22 June 2001
Millions of African refugees are subjected to violence as war and civil strife ravage most of the continent. Eighty five per cent of the refugees are women and children, writes CALEB ATEMI
Too much is too much!
We mothers are angry, outraged.
We pay the high price
Of this dirty war.
We become widows prematurely,
We suffer rape and violence,
And economic burden
In a family...
What are you seeking,
Men of war,
Who get drunk on human blood?
Why this endless provocation?
What do you hope to win
With this bloodbath?
-Extracts from a letter by 11 Congolese mothers.
The story of women refugees in Africa is heart-rending. It is a story of tears and pain, agony and suffering, shame and humiliation. It is a story of death - yet, it is also a story of hope.
Congolese mothers put it aptly: "War and civil strife are caused by greedy male leaders who cultivate hatred and reap death".
Stories of women and girl refugees can move even the most callous to tears. From Kenya to Uganda, Tanzania to Congo, Somalia to Rwanda, Burundi to Angola, women are forever targeted for sexual violence, rape and other forms of brutality.
Theirs is a story of constant domestic violence and betrayal. Having fled their war torn countries into refuge, their husbands abandon them with heavy responsibilities, hungry and frightened children.
In a book titled: Somalia Between Peace and War; Somali Women in the Eve of the 21st Century, the United Nations Development Fund for Women argues that life in the diaspora has placed many families "under intolerable stress. The trauma of asylum has taken a terrible toll in divorce, suicide, alienation, and religious fundamentalism."
Many refugee women are burdened by heavy family responsibilities either through death or desertion of their husbands.
The HIV/Aids pandemic further complicates the plight of women refugees. The United Nations Aids Programme describes war as a major cause of the spread of HIV/Aids "through social dislocation, impoverishment and rape. Displaced women are particularly vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse by soldiers and rebel fighters."
Others are infected by their husbands.
In urban centres, refugees become victims of xenophobia, constantly harassed by the police, misunderstood by the public and depicted by the media as a drain on scarce economic resources.
The Jesuit Refugee Service says: "Mothers of an estimated 300,000 child soldiers have the devastating experience of seeing their children taken away to carry out unspeakable atrocities." Nevertheless, the fighting spirit and the urge to survive has held many women refugees together. They have refused to die.
In a book: War Has Changed our Life, Not our Spirit, the Jesuit service explores the tragic journey of the world's women refugees. It is a voyage of agonising tragedy.
Other literature on refugees, available at the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, tells of women's determination and vitality. Confined to crowded camps, they are attacked each time they venture out to fetch water or firewood. Fellow refugees, local men or the police normally perpetrate the attacks.
In Dadaab, one of North Eastern's refugee camps, 85 per cent of all reported rapes occur between 9am and 1pm. The masked rapists often attack victims during food distribution exercises.
The assailants often address their victims in Somali, seeking their identity by clan. The refugee camps of Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera have introduced irregular "mobile courts" to redress such attacks.
"In the year 2000, only three perpetrators of sexual violence were punished. Rape survivors are scared of testifying at this court for fear of retaliation. Many therefore opt for "maslaha", a kangaroo court where they get compensated after discussion and agreement between families and the offenders," says the Refugee Consortium in its April 2001 newsletter.
The Dadaab attacks symbolise events in other African camps:
Claire Ndayisenga, Burundi
She and her two children were lucky to escape the Burundi genocide. Scared and penniless, she moved through forests and valleys into the DRC. They suffered humiliation at the hands of Congolese families and soldiers; taunted, insulted, subjected to arbitrary arrests, stripping and searching. Then war broke out in the DRC, and their tormentors became refugees too.
Denisa Ratansata, Burundi
"After some days, soldiers attacked. Many people were killed. Some parents escaped without their children. It was very painful. Survivors were marched into camps where they could be more effectively controlled and subjected to rape and beating. People who resisted were killed. I decided to flee the country. On my way out, I saw bodies lying on the roadside, many of women and children."
Halima, Kakuma Refugee Camp
A mother of two, she first fled Somalia with her husband, and later left him when he shot and injured her. In her impoverished surroundings in Kakuma, Halima is hopeful that one day she will return home. Nothing - despair, loneliness, fear, violence - is stronger than her dream to return.
Christine, Sudanese refugee, Kakuma
"I became a refugee as my country was gripped by civil war. I ran for safety when I heard gunshots. When I saw dead bodies around me. I lost my father and my brother. I reached Kenya on foot after trekking for three days. Now I live at Kakuma camp - my husband left me a year ago, he went to the US seeking asylum."
Christine describes the decrepit shelter shared by both men and women: houses with dusty floors, doors that do not shut, walls riddled with leaking holes and soaked floors that take ages to dry.
Fartum, 15, shot by Somali gunmen in Mogadishu
"As we walked away from our home, one of the militia men shot me in the back." The bullet went through the neck, robbing her of the power of speech and paralysing her from the waist down. Fartum's mother and her sisters managed to get her to Mombasa by boat.
"For five days," her mother explains, "I held my unconscious daughter in my arms as we sailed." Fartum was eventually taken to the Jesuit Centre in Kangemi, which offers treatment to victims of gunshots, landmines and accidents. She was later taken to New Zealand.
She says: "My dream is to learn to walk again, perhaps even go to school. One day I wish to have a family of my own. Right now, I don't know when my wishes will come true but I have not given up hope of a better tomorrow."
Margaret, Sudanese refugee
"I was beaten by rebels when I was leaving Sudan. I was robbed. We were told that we were the wives of Arabs, and some of the girls were raped. When we came to Uganda, my husband was paralysed after a beating. His bicycle was stolen. Now that he is disabled, I have no one to help me raise my eight children."
Such tales are many and varied. Yet, despite persistent suffering, women refugees retain sanity and order in most refugee camps. They are the ones who re-weave the fabric of family life while urging men to stop wars.
In Rwanda, Tutsi and Hutu women - in defiance of their blood-thirsty, war mongering men - have been praying and working together for restoration of peace in the Great Lakes region.
Yes. Experiences of women refugees are not just sad and tearful. They are enriching and empowering. Their resilience and determination to survive and reconstruct societies is unmatched. Theirs is a story of remarkable tenacity and flexibility.
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