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Selima
Selima works in Southampton as a bilingual assistant helping Somali schoolchildren. The 27-year-old says she loves her job, but it is tinged with sadness.
"Whenever I see another mum bringing her children to school, I smile," says Selima. "But I am empty inside because I have lost my own children."
Selima’s family belonged to a minority ethnic group which was being persecuted by a dominant tribe in Somalia’s civil war. It is a conflict in which rape is routinely used as a form of terror.
"My father was taken away and murdered. I watched my auntie being raped in our home. My husband fled and he is now living in Ethiopia. I have two very young children. I lived in fear of being raped. My mum told me I had to escape because I was a young woman. She said it was better for her to die than for me."
One day in 1999, fierce fighting broke out in Selima’s town and her people scattered.
"Everyone panicked and I was separated from my family. I fled to Kenya, where I spent three days in the bush with no water and nothing to eat. But the Kenyans were returning people to Somalia, so I went to Ethiopia, where I stayed with my uncle. He found the money to get me to the UK."
Selima lived in London for two years. It was a difficult time.
"When I arrived here, it was like being dropped in the ocean. I couldn’t bear to live without my children. I got very depressed and tried to kill myself."
Selima found support from a network of Somali friends in London, who later moved to Southampton. Refugee Action persuaded the Home Office to allow Selima to be re-housed near them. Selima learned fast at college and soon developed excellent English. She began volunteering as an interpreter with Refugee Action in Southampton. It was through this work that she found her present job. In July Selima was told that she would be granted refugee status.
Selima recently managed to contact her mother through a family tracing service and learned that her children, now aged six and three, are safe and well.
"I have found out where my family are and one day I hope they can come here. My dream is that one day soon I will be reunited with my children."
© Refugee Action 2002. Photograph by Andrew Lamb. No part of the contents of this page may be reproduced without prior permission. Some names have been changed.