Kule Refugee Camp in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region was established in May 2014 in response to a major influx of refugees fleeing conflict and violence in South Sudan.

The camp is now home to thousands of families, many of whom have lived here for over a decade.

Many children were born or moved to the camp at very early ages and have known no other life beyond the refugee life.

Their daily life is marked by hardship, with limited access to food, clean water, and quality education. From a young age, children help with demanding household chores such as grinding grain, walking long distances to collect scarce firewood, fetching water, cooking, taking care of their younger siblings and other tasks while attending school, which is facing extreme challenges due to the dramatic international funding cuts.

Store-bought toys are unthinkable when most of these children’s parents have other priorities and little financial capacity due to limited livelihoods opportunities. Despite these difficulties, the children still find ways to play, laugh, and enjoy small moments of childhood. Children of Kule refugee camp creatively turn recycled materials like bottle caps, plastic containers, old tins, and cloth into their own playthings.

Since 2014 MSF has been providing critical primary and secondary healthcare. Thousands of children’s have been born in MSF’s maternity ward. Thousands have grown up fully relying on MSF for all their medical treatment.