Tears of joy as first families move into ShelterBox tents in Kenya

14-year-old Idra Dahabo is one of hundreds of children to move into ShelterBox tents in the IFO 2 extension refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. 

Idra, her mother Osman Dahabo, and her five siblings - one-month old Ifran, Ahmed aged three, Ibrahim aged four, Liban aged nine and Nahwo aged fifteen - moved into the emergency shelter tent last night (Thursday 18 August). She said: ‘It was so nice last night I cried with happiness and went to sleep.’ 

The Duhabo family is just one of the thousands of families forced to flee across the border of Somalia to escape the worst famine in 60 years and the ongoing conflict which has blighted the country. 

Over 1,400 refugees a day have been flooding into the Kenyan refugee settlement of Dadaab and aid agencies have been working hard to keep up with the need for food, water and shelter. The opening of the extension to the IFO camp will provide up to 40,000 refugees with shelter. 

900 families given homes

ShelterBox have been working in collaboration with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and the IOM (International Organization for Migration) to get the first 2,000 ShelterBox tents ready for occupation. In the last seven days more than 1,750 ShelterBox tents have been set up and today around 900 people have been given a ShelterBox tent to call home. 

Owen Smith, ShelterBox Response Team member, helped the Dahabo family carry all their possessions from the camp processing centre to their new home last night. 

‘After all the hard hot dusty work that goes into getting our equipment ready to use it was wonderful to be on site and assist the first families into their ShelterBox tents,’ he said. 

Over the next few weeks ShelterBox will erect thousands more tents at the IFO 2 extension providing safe homes for many more families like Idra’s.