by Ronald Njoroge
TURKANA, Kenya, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Amid the humming noise of her sewing machines, Shukurani Hota takes orders from customers eager to acquire the latest African dresses at a market in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya's northwestern Turkana County.
Hota is among thousands of displaced persons who have found refuge at the refugee camp, Kenya's second-largest, hosting about 288,000 refugees from nine countries, including South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
By handmaking African dresses in the camp, this 40-year-old mother from the DRC has provided a relatively comfortable life for her two children since fleeing civil strife in her homeland in 2012.
During a recent interview with Xinhua at the Kakuma refugee camp, Hota said that the camp, established in 1992, encourages people to engage in income-generating activities to supplement the monthly stipend provided by well-wishers.
"My plan is to expand the business so that I can provide employment opportunities to more than the current four workers I have engaged," Hota said.
Nanduri Sateesh, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR-Kenya) sub-office in Kakuma, said that enterprises based in the refugee camps provide economic benefits to both refugees and host communities.
The UNHCR is collaborating with other development partners to provide seed capital to aspiring people based on their business plans, he said, adding that training in administration, management and financial literacy is provided to ensure the sustainability of businesses established at the refugee camp.
Isaac Niyongere, a 29-year-old Burundian refugee and father of one, also plies his trade in the camp near the Kenya-South Sudan border. He has established a business selling clothes to fellow refugees. "I sell most of my merchandise during the weekends when most refugees are not working," Niyongere said.
Vumilia Kiza Saidi, a 36-year-old refugee from the DRC, has established a hairdressing business specializing in hair and beauty products since 2010. She was inspired to start the business when she realized that women were forced to travel long distances outside the camp for hair and beauty services.
"The large population in the refugee camp has provided the customer base required to sustain my business, which has employed two refugees and one Kenyan," Saidi said. ■
