Visit to an Internally Displaced Person’s Camp in Western Province, Kenya
By Peter Savosnick
Nairobi, Kenya
March 28, 2008

I recently visited a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Turbo, in Kenya’s Western Province. The camp houses people who were displaced from their homes during the post-election violence of the past few months.

Travel to Turbo was uneventful. In Kisumu, I could see some of the damage from the riots — leftover burned vehicles at old roadblocks, and a few gutted buildings. I did see people (who may have been looters) removing building material from one large building that had been set alight.

The camp in Turbo is now better organized by the Kenya Red Cross. They are registering all newcomers and giving them a care package that enables them to set up a crude shelter. Additional toilets and bathrooms are being built this week. A school for young children is being set up and there are many teachers amongst the IDPs. The older children will have access to a school nearby. This is the first camp that I have ever visited so I have no comparisons to make, but it appears to be well organized into villages. Thankfully, the rains are late but when they do come it will be a challenge as the camp is situated on an open field.

The provincial administration is consolidating camps in the province and many IDPs have relocated back “home” to their relatives. The Turbo camp expands and shrinks from one day to the next but currently has about 6,000 IDPs and is expecting more. The APHIA II project will support the health services at the camp, primarily hiring staff for the clinic and ensuring supplies are accessed. I am sending up someone from the Foundation to assess the psychosocial support needs for HIV-positive residents of the camp, with the expectation that one or more support groups will be formed early next week.

I delivered a bag of toys and drawing materials, mostly donated by Foundation staff, which will be taken to the camp. We will continue to provide toys and similar items to the camp.

Nearly all Foundation staff are back at work in Nairobi as well as in our sites in Western and Eastern Kenya. .

Peter Savosnick, the Foundation’s Kenya Country Director, grew up in Kenya, arriving with his parents just after independence in 1964. His heart is in East Africa, having spent close to 24 years in Kenya and a little over three years in Uganda. Peter joined the Foundation in September 2004.

Peter’s first real development job was working as a village school teacher on the slopes of Mount Kenya, which was the most inspirational experience of his life. He earned a degree in business and economics from the University of Stockholm and quickly discovered that organizational development, management, and systems strengthening were skill areas in short supply in the public health sector.

Outside work, Peter enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, painting in oil when free time and inspiration collide, and jogging with friends to get rid of all the excess caused by his other hobby of curing and smoking meats.