Oxfam Ambassador Scarlett Johansson in Turkana, Northern Kenya. Picture: Andy Hall/Oxfam
Earlier this year, Oxfam ambassador Scarlett Johansson visited refugees in the Dadaab camp, and those affected by the drought in Turkana, northern Kenya.
Here she talks about what she saw and how support from UK aid and Oxfam is helping to protect these vulnerable groups whose livelihoods are dependent on the land.
Q: How did it feel, the first time you saw the Dadaab camp?
Scarlett Johansson: "Several months ago, I read an article about Dadaab in the Wall Street Journal. It was the sheer scale of it that struck me: this is the largest refugee camp in the world, it has grown to 400,000 people, fleeing from conflict and drought in Somalia, and it was receiving 1,500 new people a day. And I couldn't believe that number.
"I thought Oxfam must be involved, and sure enough of course they are. They've been doing water sanitation, building latrines, drilling boreholes, laying pipelines, and building tap-stands and really doing what they do best. So I thought, I must go and see this.
"The scale of it is overwhelming. I was standing on top of a water tower and looking out over this barren, arid plain, and all you can see is just hundreds of thousands of tents, as far as the eye can see. And in between you see people just walking from the water stations or to the food distribution points.
"They're in limbo, unable to work. They'd love to be able to work, they'd love to be able to earn money. People are certainly willing, but there's absolutely nothing to do. There's nothing for anyone to sell, nowhere to grow anything."
Q: You then flew on to Turkana, to see how the drought is affecting poor farmers in northern Kenya. What was it like?
SJ: "It's still pretty arid there and, although occasionally you'll see a goat-herder or a few camels, many of the animals have died now and it's pretty desolate there. There are strong communities, and settlements and villages. But there's also poverty and it's so hot and dry.
"A lot of the people we met had been nomadic for many generations, moving around to take their livestock to food or water. But because of the severe drought, their animals had died off, or they were victims of cattle raids. So their income had taken away from them, and they were now living in settlements, and learning how to cope with this new lifestyle.
At the Dadaab refugee camp. Picture: Andy Hall/Oxfam
"Oxfam was providing grants, giving people seeds and tools, and teaching them the skills they needed to grow food. People have created these amazing gardens, growing kale, spinach, peas, and all kinds of stuff to eat. They are being taught how to irrigate the land properly, and they're working seven days a week carrying buckets of water uphill from the dry river beds to their gardens. They dig holes into the riverbed to reach water - it's very labour intensive. That, to me, was just very profound, and incredibly touching.
"It was such a relief from what we had just seen in Dadaab, which was all about responding to an emergency situation. This was a more long-term and sustainable solution, and the difference between the two was epic.
"But there was still emergency work going on here, because of the severe drought. Oxfam is providing two grants to each household - equivalent to £60. That's to last for six months. The idea is that the money will then recirculate within the community and stimulate the local economy.
"Rather than give people food, it enables them to buy it, keeping local traders, fishermen and the farmers who have managed to grow crops in business. Then when the rains do return, the community will hopefully be able to recover more quickly."
Q: What do you say to people who feel they've given enough over the years, that nothing ever changes?
SJ: "From when we were kids, we saw commercials saying, 'Give a dollar a day, it makes a difference', but this is a crisis like we've never seen before. This is the worst drought in 60 years. It will affect over 13 million people across East Africa. You can't even wrap your head around that number.
"And the thing is, it is preventable: there is enough food in the world to feed everyone. People should be calling on their governments to provide aid. It's not just about donating money - of course that is important for immediate relief, but it's also about citizens demanding that their governments commit to these issues, and help take preventative measures."
Q: What do you do with everything you've seen, once you get home?
SJ: "It's inspiring for me, to be able to really see the scope of what's going on, to see the problems and the solutions first-hand. It's incredibly rewarding, and it inspires me to continue to advocate for Oxfam.
"When you meet people in these kinds of desperate situations, they are so generous in sharing their stories, and there's something incredibly beautiful about that. You have that moment where they're so vulnerable and telling their story, and you always feel, 'that could easily be me'. We're all the product of our circumstance, and it's just really by chance, by pure luck, that some of us were born in societies where we're able to have a hot shower, where we have rights for women, where we aren't in a state of war, or constantly struggling to find our next meal and feed our children. But it could just as easily been any one of us."
Please note that this is a guest interview. Views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of DFID or have the support of the British Government.
The UK is providing life-saving aid for over three million people across the Horn of Africa and is calling on more countries to follow its lead and step up their help for the crisis.
Find out more about the UK's response to the crisis in the Horn of Africa.
The UK is also working on long-term cash transfer programmes to help some of the most vulnerable people protect themselves from the effects of climate change and from economic shocks, like rises in food prices. In Kenya, for example, the Hunger Safety Net Programme is being delivered in partnership with the Government of Kenya and organisations such as Oxfam.
Find out how this ten-year programme is helping to improve the livelihoods of the poorest Kenyans.
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