Climate changes, not the gun-toting gangs, have turned Usana Hussein Mural and her family into refugees begging for their everyday food.
Just like the rest of the Bantu Somalis living in Juba, Unsan Hussein Mursal, 50, has been a farmer. Together with her husband, she managed to amass a substantial amount of wealth, owning among other things a tractor and other farm assets.
The family used to produce enough for her little family and sell the surplus. But the successive droughts that hit many parts of Somalia forced them to seek refuge in Kenya's Dadaab camps.
"I lost all my crops from the farm in 2006 due to prolonged drought. Then in 2008, I could not believe when my farm produced nothing again. I also lost all my livestock. That is the moment I decided to leave," she says tearfully, flanked by her visually impaired daughter, Amina Aden Hafaw.
"We escaped with my husband and daughter on a tractor. We drove for four days towards Kenya with no food, only water." That was not the end of it. As they approached Dobley town near the Kenyan-Somali boarder, they ran into a militia group that shot her husband and commandeered their tractor.
"I could not believe it. My village had never experienced the ravages of war since it is in a remote area. Had it not been for the drought, I would not have been in this camp."
Her 25 year old daughter is still traumatized by the incident so much so that the sound of the camera shutter is enough to make her recoil in fear. They now stay in Ifo Camp's Block N-0.
"It is a shame that I now beg for food!" she quips as she walks her daughter to the tent.
The Danish Refugee Council works jointly with other organisations in both the Dadaab camps and the host community in the Dadaab area of Kenya. The area has provided protection and support to refugees for almost two decades and there is a continued need to not only provide legal and practical protection for the many refugees, but also support to livelihood and income generation among both those hosting and those being hosted in the region. Actual activities centers around capacity building, education and vocational training, all of which assist the community in become self sustainable and more capable at managing the constant pressure from displacement.