From Sand to Sustenance: How a Refugee Woman Turned Dadaab’s Dry Soil Green

In the heart of Hagadera Refugee Camp in Dadaab, eastern Kenya, a small but striking kitchen garden stands as a quiet act of resistance against displacement, hunger and time. For Mariam, a Somali refugee who has lived in the camp for 19 years, this patch of green is more than a source of food. It is a statement of dignity, self-reliance and hope.

Mariam arrived in Dadaab at the age of 34 after fleeing political unrest in Somalia. Nearly two decades later, the camp of corrugated metal shelters and canvas tents remains her home. Over the years, she has worked to make that reality more liveable, especially for her family of seven. Her kitchen garden has become central to that effort, providing fresh, diverse vegetables in an environment where scarcity is the norm.

The garden was established through the European Union funded Refugee Settlement Project, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in collaboration with other UN partners. As part of the initiative, around 2,000 refugee and host community households in Dadaab received support to establish kitchen gardens. Mariam’s plot, however, has drawn particular attention.

Using seeds provided through the project, she grows spinach, kale commonly known as sukuma wiki, black nightshade, cowpeas, amaranth and jute mallow. In both yield and quality, her crops outperform many others in the camp. Neighbours regularly visit to learn from her methods, while some ask for vegetables to help feed their own families.

Women come to admire the garden and to see what they once thought impossible in Dadaab’s harsh conditions. The camp is predominantly dry, with sandy soil and limited water, making vegetable production a formidable challenge. Through FAO-led training, refugees were taught how to grow crops under these constraints. For Mariam, applying that knowledge required determination.

She explains that vegetables need fertile loam soil, which is scarce in the camp. To overcome this, she used a donkey-pulled cart to transport soil from distant areas, a journey that could take up to an hour. The effort paid off. Regular follow-ups by FAO extension service providers helped her monitor progress and maintain the garden’s productivity.

Her motivation, she says, was simple and deeply personal. She wanted her children to have enough food, and not just enough, but food that was diverse and nutritious. Today, that ambition has placed her among the growing number of self-reliant refugees who no longer depend on food rations.

The vegetables, Mariam notes, are fresher and better than those sold in local markets. They have also reduced her household food costs significantly. She estimates she now saves about 45 US dollars each month, money she redirects towards other essential needs for her family.

Space remains her biggest constraint. She dreams of expanding the garden to grow surplus produce for sale. She believes her vegetables would be preferred in local markets because of their freshness, harvested and sold within the camp rather than transported over long distances.

Beyond gardening, participating households also take part in cooking demonstrations designed to strengthen practical skills and encourage the preparation of balanced meals using locally available foods. According to FAO project lead Elizabeth Kamau, the uptake of this food production approach has been encouraging, particularly among women.

The project plans to reach another 2,000 households and is also promoting backyard poultry rearing. Iron deficiency and anaemia among women of reproductive age, alongside poor dietary diversity among children under five, remain major concerns in Dadaab. By combining vegetable production with small-scale poultry, families can access affordable, nutrient-rich foods that help address these gaps.

This story forms part of a global series recognising women farmers in all their roles, from producers and pastoralists to traders and rural entrepreneurs, as the world marks the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026. It is a reminder that even in the most fragile settings, women continue to sustain families, communities and food systems against formidable odds.

For Africa, where displacement, climate stress and food insecurity increasingly intersect, Mariam’s garden offers a grounded lesson. Progress does not always arrive through large-scale infrastructure or sweeping policy shifts. Sometimes, it begins with a woman, a handful of seeds and the determination to make barren ground feed a future.

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