MIGRASYL

News on migration and asylum from around the region - Nouvelles de la région sur les questions de migration et d'asile

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

[UK] The Guardian - A life in exile: how it feels to be a refugee


[Picture from same article - copyright guardian.co.uk 14/12/2012 - Rock Cohen]

Targeted by death squads, raped by soldiers, tortured by the state: around the world, more than 40 million people have been forced out of their homes. Here are some of their stories.

14.12.2012. I was in the kitchen preparing a meal when the house started shaking. It collapsed and I was injured by rubble. I didn't realise I was bleeding. I kept on helping others who were trapped, but then the pain set in and I collapsed. I was crying because I couldn't find my mother. After the earthquake, we slept in the streets. I was in agony; there were dead bodies and people crying. Two days later, we went back to the house to get some clothes and then straight to a camp. Five days after that, I found my mother.

After six months in the camp, I was raped. A caseworker from the International Rescue Committee took me to the hospital, but it was too late – I was pregnant.

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