Nov 03, 2015 After several years in Dadaab refugee camp, many families are beginning to return home. The Dadaab refugee camp became a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing civil war in Somalia.
One of the refugees, Ali along with his wife and children, recently headed home. According to him, the major motivation was so he could earn a living and take care of his family’s needs.
Explaining his decision to leave, Ali said:
“I have to be able to work to look after my children. They have needs. In my homeland if we need to go away to find work we can go. But here if there is work in Garissa or Nairobi we can’t leave without an identity card,”
Ali, who lived on the camp for five years, decided that Somalia was safe enough for his family to return. However for his children, it was their first time out of the camp.
Ali went on to say:
“I can’t wait to show my children the ocean. To show them the places I used to live as a kid…For the children, their homeland is an unknown place…We are Somali and I want them to know their culture while they are still young…When we came here we were running away from war. Now, we are returning to a country that is peaceful.”