Médecins Sans Frontières - Habiba showing her portable cooler box

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB83151

Date taken / Date Recorded 11/05/2021

Country Kenya

Commissioning section MSF-SWITZERLAND

Photographer / videographer / producer Paul Odongo

Copyright Paul Odongo/MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) Advertising Campaign, External Media, MSF Digital Publications, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media, Wires

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Project section MSF SWISS

Editor's rating ★★★★★★ (B)

Maximum Size 5367px × 3583px 5MB

Additional Information / Shotlist She smiles softly, her perfectly-aligned teeth showing. For a 10-year-old, she moves with confidence, and welcomes us to their home, her father standing next to her. Two mud-walled structures stand adjacent to each other at the centre of the compound, which is fenced by dried-up sticks.

This has been their home since 2017, when they relocated from Ifo 2, which was closed after a mass return of refugees to Somalia through a voluntary repatriation exercise spearheaded by UNHCR. Habiba was diagnosed with diabetes in 2017, just before the camp closed. Her father, Dahir Rage, had enlisted for repatriation, but changed his plans after she was diagnosed with diabetes. “I was ready to go back [to Somalia] but when she was found with this condition, I had to stay because I wasn’t sure if I could get insulin in Somalia,” he says.

Prior to being diagnosed with diabetes, Habiba would fall sick often and lost a lot of weight. For a child her size, it can be difficult to picture her losing any weight. She was admitted for two weeks in Ifo 2 for treatment then put on insulin.

“During the closure, I was given an option to either settle in Ifo or Dagahaley, but I chose Dagahaley because I have some relatives here who told me that MSF had good services for people with conditions similar to hers,” Dahir says. “So I brought my whole family here.”

“In Ifo 2, I would take her to the hospital every morning and evening for her insulin jab, but when we got here, we were trained by MSF on how to conduct blood sugar test, inject insulin and keep record of readings in a special book for better follow ups,” he says. “we were also taught the signs and symptoms of low and high blood sugar levels and how to manage them.” Habiba was also trained and can take record of readings in the glucometer, and injects herself with insulin.

“I was afraid of injecting myself at first, but these days I am used to it and no longer feel afraid,” Habiba says, smiling.

“When she was found with diabetes, me and my wife were also tested and history profiles taken. When we were told that she’d have to inject insulin for the rest of her life, my heart sunk. A deep sadness engulfed me, being that the camp was also being closed. Where would I get the medicine she needs, would I be able to afford it? Many questions ran through my mind that I could not answer,” Dahir says.

Despite her age, Habiba’s father is yet to take her to school. “In Ifo 2, she was too young to go to school and here the school is far and I am afraid that she might get hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) along the way and fall down. I have however taken her to Duksi (Muslim Quran classes) where she has learnt to also read and write,” Dahir says.

Dahir fled to Dadaab after a drought that had swept Somalia in 2011 had killed all his livestock and his family was struggling to survive. They settled in Ifo 2 where they stayed until it was closed. He was the only one among his siblings who came to Dadaab. “It was the nearest place I could get to that I was sure I could get refuge from. The communities that lived here and those from Jubbaland were the same and some of my relatives were also here already, so coming here was the best option for me,” he says.

Dahir is the sole breadwinner for the family. He has nine children, one lives with his mother in Somalia. Habiba was five months old when they came to Dadaab; he had four other children in the camp. In order to survive in the camp, he does all manner of jobs he’s able to find including fetching firewood using donkey carts, though he says he is a skilled builder and that he built the house they live in by himself.

He says Habiba is quite responsible and helps with chores around the house. She fetches water from a tap stand about 50 metres away every morning and if they need some more in the afternoon, rolling the filled jerrycan to their home. “At this time of Ramadhan, she prepares Iftar in the kitchen, and can even do some cleaning around the compound. Though I am worried about her, being a child, she likes sweet things and this doesn’t go well with her condition. I get concerned when she’s far from me,” he says.

Plans to close Refugee Camps
“I heard about those plans on the radio. This is not the first time we hear such calls being made – in 2016 it was the same and back then I was ready to go back to Somalia. I had even enlisted for repatriation. I am not too worried because we are under the protection of UNHCR and I know that they will do what’s best for us. So when the time comes and it reaches that point where we have to get back to Somalia, we’ll see what to do. Somalia is my motherland and there’s no country I love more than my own, but my child’s condition is what worries me. I however don’t have any option but to do what UNHCR will say. If I had an option, I would ask to be resettled to a third country,” Dahir says.

“The services we get in the camp including healthcare, water, and education are good. The food, however, is too little and some of the foods provided such as sorghum require additional ingredients to be palatable.

I don’t face too many challenges that I can say, everything else is good. The security within the camp is also good,” Dahir says.