Block A2

Block A2, Ifo camp, is where Omar and Hassan live across the path from Fatuma in a tent. Block A2 is part of the refugee camp Dadaab, in Kenya, in Africa. Like the setting of Dadaab generally, Block A2 represents the themes of community and waiting. When the memoir begins, Omar and Hassan have lived on A2 Block in Dadaab, Kenya for seven years, and the memoir will continue Omar and Hassan living on Block A2 in Dadaab throughout their adolescence and through the rest of the memoir. Omar explains early on “as soon as we get back to A2, I breathe a sigh of relief, everyone knows me and my brother. No one will bother us” (7). The block includes rounded bubble tents with short fences, shrubs, and trees. They do not have running water, and Omar has to spend significant time fetching it every day. They...