I almost lost my childhood in Somalia

14-year-old Fartun, began her life as a refugee in January 2009, when she was just eight years old. Six years on, she tells us about the fighting in Somalia that forced her family to flee to Kakuma refugee camp in neighbouring Kenya, and describes the transition to life as a refugee.

“I was born in a city called Mogadishu in Somalia. Life in the city was good for me. I used to play with my friends and our house had a lot of trees planted around it. We had a big sitting room and we had piped water. I ate bread, anjera (a soft, large, flat bread), makande (made from mashed bananas mixed with wheat flour) and sometimes ugali (a dish of maize flour, mixed with water to a porridge-like consistency).

My father worked in the city. He worked as an electrician and also fixed telephones in people’s houses. He used to give me money to buy sweets and bought clothes for me and my brothers and sisters. My mother was at home to cook for us and to bathe us.

One day, my mother told us that we had to leave Somalia and run away because there was fighting. We prepared our luggage for one week then we left. I did not see some of my relatives or get to say goodbye to them, but we left with some of my friends.

We got into a lorry and travelled to Kenya. The lorry was full of people with their luggage. I was suffocating and my mother carried me most of the time. My younger sister cried and other children cried too. The journey took us two days and one night, and we reached Kakuma in the evening. Many other people who I had not seen before were also arriving.

Kakuma was strange to me. We did not have good food anymore. My parents lined up to get food for the family from the place where food was being distributed. It took them so long to get back home and we waited for them hungrily. The food was different from what we were eating in Somalia.

Sometimes my parents sold part of the food to buy other things like clothes or different foods for our younger children. Getting food and clothes here is a problem. We have a family of eight. We are given food that is enough for our family size but sometimes it runs out before the next rations become available.

The thing I like in this place is that I can go to school again. We are also very lucky; my mother has got a small job with World Vision where she cleans the food centre. We can afford to get clothes and good food since she started working there.

I don’t want to go back to Somalia while there is still fighting there. We can only go back if there is peace. The schools here in Kakuma are good and our teachers teach us well. We get food in school and it is peaceful here. Please bring peace and let chaos end.

If I am unable to return home, life will just continue here in Kakuma. I want to be a doctor in future. That is why I want to keep on studying. I do well in class and I know I will be a doctor one day.”

World Vision Kenya currently works in Kakuma refugee camp distributing food rations. World Vision has also started programmes in the camp to support people with disabilities, to improve access to water and sanitation facilities, to promote renewable energy for household lighting and cooking and to ensure children like Fartun and her siblings don’t miss out on education, through Early Childhood Education.