Biography:
Erhan Sevenler was born in İstanbul in 1973. He graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Arts Photography Department and he is still studying master’s degree in same university Sevenler has joined Anadolu Agency in 1996 as a photojournalist and he has been working as editor of Middle East – Africa visual news department of Anadolu Agency since March 2012.
Exhibition: World’s Largest Refugee Camp
The world’s largest refugee camp in Dadaab is built on an area of 50 m2. It is located near the town of Garissa between Kenya and Somali border. It consists of three camp zones: Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera. Dadaab is so hot and dusty that your clothes turn into brown within a few hours of exposure to the dust. When you talk, you swallow desert sand. After the latest conflicts and the drought, the refugee camp in Dadaab has now turned into a city with a population of over 440 thousand. With no roads to be found in the camp, it is impossible to travel to and from the camp except with terrain vehicles. Refugees do not want to be photographed or filmed; they keep asking “what good will photographs do for us?” Some want food or cash. Without proper security measures, it is very risky to hand out any sort of aid to the refugees. Refugees are taken in turn into a wired area where aid is distributed. Usually, all of the aid is handed out within half an hour. Another striking feature of the entire camp area is that many of the refugees lack proper tents. Jerry-built shelters made of hedges and fabric pieces stand out.
What Dadaab imprints in my memory is hunger, poverty, and despair.
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