The Somali Bantus are a long-persecuted people from one of the worlds most ruined countries. Two hundred years ago their ancestors were taken from their homes in Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi and sold as slaves in Somalia. After the gradual demise of slavery in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Bantu people remained pariahs even though they were Muslims like most Somalis.

In 2002 their lives are about to change dramatically as the USA designated this group a persecuted class of people who deserved to be resettled in America. Over the next two years as many as 11,800 Bantus could be granted asylum. This process could take from three months to one year as immigration officials, fearfull of letting in Islamic terrorists, go to greater and greater lengths to verify the identy of each refugee.

For the past decade tens of thousand Bantus have been living in a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. Due to the camps proximity to the volatile Somalia, the US immigration officers decided it too dangerous to work in the camp and moved the Bantu refugees to another camp, Kakuma, 600 miles away. For most travellers it was the first time they had been on a bus let alone endure the 12 hour days on the road.

Kakuma for many could be home for yet another year before clearance is given for them to be relocated across the US in groups of 200. This will by no means be the end of their journey, as they face the new problems of a different culture, language and employment.