Statements

Visiting Kenya for World Refugee Day on 20 June, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi commended the steps taken by the Kenyan government to support refugees and help them rebuild their lives. He said Kenya’s inclusive policy in Kakuma has allowed refugees like Abdulaziz to work and contribute to the local economy.

“I am using this particular visit to highlight to the rest of the world that we can – and must – do more to offer such hope, opportunities, and solutions to refugees, wherever they are and whatever the context. Kenya shows that it is possible,” Grandi said in a statement.

The farmers are an integral part of the camp’s economy, supplying the local market with much-needed vegetables, increasing household income and giving opportunities to other refugees.

Livelihood opportunities

While the majority of the farmers are men, most of the traders are women from the camp.

Muhawe Selene from the Democratic Republic of Congo runs a small grocery stall in the market. She goes to the farms every morning to buy vegetables from the farmers. The 39-year-mother of eight fled her hometown of Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo five years ago when armed men killed her husband.

“This farm helps us put food on the table and also provides us with a source of income,” she said. “Without an income, the children would not be in school or have clothes. This farm helps me find produce that I can sell,”

“What makes me happy about this job is that it gives me energy because selling vegetables brings me money and the children live well, they don’t roam in the streets because I am a single parent and I have to take care of all of them,”

Despite the limited opportunities in the camp, Muhawe said she knew very well that “just sitting at home would never help.” She began washing clothes for other families, saving around a thousand Kenyan shillings ($7.18) which she used to start her grocery business.

“I would like to request the agencies to help us with capital money to build a proper shop, and increase our business,” she said as she unloaded her vegetables from a motorcycle, her 4-month-old daughter on her back.

According to a 2018 study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the camp’s informal economy generates $56 million annually – with more than 2,000 businesses, including 14 wholesalers.

After a long day at the farm, ploughing fields and managing the cooperative's daily business, Abdulaziz returns to his two-bedroom home, where he has nurtured a spray of colourful flowers to cover parts of the bare corrugated iron outer walls.

“My hope is to be able to live in peace and run my business freely from anywhere in Kenya without facing hurdles,” he said.  “I want to live like any ordinary Kenyan."