HIGHLIGHTS
As at 15 April 2016, Kakuma had received 53,253 refugees from South Sudan. This brings the total registered camp population to 189,913.
On 15 April, UNHCR met with youth groups across the camp to share encouraging news regarding the -proposals they submitted to the Global Youth Initiative Fund 2016. For the second year in a row and out of 80 proposals submitted globally, a group from Kakuma was selected among the winning groups. The group submitted a proposal on promoting and empowering young people with disability in the camp.
The second edition of the Artists for Refugees project started on 15 April with the arrival of Victor Ndula and his team. Victor is a leading editorial illustrator for The Star newspaper and is one of the lead facilitators of the livelihoods project, which aims to mentor and nurture talented youth in the camp in various fields of the Arts. Victor with his visual arts students in the camp The visual arts workshop will take place from 16 to 21 April
UNHCR is hosting a team from the Oxford Research Mission which will be Kakuma from 11 to 18 April. The team is undertaking a preparatory visit for Oxford University to lay the foundation for a bigger research misison on “Refugee Economies” in Kakuma. The planned research will take place later in the year. During the week, the mission will hold meetings with DRA, partners and refugees to gain a better understanding of refugees’ economic activities.
The Tegla Lorupe Peace Foundation was in Kakuma on 08 April to conduct trial races for refugee and host community athletes which were held on 09 and 10 April. Competitions for short races; 100m, 200m and 400m and long races; 10,000m, 5,000m, and 1,500m were held with an impressive turn up of some 900 refugees. 16 refugees (6 females) were selected in the process and will undergo basic medical screening by IRC before departing for Nairobi for high-altitude training.