Kenya Crisis

International Rescue Committee teams have delivered food and emergency supplies to thousands of Kenyans who fled recent violence sparked by contested elections, extreme poverty and simmering ethnic tension.  

The IRC has been working in Kenya for over a decade, providing essential services to tens of thousands of refugees who fled to the country to escape conflicts throughout the region.  We also strive to assist the communities hosting refugees.

The IRC is one of the largest providers of humanitarian aid at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, which lies in a drought-prone area of northern Kenya.  The camp was established in 1992 as a haven for the “Lost Boys” of Sudan. It now houses some 93,000 refugees from nine nations, the vast majority of whom are Sudanese.  The IRC provides health care, sanitation services, education and other programs at the camp.  For the parched host community in Turkana District, the IRC runs an emergency water program out of its base in Lodwar. In Lokichoggio and Kalakol, the IRC assists the Africa Inland Church in providing HIV/AIDS awareness and testing services.  The IRC hopes to restart civil society programs for refugee communities in Nairobi as soon as security allows.