In Dadaab, football is now the best medicine the refugee camp can provide
Al Jazeera
Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp has rapidly expanded in its 34 years, and now sport is one of the inhabitants’ best hopes.
Dadaab, Kenya – At Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, refugees stuck in the purgatory of indefinite displacement have found a powerful lifeline in the shape of football, which offers young aspiring athletes a path away from drugs and depression – and, in one case, towards an unlikely business opportunity.
Situated in an arid eastern strip of Kenya near the border with Somalia, Dadaab is one of the largest refugee camps in the world.
It was set up by the United Nations in 1991 to accommodate a massive influx of refugees fleeing civil war in Somalia. Today Dadaab is home to about 380,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, more than half of whom are under the age of 18. Though the camp was set up as a temporary solution, many of its residents have spent their entire lives in its plastic sheet tents and wooden huts.
The camp’s war-rattled refugees often suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety, the result of facing an uncertain future with few opportunities as they languish in the camp.
Most devastating of all, some teen refugees have even committed suicide. Amid such grim conditions, it’s not uncommon for Dadaab’s residents to turn to drugs and substance abuse to cope with despair.
