Lucia’s Long Road Home

When Lucia looks out at the quiet streets of her new neighborhood in Finland, she still finds it hard to believe how far she and her daughter have come, and how much they have endured to reach this moment.

Lucia is a young woman who was forced to leave Eritrea while she herself was still a minor.

Back in Eritrea, Lucia was pressured into early marriage by her family and soon after, she became a mother. But the weight of expectations and financial obligations, combined with her young age, became overwhelming.

“I felt like my life wasn’t mine anymore,” Lucia recalls. “I loved my daughter Filmawit , but I was still a child myself.”

Seeking safety and a chance to rebuild her life, Lucia decided to leave Eritrea. She knew how perilous the journey would be on a newborn and with a heavy heart, she decided to leave her behind. She fled to Sudan in hopes of one day, she may earn enough to be able to provide for her daughter. There, she spent two years building a sense of stability. She found work in a hair salon, earned her own income, and for the first time felt a degree of independence.

“For a while, I felt like I could breathe,” she says. “I was working, I saved money, I longed for my daughter, but I wanted a better life for her, this is what kept me going.””

That fragile stability was shattered when she met someone who promised a better future, a journey to Europe through Libya. Hoping to secure a safer life for herself and her daughter, Lucia took the risk. Instead, she was arrested and detained for several months in Libya.

“It was terrifying,” she says quietly. “I didn’t know if I would survive.”

With UNHCR’s support, Lucia was eventually evacuated to Rwanda, where she spent a year in a refugee camp. In 2023, her long journey took an unexpected turn when she was resettled to Finland.

“I love everything about Finland,” she says with a smile. “The people, the safety, the respect. I finally feel at peace.”

But Lucia’s happiness was incomplete. Years earlier, she had made the painful decision to leave her daughter behind, knowing the journey was far too dangerous for a child, and uncertain of what lay ahead.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” she says. “I promised myself I would come back for her.”

In Finland, Lucia learned that family reunification was possible, but only if her daughter could reach Egypt or Kenya. She turned to her younger sister, herself still a minor, and asked her to help.

With extraordinary courage, Lucia’s sister took responsibility for the child and travelled to Egypt. They registered with UNHCR Egypt and spent two challenging years navigating life in a new country, raising a child while adapting to a different culture, language, and system.

“It wasn’t easy for them,” Lucia says. “My sister was so young, but she never gave up.”

Through UNHCR Egypt, and in coordination with the Finnish authorities, Lucia’s long wait finally came to an end. Her daughter was reunited with her in Finland, after nine long years of separation, a moment Lucia will never forget.

“When I saw her again, I felt whole,” she says. “This was the moment I had been waiting for all these years.”

Today, Lucia’s daughter is thriving. She has joined school, made friends, and is learning a new language with ease.

“She is very happy,” Lucia says proudly. “She loves the country, and she feels safe.”

Lucia’s story is a testament to resilience, the strength of family, and the life‑changing impact of protection and family reunification. With the support of UNHCR across multiple countries, a mother and daughter have finally found what they were searching for all along, a place to belong, together.

In 2025, at least 2,300 individuals departed Egypt through complementary pathways including an average of 600 individuals benefiting from family reunification annually. The majority being unaccompanied and separated children and women at risk, for whom family reunification has restored safety, dignity, and psychosocial well‑being.