A day in the Life of a Refugee Girl

 The following story was submitted by a former refugee girl

I was born in the war torn Somalia and fled with my family when the civil war broke out in Somalia. We were brought to what later became the largest refugee camp in the world. In the refugee camp there were schools built by humanitarian agencies for the refugee children. Coming from a society where girl child education is seen as worthless and a waste of time, I had the difficult task of persuading my family to send me to school. Once granted, like the many other girls of my community, we had a very difficult experience trying to fit into a system of education where we were not meant for. There were challenges but we had to persevere to fulfill our dreams and aspirations.

To start with, there were societal stereotypes towards girl child education. In my community girls were supposed to stay at home and do family chores before they are married off to someone. Although my parents allowed me to go to school, I had to brave the insults and threats I got from the larger community daily on my way to school. I was viewed as a spoilt child with no future in that community. It hurt me seriously but I was optimistic that I would one day prove them wrong. The standard of the education was very poor in the refugee camps and it was a normal thing for us to use tree shades as class rooms. The educational resources in the school were so poor and worse still girls did not get a fair share of the limited resources. We were not allowed to mix with the boys and there was virtually no class discussion between boys and girls. With a ratio of two girls to twenty boys in class, we felt so inferior that we feared asking questions to the teachers. On the very rare occasions a girl tries to ask a question or seek a clarification, it was a common thing to get a jeer from the boys whenever the teacher is distracted from their attention. In addition to this was insecurity in the camps which restricted movement of girls at night. Boys would normally form study groups and study together at night. Girls could not get out of their homes at night for fear of being raped or assaulted by bandits. I had to study alone with no help from anyone. My parents were of no help for they couldn’t read or write. The worst of all came when a girl had to undergo the knife. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional rite which signifies the transition of a girl into womanhood. In addition to the painful experience and missing of classes for two months, there were always the boys who will receive you with a big laughter on your first day in class. It was a common thing for boys to sneak into the class when the teachers are away and write the infamous phrases “you are woman now, welcome back” on our desks. This forced many girls to drop out of school. It was too much to take but I had to keep on going with my studies. As expected our grades were way below boys’ and this was a justification for some that we were not meant for school but to keep the houses and help our mothers. But they were wrong and I wanted to prove them wrong.

With all those problems, my biggest motivation was the many successful women in the world. Given the chance, I was always optimistic of being a successful woman one day. By the time I was in high school, things started changing and there were instances where girls performed better than boys. This was achieved through continuous awareness on girl child education by some agencies operating in the refugee camp. The community’s perception on the role of girls and women changed a little bit and many girls were being sent to school.

My biggest lesson from this experience is that everything is possible and can be achieved if you have confidence and determination. Those two values coupled with hard work are what made me who I am today.