Diego Fernandez Gabaldon: Exhibits

Diego Fernández Gabaldón: Exhibits:
Diego Fernández Gabaldón, is a humanitarian worker with the United Nations World Feed Programme (WFP) currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, He has served in Darfur, Sudan (2004 — 2007), West Timor, lndonesia (2008) and Afghanistan (2010 — 2011). While living in communities devastated by tragedy, Diego gathered images of the day-to-day life of Darfurians, West Timorese and Afghans, capturing their beauty, resilience and humanity. Born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, Diego is economist by profession, and worked with the Spanish Embassies in Iraq and Thailand, before joining WFP. Diego's photo exhibits, photo credits and web exposure are as diverse as his work experience:

In Khartoum: “The Eyery Day of Darfur” (exhibit) - 2006; In Tenerife, his home town: “Images in Cooperation” (exhibit) — 2007, “Amnesty lnternational Caring Photography” (exhibit) — 2007, and “An open Window” (exhibit) — 2009; In the United States, opening in New Orleans, Louisiana: “The Art of Caring: A Look at Life through Photography", as part of an rotating exhibit, including photographers Annie Liebovitz and William Wegman — 2009 — 2011; In Rome, Italy: "Frammenti di Dolore" — a theatre piece which utilized his images of Darfurian women — 2008; In the Dominican Republic: “Portraits of Darfur", an article published by U magazine — 2008;

In Spain: his pictures have illustrated numerous articles: “The Janjaweed Control” (El País, 2000); “Smiles in Dartur” (El Pais, 2007) “On the Humanitarian Frontline“ (El Día, 2006}; “The Next Planet" (El Día, 2006); Via CNN : “Amid Darfur's Desperation, Little Joys" article and interview) - 2007; Via international aid organizations in print and via the web, including: UN World Food Programme annual reports 2006 & 2007; Ofﬁce of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) — 2008; UN WFP Darfur Operational Handbook — 2009; and UN WFP Ready te Help — 2009.

Camps in Sudan:
Dadaab refugee camps are located in northeastern Kenya, about 470 km from Nairobi and 100 km from the Somalia border. The three camps Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera were established in 1991, subsequent to an inﬂux of Somali refugees ﬂeeing civil war. The Kenya—Somalia border has remained ofﬁcially closed since early 2007. However, the camps continue to experience an inﬂux of asylum seekers. At the peak of the 2011 crisis, more than 1,200 Somalis (mostly women and children) arrived daily in Dadaab, ﬂeeing famine in southern Somalia. Currently the camps host about 473,000 registered refugees. Kakuma refugee camp is situated in Turkana District, in northwestern Kenya. It is about 850 km from Nairobi, and 150 km south of the Sudanese border. The camp was established in July 1992 initially to cater for Sudanese refugees ﬂeeing the conflict in Sudan, but gradually opened upto other nationals as the need arose. Since 2005, UNHCR has a voluntary repatriation exercise which has led to assisted return of more than 5,000 south Sudanese. Many more have reportedly returned spontaneously. Current population is 102,000 registered refugees. Somalis are now the majority refugees in Kakuma (53 percent) after UNHCR relocated some of them in 2010 in order to clecongest Dadaab, Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, many South Sudanese have either being voluntary repatriated by UNHCR or returned spontaneously home. However, given the recent conflict and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, the number of new arrivals has increased from an average of 100/week to about 500/week in Febmary 2012. WFP provides food assistance to the refugees as well as host communities living around Dadaab and Kakuma camps. In addition to the general food rations, WFP provides extra support for vulnerable and malnourished children as well as for pregnant and breast-feeding women through supplementary feeding programs.