Vulnerable Populations- Somalia Refugees

Vulnerable Populations- Somalia Refugees
Referred to as the ‘Horn of Africa’, Somalia is located on the eastern tip of the continent of Africa. Somalia is bordered by Kenya to the southwest, Yemen to the north, and Ethiopia to the west, and a prosperous boating region on the Indian Ocean. Before it was inhabited by foreign countries, it has only been close to being a thriving country. History World states, “The land of Somali people, much of it arid and inhospitable, has for thousands of years been close to civilization and international trade,” (Gascoigne, 2010). Which means only within reach, but the bad luck started before the Somali War even had a chance to affect the outcome of Somali culture.
All the areas surrounding Somalia became bustling with civilization and substantial living, including Saba, where the Queen of Sheba was originated, and even Ethiopia where the Aksum kingdom erected before the 6th century B.C. The boating district is and has always been bustling because it is halfway to India for trade. For the people of Somalia times have always been grueling.
With initial conflicts between three countries, Somalia has always been in turmoil. The French, the British and the Italians fought to gain leadership and earn ownership of Somali land. Reaching an agreement the Italians signed the Treaty of Uccialliin over the largest part of coastal Somalia with the Ethiopians. However, with greed and violence arising with Italy’s fascist dictator, Mussolini, his government fights the treaty and starts war. Eventually Britain and Italy share colonies with Ethiopia in Somalia and the French gain the Djibouti colony. It was not wise to leave these three large Somali colonies separated, so reunification is prepared. Failing dramatically, in turn begins the Somali conflicts in the 1960s.
Somalia never had substantial living conditions before, during war, or present day. Their medical care is in low standards, and starvation, murder, abuse, and neglect are all present. The life of a Somali bears little similarity to other countries which have established housing, hospitals, and even schools. Since the beginning of this society people have insistently pushed and forced Somali people to live in ways they are not used to, or dislike. This has caused hostility, which cause people such as their military leader at the start of these conflicts to act on problems in an inefficient way; war.
Somalia has been defined as, “one of the harshest places on the planet, an extreme environment that presents huge challenges for its people,” (Shepherd-Johnson, 2010). They have the lowest life expectancy in Somalia, which lowers the chance of a child even reaching adult life. This can make living only harder for young Somali people, knowing that if they died tomorrow it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to family and friends. Knowing that their lives are in no way diverse than anyone around them can be an extremely hard thought to surpass every day. In America people can push passed age one hundred and that isn’t considered abnormal any longer. These children in Somalia aren’t given a chance to prove that maybe the life they are given isn’t the life they have to carry out.
With the assassination of the Somali president, Muhammed Egul, the country needed a leader, which as discussed, the Somalia army commander Muhammed Siad Barre takes office. After he took over territory, Ethiopians retaliated with the help of Soviet forces and Cuba to reclaim land. Because of this Somali refugees were flooding over the border into Ethiopia. The war had forced the people to leave their homes, and some leave their families to arrive at safer ground. This hadn’t been the end for these people, who were uprooted from their homeland. History World States, “ In the aftermath of this disaster guerilla groups, clan-based and regional, are formed in and around Somalia with the intention of toppling Siad’s repressive and centralizing regime.” Siad had formed what is called a Marxist dictatorship and put all power in the government’s hands rather that the clans that were a strong piece of Somali culture. Since the day the civil war began in Somalia there has been no resolution. Refugees still flood over Somali borders to escape violence. Everywhere they face discrimination even in America. This hurts their mental outlook on life, and sometimes harms the people in emotional and sometimes physical way.
Refugees fled Somalia to escape guns and murderers and over 1.4 million are displaced throughout Africa, mainly in Kenya. The refugee camps house the Somali people but do not have adequate food or shelter. People wait month’s even years to receive proper travel documents to gain access to leave these camps. In a more general statement, they are being held prisoner. They have become prisoners of violence. This same violence keeps them from traveling and leaving for fear of being robbed, raped, tortured, or worse killed. They can’t return to their homeland because of the ongoing conflict in Somalia, it has been a civil war for as long people can remember. These Somali refugees lack the resources to acquire help. There is no known human service group over there that can help show them and easier or alternate way of life. Countries including America have intervened, but this can only go so far. They have no homes, have lost family to war, and are living in unsatisfactory surroundings.
As Americans citizens we do take for granted what we are given and what we do have access to. Because of this advantage a decision must be made in order to help these Somali people. With our military forces fighting war in other countries, it becomes unmanageable to help. The areas are extremely unsafe and it will do no good in killing Americans as they try to lend a helping hand. There have been times where help is given to these refugees but there is no progress made. Their chance of survival in these camps is really only to do what they have been doing. For years Somali people have lived from one refugee camp to the next. Their country was taken over by local militia, and it is impossible to live and raise a family in that sort of environment. Surrounding countries around Somalia are safer where help can be administered. Human service professionals may show these people that the way of living they are used to, isn’t the way they have to spend the rest of their life.
After 1992 when the U.S. intervened to save thousands of Somali lives, there has been no known progress, and even refugees coming to America are facing prejudice, discrimination and hardship here. Intervention may be the answer, but without stopping the constant violence, there may be no hope in stopping the overflow of people in these camps. In February 2008 Oxfam International released an interview with an 83 year-old women from Somalia. She discusses their prior living conditions and how she can remember the exact day when their village had been bombed. “We don’t need to be dependent on someone to feed us. We need peace and security and this war to stop…I hope that the fighting that drove us out of our home will soon end. This will happen if all Somalis equally work for the well being of our nation.” (Jamila, 2008 pg 1). These opens peoples eyes to the fact that the small percentage of people that are fighting is causing hardship for one hundred percent of Somali people.
In Conclusion: A civilization cannot be rebuilt from the ground up with most of its people on opposing ground. No matter how much help is given and how hard people try it cannot be done. This is an opinionated statement but has been proven to be true. Maybe all the Somali people have is hope that life will get better, maybe countries intervening is causing greater conflict in a violent way. We can offer help and continue to step in and assist, but people are still being killed and refugee camps are only growing by the day. Is there and answer?

References
Gascoigne, B. (2010, October). History of Somalia. Retrieved from http://www.historyworld.net/about/sources.asp
Jamila, .. (2008.February). Oxfam International-Holding onto hope in Somalia. Retrieved from http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies/somalia-conflict/jamila
Sheperd-Johnson, D. (2010, October). UNICEF Somalia. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/somalia/about.html