Abdiyo Ahmed Mohamed: “Refugees have so many problems”…

Abdiyo Ahmed Mohamed: “Refugees have so many problems”…

Abdiyo waiting to be interviewed by UNHCR staff to get a new refugee identification card.

Abdiyo is a 16-year old Somali refugee who came to Kenya with her mother, Noorto Shukmi Mohamed after her father and brothers were killed 12 years ago in Somalia. “My mother is very sick now”, she told IRIN. Her mother has suffered from severe psychological trauma for years. In Abdiyo’s words, “she couldn’t stand the situation”. Abdiyo is therefore left alone to face the hardships of refugee life in Dadaab.

“Refugees have so many problems” she told IRIN. The unwed mother of a 5-year old baby, Abdiyo has more than her share of the burden.

“If I came back to my country, I would be stoned to death because I am a single mother”. Her baby was born in the camp when she was 11, she says. The clan she is part of is very conservative. In their eyes, having a baby alone is an insult to their religion, Islam. Her community considers her son to be a bastard, because his father refused to recognize him. “He left me when he learned that I was pregnant,” Abdyo says. “I have so many problems that I cannot solve,” she adds.

Abdiyo arrived in Mombasa with her mother when she was four years old.

Abdiyo was very young when she left Somalia. She has no memories from her homeland. But Somali Culture has recently been introduced as part the camp’s school curriculum. This makes her happy.

She would be pleased if there were peace in Somalia. But she cannot leave Kenya, because of the continuing insecurity in back home. Despite this, the situation is hardly much better for her, in Kenya.

Abdiyo was a mother by the time she was eleven. The father rejected her and the child.

“When I go to school, my son is at risk of being killed, because he is a bastard,” she says. “I go to school under protection, otherwise I would be killed,” she told IRIN.

“I don’t have food to give to my son, because they steal my food every month. For example he has not eaten anything today,” Abdyo says. Out of fear of being further abused, she refuses to specify who steals her food rations the U.N.’s World Food Program provides twice a month.

“Refugees have so many problems” she repeats for the third time, looking miserable.