Dadaab Refugee Camp is the largest refugee camp in the world — 400,000 people, in a camp that was designed for 90,000. It is managed by a Lutheran World Federation team, as is Kakuma Refugee Camp, home to 85,000 people. It is to these camps that people flee for safety.

What is life like here?

John Davison, a journalist bringing stories from Dadaab to the world, spent a typical day with a member of the Lutheran team, Soraya Musau.

The day begins early for Soraya Musau at Dagahaley refugee camp.Soraya, 30, from Nairobi, is an emergency officer for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). She’s out of her tent by 5.00 am, waking her staff for another demanding day. By this time newly arrived refugees from Somalia have already begun to gather outside the gates of the compound, seeking food, water, basic necessities — and hope.

The camp is one of three in the Dadaab complex in eastern Kenya, all managed by LWF.

Dagahaley is now receiving the most new refugees — on some days more than the other two camps combined. The highest figure at Dagahaley alone has been 1536 in one day, while the total for the three camps has reached more than 60,000 since the refugee emergency was declared on 6 June.

Welcoming new arrivals

The crowds are mostly patient and quiet as they wait to enter the reception centre. Some carry bundles of belongings. Many have nothing but their children. All are hungry and exhausted after a journey from Somalia that can take more than three weeks on foot.

For Soraya and her eleven staff, the task is a daunting one.

You can read the full story in the September 2011 edition, available from LCA Subscriptions. Full stories become available online three years after publication date.