Radio Dadaab



Synopsis

Note: This film is only available in ACT’s virtual festival.

Dadaab, Kenya. The world’s second largest refugee camp. A place where hundreds of thousands of people have lived for decades, trapped in a limbo of statelessness and uncertainty. Opened in 1991 to shelter those fleeing the horrors of war and violence in Somalia, Dadaab is now seeing a new influx of refugees. But this time, it is climate rather than conflict that is forcing people from their homes and into the camp.

Fardowsa was born and raised in Dadaab. She has no citizenship, no passport and no rights. But as a journalist for the refugee-run radio station, she has a voice. She uses it to report on the stories that matter to the people of Dadaab. She interviews the new arrivals who have left everything behind because of hunger. She talks to cattle herders who are trying to adapt to the rapidly changing climate and dwindling resources. She visits the schools where children are learning about the science and the politics of climate change.

But she needs her voice, and theirs, to be heard by people outside the camp – to show the world the human stories behind the statistics and headlines, to challenge the indifference and injustice that allow climate breakdown to continue unchecked, and to demand action from those who have the power and responsibility to stop it.

About the film: The climate crisis is a human rights issue and the Environmental Justice Foundation strived for Radio Dadaab to give a voice to those who are being impacted first and worst by climate breakdown. The film is accompanying their campaigns to secure international protection for climate refugees (https://ejfoundation.org/what-we-do/climate/protecting-climate-refugees), as well as to combat the climate crisis by encouraging world leaders to drastically cut fossil fuel emissions (https://ejfoundation.org/what-we-do/climate/combating-climate-crisis).

Filmmakers

Environmental Justice Foundation
United Kingdom
2023
25 minutes

English & Somali