Siida Noor Ahmed, 29 years old. Siida fled Mogadishu with 7 of her ten children and arrived at State House IDP camp in January 2009. Her husband and 3 of her children disappeared during recent fighting in Mogadishu. .At state house she is being helped by long term resident Koos Aw Dahir with rent, food and childcare. Koos was one of the original residents of state house and recognized somthing of her own struggle in Siida's story..According to Siida "I came here to get peace and to...
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Siida Noor Ahmed, 29 years old. Siida fled Mogadishu with 7 of her ten children and arrived at State House IDP camp in January 2009. Her husband and 3 of her children disappeared during recent fighting in Mogadishu. .At state house she is being helped by long term resident Koos Aw Dahir with rent, food and childcare. Koos was one of the original residents of state house and recognized somthing of her own struggle in Siida's story..According to Siida "I came here to get peace and to keep my children. Three of my children went to school one day in Mogadishu. There was fighting at the school so they ran away and got lost. I don't know if they're alive or dead. It's part of my body which is missing. If only I could be told my children are dead - I could give up.". ."Nobody normal lives in Mogadishu now - they're all abnormal. Sometimes you see people in groups - after a few minutes a section of a person is brought back in pieces. Sometimes people bring back the head of a friend saying 'I found a head.'".."It's luck to eat. People go into Mogadishu in search of casual work. Sometimes they're given a bag to carry somewhere for 20,000 Somali shillings. But the bag is a bomb. When they reach the destination, the person who gave it to them detonates it.".."It was very hard to leave. I didn't know where I was going. My problem here is a lack of food. How do you feel when you rely on people - when you go and ask 'have you cooked?' Imagine how that feels if you've been working before. We feel like we're becoming a problem to the neighbours.".."But we're happy because we have peace, people here have given us a house and the lady next door is helping me." .
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