Photo EssaySlideshow: A Look Inside The Kakuma Refugee Camp

Shamafosa from the Congo had a story that shook me. She had risked her life to leave Uganda with her 3 children, crossing the dangerous waters of Lake Albert, one of the African Great Lakes. Image by Lior Sperandeo

Photo EssaySlideshow: A Look Inside The Kakuma Refugee Camp

By Lior Sperandeo July 16, 2018

Getting to the Kakuma Refugee Camp isn’t easy. Once your visit is approved, you board a special UN commissioned flight from Nairobi to the hot and arid desert where the refugee camp is located.

I was invited to Kakuma by IsraAID, an Israel-based humanitarian aid agency that responds to emergency crises and engages in international development around the world. IsraAID has been operating in Kakuma since 2014, focusing on building local capacity to provide adequate medical care, improve community protection, increase access to daily necessities and improve overall living conditions.

Covering IsraAID’s mobile dental clinic was inspiring, but I wanted to look beyond the humanitarian work. I wanted to get to know the humans of Kakuma.

Read the rest of the story here.

1 / 13

A view of the Kakuma Refugee camp in Northwestern Kenya Photo by Lior Sperandeo

2 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

3 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

4 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

5 / 13

Dr. Lior Tamir is an Israeli-American dentist. Together with a delegation of his colleagues, he provides urgent dental care to Kakuma’s ever-growing population of refugees. Photo by Lior Sperandeo

6 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

7 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

8 / 13

Anneta from Burundi arrived at the camp in 2014, together with her parents. They had fled the Burundian unrest after several years of inter-ethnic strife. Photo by Lior Sperandeo

9 / 13

Tenda is an artist from South Sudan who arrived at the camp in 2013 with his brother. When the brutal South Sudanese civil war broke out, Tenda and his brother ran for their lives — surviving a treacherous 3 months walking to the Kenyan border. Photo by Lior Sperandeo

10 / 13

11 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

12 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

13 / 13

Photo by Lior Sperandeo

Lior Sperandeo is an Emmy Award nominated Cinematographer from Tel Aviv. He started his career as a News Cameraman covering Jerusalem & the Middle East, and later shifted to the documentary world. In his latest project “PeopleOf,” Lior highlights different human and social struggles around the world, creating a tool and voice for muted populations.

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

Become a member today and you'll directly support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief