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Nine Lives in the Worlds Largest Refugee Camp Ebook, Epub CITY OF THORNS: NINE LIVES IN THE WORLDS LARGEST REFUGEE CAMP PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ben Rawlence | 400 pages | 04 Feb 2016 | GRANTA BOOKS | 9781846275876 | English | London, United Kingdom City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp | Hardcover List Price: Named a Best of Book of the Year by The Economist To the charity workers, Dadaab refugee camp is a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, it is a 'nursery for terrorists'; to the western media, it is a dangerous no-go area; but to its half a million residents, it is their last resort. Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of northern Kenya where only thorn bushes grow, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks or plastic, its entire economy is grey, and its citizens survive on rations and luck. Over the course of four years, Ben Rawlence became a first-hand witness to a strange and desperate limbo-land, getting to know many of those who have come there seeking sanctuary. Among them are Guled, a former child soldier who lives for football; Nisho, who scrapes an existence by pushing a wheelbarrow and dreaming of riches; Tawane, the indomitable youth leader; and schoolgirl Kheyro, whose future hangs upon her education. In City of Thorns , Rawlence interweaves the stories of nine individuals to show what life is like in the camp and to sketch the wider political forces that keep the refugees trapped there. Rawlence combines intimate storytelling with broad socio-political investigative journalism, doing for Dadaab what Katherinee Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers did for the Mumbai slums. Lucid, vivid and illuminating, City of Thorns is an urgent human story with deep international repercussions, brought to life through the people who call Dadaab home. Like Dadaab itself, the story has no conclusion. Iti is a portrait, beautifully and moving painted. And it is more than that. We see Dadaab through an accumulation of vivid impressions…. By doing so, he transforms its denizens from faceless victims into three-dimensional human beings. Along the way, Dadaab emerges from the ever-present heat and dust to become much more than a refugee camp. It is a real, if very peculiar, city. Rawlence's portrait of nine Dadaab residents offers a stark counterpoint to the rhetoric that too often speaks for refugees This is a vital book at a critical moment in global history. It is a lesson in politics, geography, economics, and humanity. Ben Rawlence's book will give readers the same insight into Dadaab that Katherine Boo gave readers into Mumbai with her book Beyond the Beautiful Forevers. This is an important book that will open your eyes and your heart. Rawlence's description of the camp economy is fascinating and shocking A masterful account. The world began to lose interest and was preoccupied with several other conflicts and the repercussions from those: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and so on. Somalia and Dadaab were relegated to the back-burner. In City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp , author and journalist Ben Rawlence follows the lives of a few selected refugees and sees the world they inhabit through their own eyes. Some wanted to be relocated to the Western countries, others wanted to go back to Somalia, but there were many who wanted to remain in Dadaab. The camp functioned as a big city in itself and indeed, it was bigger than many of the big Kenyan cities. Over the years, the camp ecosystem has become a huge contribution to the local economy, with even some Kenyan citizens stopping by for the benefits the camp has to offer in terms of free food and health care. Rawlence has done extensive research and has shown life in the camp from all angles. He gives the stories of the refugees, but he also brings out the viewpoints of the governments involved. The Kenyan government is winning support by committing war crimes and humanitarian crimes on the displaced Somalis with the narrative of 'fighting against terror' - a narrative that has become frighteningly real and pervasive across the globe. Meanwhile, the UN grapples with a number of other conflicts, especially from Syria. The World Food Programme is completely crippled by the lack of funds. The European Union is struggling with the refugees from the Syrian crisis. And everyone has forgotten the Somalis and Dadaab. In May , the hardline Kenyan government announced its plan to close down Dadaab and send the refugees back 'voluntarily' to a 'stable Somalia' by end of November It has not happened, but what will happen now is anybody's guess. Dec 09, Brenda A rated it liked it Shelves: first-reads. Goodreads Giveaway. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, the author did exhaustive investigation into these people's lives. That much is obvious. The harder thing is that it doesn't seem to have any organization or direction, and it read pretty dryly. This is a huge culture shock, and I think that was ultimately the point. I had no idea this refugee camp existed, let alone that it is the largest ever. I had no idea there were so many disadvantaged people, with limited resourc Goodreads Giveaway. I had no idea there were so many disadvantaged people, with limited resources and an expansive population boom. It is the sort of thing that makes you wonder how we can go along willy nilly-like here when there are people like Guled running from being a child soldier. The stories themselves are fascinating and upsetting. It is a totally foreign world from everything I've known and the author's research is commendable. I just wish it had been compiled a little more smoothly. The best I can tell, it seems like it is supposed to be chronologically told. But the manner in which we jump from person to person makes no sense, and I had a hard time sometimes separating what was an overall review of current events and what was specific to one person's circumstances. It sort of read like an overly long Nat Geo article, which got a little tiring after a while. But overall, he did a good thing in recording these stories, although I wish he had done more for them in the end based on his own Epilogue. Mar 06, Mikey B. It is in northern Kenya near the border to Somalia and called Dadaab. Most of the refugees are from war-torn Somalia, with some from Sudan and Ethiopia. We come away with a portrayal of the day-to-day lives of the inhabitants. Many have spent their entire lives in Dadaab which was formed on For example, there is a large market, several schools, mosques, police stations, U. Aid workers have been kidnapped prompting many NGO groups to curtail their many services. The author gives us not only a view of the nine lives featured in the book, but also how they are intertwined with the various U. The level of corruption — and violence — is harrowing. In many cases the Kenyan police extract money at their many checkpoints and they especially focus on Somalians. If the money is not forthcoming incarcerations and beatings will likely result. This book provides us with a view of another world. We are also given the history of Kenya and Somalia with their constant and escalating wars. Aside from Afghanistan this is quite possible the most imperiled and impoverished region of our planet. This is well-written, a powerful and disturbing portrayal of the dis-enfranchised. View all 5 comments. Feb 04, Bettie rated it liked it Shelves: paranoia , winter , non-fic-feb , nonfiction , foxtrotted-uniform , radio-4 , survival , lifestyles-deathstyles , gangsters , afr-somalia. The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo. In the first episode, we meet seventeen year old Guled, as he struggles to survive on the outskirts of Mogadishu. He still tries to attend school as well as to earn a living, but the al-Shabaab militias are closing in. But when al-Shabaab force him from the classroom he fears not just for his own life but also worries about his new bride, Maryam. His job as a porter in the market enables him to scrape together a little extra to help his mother, whose failing mental health fills him with anxiety. But from his position, almost at the bottom of the pile, he harbours ambitions for the future. And it's far from exclusive to people of one faith. So when Monday, a young Catholic man from Sudan. Guled threatens to make the long journey to Italy, and in Washington Ben Rawlence tries in vain to explain the nuances of Dadaab life to the National Security Council. Jan 12, Lisa marked it as unable-to-finish. I am stopping at page As much as I am interested in learning more about the "world's largest refugee camp," I don't like the structure of the book and am finding it too much work to read. Rawlence jumps from profile to profile and I had trouble keeping track of all the various people. A review I read compared it to "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" - but I don't think it is in the same league at all.
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