06 Mar I have no identity, so where do I belong?
BY: MOULID IFTIN HUJALE
One day we had to run away from our homeland to save our lives from deadly killings and persecution. It was a country that hosted people of the same origin and culture with common language and religion-that was Somalia of one Somali people. However, the civil war that broke never displayed a sense of such a country with such people.
We had no option but to quit for our safety. The memory of a beautiful coastal town that was ravaged by war still rages in me. The town in which I was born could not stop me from running so that I could play on its soil. In the midst of mass devastated families who were running, we struggled to keep their pace to the unknown destination.
Our aim was to reach the nearest safe haven regardless of what the situation would be thereafter. After weeks of long tiresome journey, we made our way to Dadaab camps, in northeastern Kenya. These camps served to be our safe haven but with full of life threatening challenges ranging from poor shelter, harsh environment, lack of enough food and inadequate healthcare. However, beneath all those obstacles lay a foundation of hope and peace of the mind.
Dadaab which made many people sleep hungry but peacefully became a centre for the homeless people who fled from the various countries neighboring Kenya. However, these multiethnic communities dwelling in the camps have acquired one common name that brings them together….they are called REFUGEES!! This title makes them feel a like and also symbolizes unity for people of diverse origins.
Twenty years in a foreign country as a refugee in a confined camp made me completely desperate. I am forced to accept/love the situation and status in which I live. I was brought up in a refugee set up and went to school until I graduated from high school and that was all about my education. They say secondary education is a privilege for refugees therefore, whether qualified or not, one can never claim higher education. Simply because he/she is A… REFUGEE!
One of the most disturbing and embarrassing moments I always encounter is whenever I want to identify myself; I am forced to express myself as “ A Somali refugee living in Kenya” I am no longer in Somalia and neither Kenyan citizen but feel like lost in between…. I have no IDENTITY SO WHERE DO I BELONG?