My Family by Aidaroos Mohammed

My Family 

by Aidaroos Mohammed

     In 1992 after the civil war of Somalia got worse, my family decided to travel to Yemen.  One day my father heard that there was a big ship which was going to Yemen and that there was no other way to go other than to travel by sea.  After 2 days, my family got on the ship.

When the ship was in the middle of the sea, the hijackers stopped the ship from moving, and started to control the people.  The hijackers took control of the water and sold water $60 per cup.  If you didn’t have money to buy, there is no other choice but to die.  My family was so concerned about us and wanted water so badly.  

Fifteen days on the ship without water and food were miserable. After the hijackers got a lot of money, they let the ship go. When the ship was near the shore of Yemen, the Yemeni government thought that there were weapons on the ship.  The Yemeni government did not allow the ship to dock.  It took two more days on the ship until the Yemeni government finally allowed the ship to dock, but unfortunately more than 500 innocent  people were dead. However, my family was able to safely land on the shore of Yemen.After we came from Somalia to Yemen, my parents thought that they would find a beautiful  life in Yemen. On the contrary, Somalia was in better situation than Yemen.  My mother said, “When we landed on the shore of Yemen,  I felt from the air that Yemen is a poor country.”  When we went to city of Aden, life was tough because there was no job in Aden.  After several months my father found work, but he did not get paid a lot.  In 1994 my mother became pregnant and then my little sister Leila was born.

After the birth of Lelia, a cruel war started in Yemen. Because of that war, my father stopped working, and we could no longer live in Aden.  We took our luggage and went to Sana'a, because Sana’a is the capital of Yemen.  There was a war even in Sana'a but it was not as bad as Aden.  When we got to Sana’a, my parents strived to look for work.  My mother had to work in a restaurant and my father worked at construction places.  In 1997 my mother gave birth to Adel. Three years later, the war in Sana’a got worse, but we still lived in Sana'a for one more year in such a dangerous situation.  

One day my mother heard from a woman, that the UN opened a camp to help the refugees.  We took our luggage and went to the camp.  It was called Aljahim Camp. Aljahim was so beautiful and there was no war.  It was a good place for the refugees.  The UN helped all the people in the camp.  It was a very peaceful place that I really liked.  In 2000 my mother gave birth to Ibrahim and then the UN moved all the people to a new camp called Alkharaz.

Alkharaz was a desert and mountains.  It was a really good camp but the weather was so bad in Alkharaz.  In 2002 my mother gave birth to Fa’iza.  She was really beautiful and we were happy because of large family and we were all together. In 2005 the most shocking incident happened to my family was when Fa’iza was stolen.  In one morning, she went out to play with the kids and suddenly disappeared. We looked for her everywhere but we could not find her.  On the second day, we gathered all our relatives and friends to search for my missing sister, but nothing has changed.

We searched for her for four days, and on the fifth day we heard that a man found her naked dead body.  At that time UN tried to move us from Yemen to the USA. Since getting out of Yemen was difficult, it took six years. Now we are in the USA, but we cannot forget the most difficult and urgent cases of painful life we lived.  I remember when my parents said, “You my son, always be patient because patience is faith.” I love my family.