INTRODUCTION
Climate change threatens to cause the biggest refugee crisis of all time. Statistics vary wildly, but experts warn that up to 200 million people will be forced to leave their homes over the course of the century.
Most affected will be in Africa and Asia. For some, migration will be internal, while millions of others will be forced to cross borders, seeking refuge in other countries. Both groups are now known as Climate Refugees.
THE PROJECT
In May 2009 I captured this multimedia project in Kenya. I spent several weeks living and working with communities that will be affected by climate change.
Among the people I interviewed were villagers in rural Nyanza Province, slum dwellers in Nairobi, women living with HIV in Kibera, orphanage workers, refugees from neighbouring war-torn countries, and victims of the 2008 post-election clashes.
While their stories are varied, all are relevant when considering the impact of increasing rural urban migration.
FROM AFRICA’S BIGGEST LAKE: THE REALITIES OF RURAL URBAN MIGRATION
(Video)
Drought and flooding in Western Kenya is going to increase the amount of people moving to Nairobi to find work. Poverty and unemployment in Nairobi is already high. An increase in urban population could have devastating consequences.
Nyanza Province, Western Kenya
View Larger Map
GLOBAL WARMING: FANNING THE FLAMES OF SOCIAL UNREST IN KIBERA
(Audio)
Violence exploded in Kibera during the 2008 post-election clashes. While the country’s political future remains in the balance, increasing urban population could trigger further fighting.
Kibera, Nairobi
View Larger Map
RUTH’S STORY
(Video)
One of the saddest stories from the post-election violence. Ruth’s interview is used in other parts of this project, but I also wanted to include the unedited version.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
(Video)
The strength of peoples faith in Kibera is unfaltering. During times of violence, injustice, and poverty, people continue to pray. They don’t just pray for a better life, instead, they give thanks for what they do have. To an outsider, this can be quite overwhelming, but deeply humbling. It should also be noted, that in slums such as Kibera, Churches are responsible for the majority of schools, training programmes, counselling, and grass-root initiatives. They also provide refuge for those in desperate need. Christ the King Catholic Church is just one example of this.
KIBERA’S HIV ORPHANS
(Audio)
Nearly a million children are orphaned by Aids in Kenya each year. Orphanages run by volunteers, feed and educate HIV positive children in Africa’s biggest slum.
MAKING THE MANDATE
(Audio)
Kenya is home to over 370,000 refugees from neighbouring countries. Although they are not climate refugees, these displaced people are part of Kenya’s diverse population, and a huge issue for the country. I met with several refugees from East Africa.
Burundi
Sudan
Ethiopia
HIV PROFILE
(Audio)
Christ the King Parish, Kibera: The human rights department has a scheme helping HIV positive women set up their own businesses in the slum. However, poverty continues to make life difficult.
IN PICTURES
Please follow this link to see photos from the project.
THE FUTURE
Forced migration is a huge issue, and these are only bite-size stories. However, by keeping this blog active, I hope it is just the beginning. I intend to develop it further, following the issues, and documenting new stories. If you have any questions or feedback about this project, please feel free to contact me.
If you would like to see more of my work, please click here.
This is an impressive endeavour, sharing on various issues; climate change, disasters, diseases , poor housing and poverty with respect to Kenya to the outside world via this medium. This is a reminder that will obviously trigger action from individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, Government etc. However, clarification on environmental vis-a-vis climate refugees need to be sorted.
Congratulations!
ciara this is great and nice work keep it up. just want to let u know that pamella’s other name is akwede. again all the best.
This is a fascinating and insightful blog. The subject matter is interesting as well as controversial but has been tackled in a sensitive way. I learned a lot from reading and listening to this.
Very informative and well presented. I would like to keep in touch and to help in my small way if that is possible. It is so humbling to see such courage and determination in the face of difficulties on a scale that we, in Europe, can’t even imagine.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your comment. As we have discussed, I am setting up a foundation which will hopefully support many independent projects in both rural and urban Kenya. I am over the moon to have you on board! By the way, Tomas’s blog is fantastic! So talented. http://www.babelsmarket.com/
Thank you for increasing my awareness of this plight in Kenya. I found the blog very moving but not emotive. I also felt it lacked bias. On a positive note your blog has made me feel that I can in some small way help allievate some of the suffering of these people and I hope that some other people will be similarly moved to action
ciarasutton // October 28, 2009 at 9:57 am | Reply
Hi! Glad you enjoyed the blog. This was my first venture working alone as a journalist, and I was keen maintain a professionalism which would allow the stories to speak for themselves. Working alone was a challenge because I became quite submerged in the communities I was reporting on. It is good to always keep an emotional distance, but obviously this can be tricky. I found it particularly difficult to report in an unbiased way on the refugees from outside Kenya. In the end, I just posted the interviewees stories, rathering than giving a commentary. I felt this was powerful enough.
Leave a Comment
Amazing Ciara!! Very informative, powerful, interesting and thought evoking! Your talent shines through!
Thanks Rosie for taking the time to look at my blog. Your comments are so kind, I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
Extremely well presented and highly informative. the quality of video and audio was excellent. What I liked was that this was linking a humanitarian problem to a current clobal issue – global warming. The west tends to see global warming issues as how they affect them – storms, droughts widlfires etc they rarely look at how the man made problem affetcs people such as you have reported on.
I found the video clips worked better for me than the audio but maybe thats just me and my prefernce for one medium at a time.
Thanks for your comment, am really glad that you enjoyed the project. It is interesting to find out which mediums people prefer. I wanted to mix it up a bit so that it really became a whole multimedia project. Ideally, I would have incuded more video work, but I found 3 weeks self-shooting quite challenging, so would need to spend longer getting the footage and improving the quality of it.