Abstract

The intention of this paper was to investigate the extent to which the African men in Dadaab refugee camps are able to meet physiological safety belongingness esteem and self actualization needs for their families To achieve this the study sought to find out if the men were able to provide food for their children and if they were able to satisfy their sexual needs The study further wished to establish if the men moved with their family members to the camp and if they were able to carry out their responsibilities as was expected of them and if they felt respected and fulfilled Maslow s 1970 hierarchy of needs theory was used to ground the study A sample of 192 respondents aged between15 year to 55 years was selected for the study with the majority coming from Somalia while a few came from Ethiopia Sudan south Sudan Congo and Uganda A paper based questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to collect study data The major study findings revealed that majority of the men were able to satisfy the physiological needs for their families by providing them with food and meeting their own needs for sex They expressed concern that their children were sick often A good majority of the men felt that they were able to provide security and a good home for their family mentioning the restrictions of movement as the only major security concern A large section of the men felt that they met the need for belongingness well because they lived with their families were able to get married while in the camp and also lived close to their clan members With regard to the self esteem need a great majority of the men felt that they carried out their responsibilities the same way they would have carried them out at home On the other had a section of them felt that the aid agencies had taken over their roles while many of them felt that their wives and children respected the decisions they made Moderate percentages of the men felt they were rich by cultural standar