A Home for Insects and Disease: the Living Conditions in Refugee Camps

Have you ever been caked in dirt? How uncomfortable does that feel? You just want to shower. When was the last time you had to relieve yourself in the wilderness, or not in a bathroom? It’s not the most comfortable thing, especially if you’re a woman. As a person who loves spending time outside, even I relish the feeling of a good shower after time without one and sitting comfortable in private to relieve myself. Living without these commodities is something refugees do on a daily basis. If defecating in the wilderness isn’t bad enough, there are illnesses which can be spread without proper water to wash your hands with. This makes refugee camps the prime breeding grounds for communicable diseases. 

Living in a refugee camp in Kenya, Hassan Ahmed says there were blue flies constantly around his camp and latrine. "’We thought they were causing infections in our children. We sometimes fed our children under mosquito nets. We realized later the blue flies were plentiful because the latrines were not disinfected’". These people are realizing there is a need for cleanliness, but there is only so much they can do. Hassan has gone on to disinfect his latrine, but a good portion of the refugees don’t understand the need to be protected against these diseases. Emphasized by Surindar Dhesi, there is a greater risk of transmitted diseases from hand to mouth without proper sanitation. Spreading like wildfire, these illnesses are present in a lot of camps.

Donating our money, and volunteering our time to help these refugees understand the importance of cleanliness could decrease the transmittable diseases. Groups such as Refugees International are helping identify needs of refugees and filling them. Finding ways through these grassroots organizations allow us to interact with refugees, especially if we don’t live near any refugee camps. These grass root organizations allow for people to step up and fill these need we don’t often recognize in our closed off, privileged lives. I feel a strong desire to help these people because we are all human after all. Reach out, supply these people with a better living environment, especially to avoid diseases.  If you were in their shoes, wouldn’t you want help? I hope the answer is yes.