Rose

Abstract

This chapter tells the story of Rose, a forty-five-year-old South Sudanese mother living in the Kalobeyei settlement, whose household lies at the tenth percentile of the Kakuma income distribution. Rose is amongst the poorest in the camps. She fled South Sudan in 2016 with her four children but without her husband. Like many women in Kakuma, she never attended school and has no formal employment. Her one-room home shelters the entire family. She keeps ducks, which she sometimes sells to buy food for her children. Fully dependent on humanitarian assistance, she has accumulated unsustainable debt as shopkeepers, acting as informal lenders, retain refugees’ ATM cards as collateral and charge inflated prices. Her story also reflects broader challenges in Kalobeyei, including limited electricity, severe water scarcity, and the fragile coexistence between refugees and Turkana hosts. Yet, she is also hopeful for the future, wants her children to be able to access education, and has strong religious beliefs. Her story reveals that circumstances can change over time; she had found a job when we met again in Kakuma two years later.