www.tamuka.org
Dadaab, Kenya, June 2014 – Dellina*,
an Eritrean woman in her thirties is one among hundreds of refugees relocated
by the Kenyan authorities from Nairobi to Dadaab refugee camp since mid-April
2014. She spends most of her day in the UNHCR tent in the camp, longing for the
day she can reunite with her 2-year old son, from whom she was separated when
arrested by the police in early May.
Dellina was
arrested in Eastleigh, Nairobi, together with her Eritrean friend Fathima*
while on their way to pick up their sons at the pre-school. Fathima is a single
mother, and her son is also 2 years old. Dellina and Fathima were taken
straight to Pangani, a police station in Eastleigh, for questioning.
Dellina
recounts, “At the police station, one of
the officers told us that our stay in the city had come to an end”.
Dellina’s
eyes are wet from tears. UNHCR meets her just when she is coming out from a
prayer room. “I am tired of
crying”, she says. “I just want to have my son
here with me; I cannot stop thinking about him”.
Dellina* and Fadhima* narrating their story to UNHCR Dadaab in Dadgahaley camp. By Abdulahi Mire
“We
tried to tell him about our young children who we were on our way to pick up at
school that afternoon, but he and his colleagues shouted us down. One of them
yelled at us saying that we should know police officers are not refugee
officers,” explains
Dellina.
“We
tried showing them our mandate refugee certificatesfrom UNHCR but they would
hear none of that. In fact, they took from me my son’s school fees that I was
to pay that afternoon. One officer ordered me to switch off my phone claiming
it was a security threat.” Dellina shows a picture of her son,
and starts crying again.
She explains
how she and Fathima were thrown into a police cell that was full of men, some
of whom had also been arrested in the Usalama Watch operation. Dellina and Fathima recall
how they were later moved in a police lorry to the Kasarani Stadium, where they
found what seemed to be thousandsof other foreigners. The same evening, Dellina
and Fathima were put onboard yellow mini-buses together with other refugees,
and transported to the Dadaab camp. The journey took all night and they arrived
in Dadaab in the early morning hours with just the clothes on their back and
their families and belongings left in Nairobi. “We arrived in Dadaab at 3am,
UNHCR had not even been notified the authorities of our arrival,” Dellina
says.
“My
son is now unwell yet he cannot be taken to the hospital. At least four times a
day, I talk to my good Eritrean neighbor who takes care of him in Nairobi.
She has been kind to me, but she is scared of leaving the house because
she might be arrested too”,
Dellina adds.
Dellina says
she has lived in Nairobi since 2004, when she was forced to flee Eritrea due to
fear of persecution and that she has never felt as humiliated as she feels now,
because of the way she has been treated.
“I
will have to start over once again, but I cannot imagine how until I have been
reunified with my 2-year old son who, just like me, is devastated by the
separation”, Dellina concludes.
The
real names of Dellina* and Fatimah* have been changed to protect their
identity.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Story
documented by Duke Mwancha, UNHCR Dadaab, for the ‘1Family torn apart is too
many’ campaign
Call
to action:
Show your solidarity with families torn apart and share this and your refugee
story: http://stories.unhcr.org
A refugee is a person who has
been forced to flee his or her home country due to persecution, conflict or
other forms of insecurity, and who is not able to return for the same reasons.
At
the end of March 2014, the Government of Kenya issued a Directive requiring all
urban refugees in Kenya to relocate to the Dadaab or Kakuma refugee camps.
Early April, the security operation Usalama Watch was launched in response to
the emerging security challenges facing Kenya. Since then, thousands of
refugees and asylum-seekers of different nationalities have been arbitrarily
arrested in widespread swoops in Nairobi and other urban centers, and detained
and relocated by the Kenyan authorities to the refugee camps. Also, around 355
persons, including at least 3 refugees, have been deported to Mogadishu. Most
of the affected refugees have lived for many years in urban centers, where they
have jobs or businesses, the children attend school and those with medical
needs receive treatment. In the process of arrests, detention, relocations and
deportations, around 300 children so far, including babies as young as 2 months,
have been separated from their mothers and fathers. Several hundred more family
members have been torn apart from their spouses or other close relatives. This
campaign – ‘1Family torn apart is too many’ – is based on the global 2014 World
Refugee Day theme, and tells the story of children, women and men affected by
the operation, and calls to action to help refugee families stay united and
continue living in peace and dignity.
