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by Mohamud Ibrahim Ali
Friday, January 11, 2013
As a child who grew up in Dadaab refugee camp, I always thought about being a refugee and what it means to be identified as ‘ a refugee’. I also pondered about when being a refugee ends and how people in other parts of the world live their lives without been encamped in a refugee camp like I was. Now that I live in America trying to live a normal life, finding a true identity of who I am and who I want to become is tougher when my people are still in refugee camps around the world.
Being a refugee is not a choice but rather a condition in which people are forced to live miserably in camps or places where they would not have been without the necessitating factor.
As a child growing up in a refugee camp, I always longed for an identity other than that of being a refugee. I always thought exiting the camp would be the end of being a refugee and the beginning of a new journey to a new identity. Yes I live in the greatest nation on earth, of course a citizen of the United States and a college graduate, but what does this mean when you are from Dadaab refugee camp- the world’s largest refugee camp. My freedom as a person hinges on the freedom of refugees in Dadaab camp and elsewhere in the world. I cannot shrug off the identity of being a refugee as long as the Somali people are perishing in refugee camps around the world.
Freedom is not when you can move around with a passport or drive a decent car or a degree from a prestigious college, but rather it is when your state of mind tells you “ I am part of a society or a nation that is at peace with itself and with its neighbors” – this is the true meaning of ‘freedom’. For me, I do not fit in this category of freedom. Remember, regardless of the material wealth one has, no one is ever dignified when his/her people live on a feeding tube every day.
Your human dignity is at its best when you can care for yourself without relying on donations and gifts from someone else. I hope Somalia will stand on its feet once more and help the Somali refugees regain their identity. For my case, I am always a refugee as long as there are Somali refugees, how about you?
Mohamud Ibrahim Ali
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