Politics

The other Morias

Nairobi/Dhaka/Amman, Sep 18 (efe-epa).- The fire that gutted the Moria refugee camp in Greece last week exposed the appalling living conditions at the overcrowded facility.

The world’s gaze is, for now, focused on the plight of the 13,000 people who have spent days in limbo sleeping by the side of the road near the scorched remains of the camp while the Greek government scrambles to erect a replacement.

But Moria isn’t unique.

Many other refugee camps around the world, providing makeshift dwellings for hundreds of thousands of people, face similar challenges. These challenges have been further complicated by the pandemic.

Some of the largest camps include Dadaab in Kenya, Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Zaatari in Jordan.

DADAAB

Bapwoch Omot Oman, a 26-year-old Ethiopian, has hardly heard anything about the Moria fire but he is well acquainted with life in a refugee camp — he grew up in one.

He has lived in Dadaab, a sprawling city of tents in eastern Kenya that is home to around 200,000 people, since he was nine.

He admits he knows little of life outside the camp.

Bapwoch, his mother and six siblings fled the region of Gambela, in Ethiopia, after 400 members of his Anuak ethnic group were slain by soldiers on 13 December 2003.

Related Articles

Back to top button