Crying for his children after resettled in the U.S by UNHCR [Archives:2005/903/Community]
By: Mohamed Raheye
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The allure of the West and the dream of lucrative jobs and a luxurious lifestyle have seen many Somali refugees in Yemen go to extremes, with some even losing their lives in the quest for utopia and some disowning their beloved ones. This can be proved by Mr.Hassan Ali Matan a Somali refugee victim who has been spending the cold nights now over a year at the verandas of the Somali community center waiting the UNHCR promise to investigate the propagandas that had his wife and two daughters resettled in the United states. Mr.Hassan usually sits in front of the community center with the pictures of the American president, Mr.Gorge.W Bush and that one of the UN secretatary general Kofi Annan as if he can reach the big men through telepathy and relate them about what he calls ” UNHCR's new version of legalized slavery.”
After he could hardly bare the harsh life condition in his war-torn home country, mr.Hassan made to Yemen, where the Somalis consider to be a save heaven with his two children and his wife. It was then that Hassan again packed his bag to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to seek for greener pastures that will enable him to meet the basic needs of his family. Though he was working in the kingdom as an illegal immigrant Mr.Hassan who is now in his walking stick age could get a job which allowed him to send money to his family through a Somali based money transfer banks “Dahabshil and Kaah”.
“Its was the end month and i called my wife to alert her about an amount of money i send to her and the children only to be told that they were resettled in the United states” remembers the degraded dad of Nasteho and Najma.
Between sobs Hassan explains how the story was joyful at first only to be downtrodden when he came to Yemen and was told that his wife had to disown him to prove her vulnerability in order to be resettled in the U.S. Mrs.Hassan threw away her marriage certificate, made a fake divorce and filed case with the UNHCR that no one is supporting her with the two kids and she is at risk, a story that could be proved null and avoid if only the UNHCR consulted the Somali community center.
“We loved each other, love that has bound us over the years and become stronger as we faced each day, its challenges and experiences with laughter, joy, tears and shared moments as we chartered the way forward for our lives, but my wife threw it to the winds for the sake of America and peer group pressure. I still remember it has been a life of love, friendship and of fulfilled togetherness” says Mr.Hassan.
One year and six months across the line mr.Hassan knows nothing about the condition of his family and he has been reporting to the UNHCR office every Monday to prove the malicious claims his wife has cooked up, but unfortunately, the office has been feeding him with a diet of hopes with no clear follow up to his case.
“At the head office, sometimes they refer me to the social office, sometimes they kick me out, and sometimes they close the office while I am just waiting someone to receive me. They asked for the marriage certificate, three witnesses, receipts of the money i used to send my family, but they are not willing to receive and now i just loose hope of my children and wife” observes teary- eyed Hassan.
From his look Mr.Hassan has not only gave up the hope for the reunion of his family, but he seems to drop all the hope of his entire life and one can suggest that this old man who was once a prosperous father is now a physichatric hospital product. Now the question is who is to be blamed for the mental illness of this old man? Obviously the organization that violated his intimacy and rights the very body that was suppose to advocate for human dignity, UNHCR. How come the UNHCR office to turn a deaf year to Mr.Hassan when they now know that it was through bad calculation that they resettled his children? It seems that they way the UNHCR is treating this poor old man is an elaborate and massive human right violation by itself. Even if the wife has disowned mr. Hassan as her husband i bet he has the rights to reunite with his children and the UNHCR need to help this old man for humanity sake.
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