Bartamaha___Three Somali siblings living in Charlottetown wait in vain to be reunited with mother and two sisters
Topics : Holland College , Birchwood , Trinity United Church , Charlottetown , Saudi Arabia , Somalia
The wall at the head of Amal Awil Adhar’s bed is filled with words of hope.
Pieces of paper taped to the apartment wall declare in broken English the yearning of a Somali teenager who continues to wait in vain to be reunited with her mother.
“I am hope to 2011 my family come really soon,’’ reads part of a disjointed message the anxious girl wrote on one piece of paper.
Amal, along with her 13-year-old brother Mohammed and two older sisters, entered Canada in 2008 as refugees. They all have permanent resident status in the country.
Amal lives in a Charlottetown apartment with Mohammed and the pair’s 25-year-old sister Nasrene, who has been thrust into the role of parent.
Another of Amal’s sisters, Shakira, moved to Alberta to work.
One of eight children, Amal lived most of her life in Saudi Arabia, where she and all of her siblings were born.
Her father, who had resident status in Saudi Arabia, left Somalia with his wife Mariam to live and work in Saudi Arabia. For many years, the family enjoyed a stable life in the largest Arab country in the Middle East.
The family, however, was forced to return to Somalia in 2006 — a country that had seen years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease result in the deaths of up to onemillion people.
Amal was in Somalia for only two weeks when a violent jolt was delivered. Her father was killed by “bad men.’’
Amal’s mother fled in one direction with some of Amal’s siblings. Nasrene rounded up Amal, Mohammed and Shakira and went another way. Two sisters were snatched.
Amal and her siblings in Charlottetown did not learn until recently that two sisters, rather than one, is missing and presumed dead.
Amal, a pretty girl with an engaging smile, has not seen her mother for five years and counting. She views life without mom to be a constant struggle.
She expresses her thoughts and pain in poetry, stories and song.
She says concentrating at school is an ongoing battle because she can’t stop thinking about if and when she will see her mother again. Sometimes she is so angry by her heavy situation that she just walksaway from teachers while they are trying to talk to her and help her.
“I have 24 hours headache,’’ she said. “I want someone to explain to me why my mom does not come.’’
Birchwood vice-principal Patsy McDonald says an action plan has been put in place to help Amal adjust to her new life and move on from such a difficult past.
“We’ve tried to put supports in but it’s very overwhelming for Amal,’’ said McDonald.
“Every teacher understands her needs and they have tried to accommodate her emotional needs…there has been a great response from the school — an outpouring of support from the teaching staff.’’
The process to bring Amal’s mom and two sisters to Charlottetown has indeed proven cumbersome. Efforts continue to get the trio out of an Ethiopian refugee camp.
There is hope the family could be reunited in Charlottetown within two years, says Vicki Allen Cooke, co-chair of an outreach committeewith Trinity United Church.
The committee is close to raising the $24,000 needed to sponsor the three family members to come to the province but money alone won’t get them here.
“We are that much closer but we’ve been warned that if there is anything that is not kosher, there will be a big hold up,’’ said Cook.
So the painful wait continues for Amal and her siblings.
“Something missing from my life — my mother and my sisters,’’ said Amal.
Nasrene, too, is consumed by the hope of a reunion happening sooner rather than later. She says she thinks about her mother and two sisters living in the refugee camp from the moment she wakes up in the morning to the second she falls asleep at night.
“I’m tired,’’ she said. “Really, I’m so, so tired…I am mother. I am father. I am big sister.’’
While Nasrene’s English remains poor and she has yet to find work, her dedication to raising her younger siblings is laudable.
“She plays the role of parent and sister and older sister,’’ said Zain Esseghaier, past president of the Muslim Society of P.E.I.
“I think she is quite mature for her age…she has always done a great job with her brother and sister.’’
Esseghaier says the Muslim Society has provided transportation and translation for the siblings in the past, pointing them in the right direction to access a variety of assistance. Still, he is impressed with the “great job’’ Nasrene has done managing the household on her own.
“Our help has become more limited because they have become more and more independent…they seem to be doing quite well actually,’’ he said.
“Nasrene seems to be in good charge of the situation.’’
Amal, too, is doing her best to grow her independence. She boasts of learning to become a good cook and to sew. She is also trying to find part-time work at a fast food joint or coffee shop in Charlottetown.
Dr. Basil Ikede, who co-chairs the outreach committee with Cook, says he realized in December that Nasrene could barely read English and that Amal and Mohammed were also still struggling with the language although adjusting well socially.
“Even after three years of going to school here in Charlottetown, the children can not read very well,’’ said Ikede, a retired veterinarian.
“I was quite surprised. They speak reasonably well but they can’t read.’’
Ikede says Nasrene, who has experience as a cleaner, will continue to have difficulty finding work until her English improves.
Still, he is sympathetic to her plight.
“She is very much worried about her mother and sisters’ situation…she gets worried very easily,’’ he said. “It makes it hard for her to concentrate on her education.’’
Nasro concedes her head and heart are not fully in the English as an additional language classes she takes at Holland College.
“All the time thinking of my mother, thinking of my sisters,’’ she said.
