hardest part"
ALI ADDEH, 22 February 2011 (IRIN) - Amina Ahmed Barre, 29, a mother
of two, has lived in refugee camps most of her life. She is one of
nearly 14,000 Somali refugees in Djibouti. Barre fled Somalia with her
parents in 1991 when civil war broke out; she was only eight years
old.
Barre's home today is a makeshift shelter at the Ali Addeh refugee
camp, 130km south of Djibouti-Ville, the capital. She spoke to IRIN
about her experiences and hopes for the future:
"I do not recall much about my life in Somalia because I left there
when I was very young. My parents took us away when the fighting
started in Mogadishu in 1991.
"I have been in a refugee camp ever since. I got married here to
another refugee and have two children. Life here is not easy. It is
very hard.
"During the dry season, it is so hot it is impossible to move
anywhere [temperatures can reach 45 degrees Celsius]. I am lucky I
have a sewing machine and so I work as a seamstress. I sew mostly
women's and children's clothes. The work gives me a break from the
monotony of life here. As you can see, there is nothing else here; we
don't have anything to kill the time.
"Not knowing your future is the hardest part. I didn't choose to be
here, I was forced to be here. It is getting harder and harder to have
hope that my children and I will leave here. I don't want to die here.
"I never had a chance to go to school or do what other children do.
At least now my children go to school but I want them to have normal
lives in a normal setting.
"I have just been interviewed [for resettlement]. I am hoping that
this time around we will go somewhere where my children can have a
normal life. I may even go to school. They say it is never too late.
"I just pray that the disappointment and the suffering will end and
my children will have a better future."
ah/mw
[END]
No comments:
Post a Comment