Compared to the wider region, the Kakuma camp has better health facilities and a higher percentage of children in full-time education, which resulted in a general notion that the refugees were better off than the locals.

Malnutrition, communicable disease outbreaks, and malaria are all ongoing problems, while donor support has faltered due to conflicts in other parts of the world.

Semi-arid climate with average temperatures reaching 40 °C and only drop to the low 30's at night: dry and windswept, dust storms.

Don Bosco has special role in the camp because they are the only workers who can help refugees in emergency situations at night.

FilmAid Kenya (https://filmaidkenya.org) is the core communication agency in the refugee operations, though it also serves the host communities in Kakuma and other parts of Turkana West sub-county.

Working collaboratively with other agencies, FilmAid Kenya provides key messages in the areas of protection, education, health, water, sanitation, hygiene, food assistance and nutrition using such media as film, radio broadcasts, radio talk shows, mobile information caravan services, participatory educative theatre and FilmAid's Virtual Distribution Network (FVDN).

They need long supple pieces of wood to make the frame and grass to complete the shelter walls of the hut and provide some thermal insulation.

Housing is built of mud brick, wood, or cane extracted from the surrounding territories and new or scavenged canvas.

Except for the tiny minority who were able to establish shops, the vast majority of the population of Kakuma is completely dependent on the food rations supplied for their survival.

Furthermore, it is insensitive to cultural differences and household needs, leading to refugees considering food assistance as degrading – where they are expected to be grateful for inappropriate provisions.

A large-scale micronutrient powder program targeting the entire population of the camp was initiated in February 2009 for 17 months.

A thriving ration resale market operated directly in front of one of the main food distribution centres.

Kenyan police sweep the major roads at dusk, requiring all non-refugees that they encounter to leave the camp.

LWF employ a number of Kenyans, mainly ex-military personnel who patrol the camp and all issues relating to security have to be reported to them.

It is intended as a temporary solution when a refugee's safety cannot be ensured in the camp, so almost no services are provided.

As a result of several Turkana thefts and intrusions into domestic spaces inside the camp there is increased fencing especially along the edges of each residential group.

Girls only represent 20% of pupils in primary and secondary schools, due to the prevalence of forced and early marriages.

Some parents deny their daughters schooling due to fears they could learn about family planning, contraception and critical thinking skills.

Another example is Morneau Shepell High School, which was built in 2013, created to give girls the ability to solely focus on education.

In 2003, the Kakuma Distance Learning Centre offered 29 students the possibility to take academic courses with the University of South Africa.

As a form of entrepreneurship, refugees started schools and training centres for language and vocational skills, sometimes with Kenyan teachers or volunteers from the camp.

3,000 items were required to create it and a paedatric surgeon, Dr Neema Kaseje, trained the team who operate it.

This practice is justified on the grounds that to pay refugees on par with others would require them to have a work permit issued by the Kenyan authorities.

For many refugees, the attraction of these jobs is the enhanced and sustainable access to goods and services through proximity to the commercial and relief actors, rather than the immediate cash benefit.

CARE International began running a credit facility which has since provided cash and materials to a wide range of income generating activities.

It has various markets, mostly organized according to ethnicity, where a wide variety of products are on sale, such as fresh and canned food items, vegetables, meat, clothing, household items, hardware, medicine, cosmetics, building equipment, electrical equipment, such as radios and telephones, and bicycles.

The main market has more than 120 stalls, with video clubs, hardware stores, a post office which relays Kenyan mail, and so-called 'hotels' which are coffee shops where locally brewed beer is served.

Goods sold in the camp are very cheap because refugees do not pay tax, rent, food, health care or education for their children.

Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Interior Karanja Kibicho declared, "Due to Kenya's national security interest, the government has decided that hosting of refugees has to come to an end.