“Get up, buckle your belt and fight for your life”, encourages Fetiya* to all women during this Women’s Day.
Fetiya* is a mother of three who fled her home in Al-Jebel, Sudan, due to the war and life-threatening conditions that forced many to flee, on foot to neighbouring countries.
During the war, Fetiya recalls one of the moments that made her realize she had no future in Sudan. “I was raped in front of my husband, and the perpetrators broke his arm.” She and her husband knew, the next time this happens, they might not be so lucky to escape.
With her very daughter and husband, Fetiya left Sudan and proceeded to the infamous, torturous, and dangerous route to Libya, that often claims the lives of many, and for those that survive, that scars them for the rest of their lives.
After reaching Libya, Fetiya began the chase of finding a path to Europe, which many refugees and asylum seekers like Fetiya believe is the only solution for safety and a remotely fair livelihood.
“All the hopes I had would soon be unrealized, as my husband abruptly disappeared, leaving me with our daughter and the daughter I was also expecting at that time. I had to care for in a foreign land that would look to me for survival,” she says.
As a mother of two in Libya and with a son still in Sudan, Fetiya relives how she unlearned the societal role of a woman and became a refugee mother, father, provider, and protector of her two defenceless daughters in Libya.
“As a woman, and a single refugee mother in Libya, it wasn’t safe for my kids, I had to carry one on my back and take the other with my hand as I went to work. I couldn’t leave them with anyone else,” recalls Fetiya, as she struggled to take care of herself and her children while trying to flee from Libya.
Fetiya mentioned a day where her ankle broke and she got a walking stick and proceeded to go to find some work, with her youngest daughter on her back and her older daughter’s hand in her hand.
Keeping her children out of her sight was not an option, as she mentioned the most difficult part about being a single refugee mother in Libya, was not being able to afford to sleep, as it would mean taking her eyes off of her daughters.
“I thank God truly, because I can sleep now, I don’t have to choose between food and shelter, I do not have to worry about my daughters being kidnaped, I hope this for everyone else we left behind in Libya”, Fetiya shares.
Now evacuated to ETM Rwanda by UNHCR, thankful for all involved in evacuating her and with her two daughters preparing for a hopeful future as a doctor and a pilot, Fetiya plans for a future where she will get education, her daughters get education, “I continue to be an equally good mother and father”.
Thanks to the Government of Rwanda, the African Union and the generous supporters of the ETM Rwanda Operation, UNHCR continues to save the lives of women and girls like Fetiya and her daughters, who can now dream of healing their wounds and rebuilding their lives in a safe and productive way, away from harm.
*Name changed for protection reasons.
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