kakuma update

When I learn something new, I just want to post it. To give validity to my experience, perhaps. Today was another good day on the camp. I cruised in the Land Cruiser (pun intended) to the IOM sub-office where they do the medical review and interviews for the refugees. I rode with them to pick up a family of 4 who were on their way to America. I sat with them in the car and watched as their neighbors surrounded the van, crying and saying goodbye. The 14 yr-old girl had henna done all over her hands and feet, new sparkly sandals (which gave her blisters) and bright pink lipstick on. It was really the first day of the rest of her life. It also suggests that really, Somali or American, 14 yr old girls are all kind of the same. It still chokes me up: the excitement, the uncertainty, the hope, maybe that's how I know I'm on the right career path: I still really dig refugees and their complex experiences. Then I wandered to the best restaurant in the camp, Francos, for some Ethiopian (I can't get enough). Then I had an hour to kill before my van came to "pick me," so I walked and sat in some man's shop and talked about how he has been here for 20 years, how he has a lot of family in Maryland (sponsored by the IRC!), he speaks 4 languages, and he will sell all of his hundreds of onions by the end of the week. My Swahili is enough to get in the door. I also sat and watched a (presumably) crazy Turkana woman dance in the middle of the road, sweat pouring off her, oblivious to the people that walked passed and chuckled. Then the charismatic IOM nurse came and got me and we rode to visit a shop in town where they are making crafts out of camel and cow bones. i bought a key chain.