Death in Life

I walked through blocks 1, 2, and 3 today in Basateen. It's an area on the south-eastern edge of the slum. People refer to it as Kismayo because of the fact that most residents are originally from that city in southern Somalia. It's next to the paved road, close to the dump, main well, and big primary school.

A coworker told me it's where the "real refugees" live. By that I think he meant the people who are suffering the most. I'm not sure if there's an accurate way to judge that but after a few hours walking around I could see what he meant.

At one point I felt overwhelmed by the filth and heat. The shacks seemed to close in on each other. My eyes stayed fixed on the ground as we walked through tight alleys. I tried to avoid the feces and burning garbage. I wondered how deep people have to reach to find the strength to bear that existance day after day.

We walked up to a school where we could hear kids reciting. As we approached the building to look inside, a small boy ran in front of us to look first. On the back of his shirt was written "Death in Life."

Just one of those things.


- Michael

The Gardens

Basateen used to be mostly fruit farms before refugees started to settle there. The name means "gardens" in Arabic. This is what it looks like on the edge of Basateen, next to the primary school.

Kharaz New Arrival Area

This is the area in Kharaz refugee camp in Yemen where the newest arrivals stay for a short time. The day I took this picture there were about 90 new arrivals - in one day. These all are people who've paid smugglers to bring them across the sea from Somalia. Many boats capsize, as did one that same day we found out later. About 40 people drowned. This happens every week. 

Most of the Somali new arrivals - who are prima facie refugees and given automatic refugee status by the Yemeni gvt - head south to the city of Aden or north to Saudi Arabia to look for work. Very few decide to stay in Kharaz because of the isolation, lack of opportunities, and the fact that the camp is overcrowded. 

View From The Office

This is the main street in Basateen, the urban area where about 18,000 Somali and Oromo refugees live in the city of Aden. The goat's about ten feet from the front gate of the main office I work out of there. Goats - and packs of wild dogs - are all over, especially on the edges of the area where people dump their garbage.

Test of Strength

It's good to walk as slowly as possible in Aden, otherwise so many magical things will slip by you. I sat at a busy corner in the Crater neighborhood one afternoon, nursing a fresh mango juice, and happened to catch this guy amongst the madness. He built this machine that tests your grip strength. It was a bargain at 20 rials - about ten cents.