Francis El Jeebeeteacueplus has passed through UNHCR after 2/2017. Therefore, they have received their assignment to Kakuma and had no opportunity to request assignment to an urban location like Nairobi. Although no specifically-designated area within Kakuma exists for El Jeebeeteacuepluses in Kakuma, people in this community are regularly targeted for beatings, rapes, and murders. Some have been set on fire, beaten to death, stabbed, etc. The people of the tribe on whose lands the camp lies blame El Jeebeeteacuepluses for droughts, famine, etc.–as though they were responsible for global warming, acts of God, etc.
So long as Francis remains in Kakuma, they can access free health care through UNHCR. If Francis has a condition that requires care in a more advanced hospital, the UNHCR hospital in Kakuma can refer them to a hospital within Nairobi where their health care will be completely covered by UNHCR.
Francis does not feel safe in Kakuma and decides not to stay, but to go to Nairobi instead. Francis somehow gets money for a bus trip to Nairobi and joins a shelter in or around the greater Nairobi area. They have no covered health care here. If they need to go to an ER or remain in a hospital for any reason, they either need to have someone pay for their stay or they must return to Kakuma for their health care. Kakuma is very, very far, and is best accessed by plane from Nairobi. A refugee could return to Kakuma from Nairobi via bus. This 14-hour trip, would cost about 1600 Ksh or $12.60 USD. This would not include any food for the way or transportation to the bus station in Nairobi. Those expenses would aproximately double the cost to around $25 USD. Refugees have no money though, and cannot even come to the free Acts10 Clinic without transportation support of 500 Ksh or $3.86 USD. Unless the shelter where Francis stays has funds to send them back to Kakuma via bus, they will not receive health care.
Enter Acts10 Clinic! Acts10 Clinic provides free health care to refugees, targeting the numerous LGBTQ+ shelters in Ongata Rongai. The meager 500 Ksh in transportation assistance would not draw refugees outside of this Nairobi suburb, as those from Nairobi would require two to four times that amount for a round trip. We cannot afford to offer more than this though, and we do not have a way to prove that patients come from where they say they do. So, we simply offer a low, flat amount. Otherwise, patients would come from two blocks away and say they came from the west side of Nairobi in order to get some extra cash at our expense. At least we have provided this much-needed service for this vulnerable population in Ongata Rongai.
