GOOD WORKS
“Every person there is a survivor of some incredible, traumatic experience,” says Mr. Bauman. For the Turkana, the situation is also bleak. Semi-nomadic herders, they live traditional lives, roving the desert as they hunt for increasingly elusive water sources. They use sticks and pots to dig scoop holes in dry river beds, often drinking the same contaminated water as their livestock. “In the outlying areas, it’s like stepping back in time,” says Mr. Bauman. While he was in Kenya teaching, he got a firsthand look at the camp’s water system
reminiscent of Mad Max movies — chaotic, remote, dry, dusty. And desperate. “You can’t believe you’re seeing 200,000 people plopped in the middle of the desert.” The refugees aren’t allowed permanent housing, so they live in tin or mud huts. They can’t grow their own food, so they’re dependent on daily rations, including water, provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most ended up in Kakuma after fleeing civil war, famine, or drought. Some have lived at the camp since it was established in 1992. Thousands were born there.
Though Mr. Bauman has over 30 years of experience using geophysics to explore for groundwater, natural resources, tunnels, unexploded bombs, industrial waste, and ancient burial sites — basically anything you might want to find without drilling or digging — he had never taught a class quite like this one. He spent hours putting a course together from scratch, making his first trip to Kakuma in October 2014. “I went there not really knowing or understanding anything about the camp or the real issues there,” he says. His first impressions were of a dystopian society
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