Over the last decade, York University, through the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees Project, has provided higher education in situ to refugee and local teachers in Dadaab, Kenya, one of the world's largest and longest standing refugee camps. In 2020, COVID-19 aggravated the insecurity and marginalization already present in Dadaab, which had profound effects on the education infrastructure and tested the university's capacity to continue to offer equitable and quality education. In this field note, we explore and reflexively capture the innovative responses to the complex challenges encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and unpack the limits and the potential of distance education in Dadaab.