mix in their family rations. Everyone gets a few dollars to buy some extras or something different to eat from the local markets. How much can vary month by month, but it is usually only 3 or 4 dollars each, equating to roughly 450 to 600 Kenyan shillings. That might buy two kilos of sugar, some rice, etc.
Accessing supplementary funds
Throughout the camp (Kakuma 1, 2, 3 and 4), we have market shops registered by UNHCR/LWF (Lutheran World Federation). The federation lends registered refugees with money to start up a business. These shops also arrange a card system for collecting our small monetary supplement.
These registered shops are called Bamba Chakula shops. Bamba means money on a card, and Chakula means food. The four dollars given to each camp resident are deposited on Bamba Chakola cards within a computer system, and every resident must access them. These cards act like debit cards. The shops also take cash, and we’re likely to shop at these registered shops on the rare occasions any of us have funds.
Markets in Camp
Please see our separate article.
Preparing food for cooking
We mostly cook rice by boiling it. Wheat grains and sorghum must be taken to milling machines around the camp to produce flour. That’s mingled with water and a drop of oil to make a meatless posho (like a porridge). Yellow peas and beans can be cooked as a vegetable soup or added to posho.
How we cook
When we arrived at camp, we were each given a small saucepan, a plate, mug and cutlery.
Some have small stoves that require fuel, like wood or charcoal. Slow-burning twigs collected from the surrounding bush make an excellent free alternative.
A group of stones in a circle with fuel in the centre is a common alternative. The saucepan sits on the rocks, which must be the same size to avoid spilling and losing what we’re desperate to eat.
Some of us have tried to make bread twists using twigs over a fire. But it’s not the best way to use ingredients for our daily meal, or two smaller meals if we like breakfast and something (the same) later.
Generally, we cook individually. We each have varying tastes and preferences in how we use and cook our rations, and cooking for ourselves makes it easier to decide when to eat.
Everyone is always hungry, and long for the day they have more choices.
The World Food Program and its global aim.
Our acknowledgement.
To put our situation into perspective, we acknowledge and appreciate the WFP has a presence in 120 countries and territories around the globe. *
While sharing our own hunger pains with you, it doesn’t escape our comprehension that the WFP task of helping the destitute and hungry is enormous.
For example, over 4 million people in Kenya need food assistance and suffer from malnutrition. One of the reasons is the drought emergency back in September 2021. One season after another across The Horn of Africa failed, and at the time, it caused 3 million plus livestock deaths, dried up water supplies and drastically reduced harvests. *
Another valid reason making WFP’s task difficult is the reluctance of United Nations countries to collectively increase funding for UN humanitarian aid.
(* Source www.wfp.org)
Knowing this doesn’t change our situation, except we’re much more empathic towards people in a similar or worse dilemma.
Our fundraising page
The group’s malnourishment and hunger drive our efforts to raise funds for our group.
While that aims to supplement and add to our meagre diet, we have additional funding needs like private medical costs (our only alternative when UNHCR refuses us), improved sanitary, shelters and living facilities – mattresses, blankets and essentials for women and children in our group.
Understanding societies globally are facing a cost-of-living crisis; our estimated ask has been kept to a minimum at this time, enough to make our existence in this awful place a little more bearable.
Please visit our ‘Help Us’ page for more details and other ways you could help. Help Us
