AMECEA: The plight of Refugees: A sad story of an Eritrean who lost his whole family as they were trying to flee from their country.

News of
refugees and migrants perishing in the sea whenever an overloaded boat capsizes
usually elicit sympathy and grief among people who are not directly affected. However,
such feelings may only last a while among those who are not directly affected.

According to
media sources, international reports indicates that more than 1,750 migrants
perished in the Mediterranean Sea since the start of the year 2015 – more than
30 times higher than during the same period of 2014, says the International Organization.

While the
rest of the world may grieve in solidarity with the families of the victims,
the pain would easily be forgotten. However as the saying goes; it is the
wearer of the shoe who knows where it pinches most and in this case, the loss
of a family member through such tragedies may not be easily forgotten.

Andrew
Nicodemus, an Eritrean refugee currently living in Kenya, knows too well what
it means to lose an entire family in such a tragedy. The outgoing 47-year old lost
his entire family in September 2008. His wife and three children perished when a
boat capsize in the Atbara River in Sudan. The first incident to be reported
from Sudan was when 21 refugees from Shagarab Refugee camp in Sudan perished.

They say
that time heals; that is true with Andrew, the pain is gone but the
memories are vivid as if it were only yesterday. Born and brought up in Eritrea,
Andrea got married in 1993 and proceeded to start a family. He was blessed by
three children.

“In 1998, during
the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea the government forcefully
recruited young people in the military, many of whom were killed in the
conflict. Since I was very active in the Church activities, being a catechist
and drama teacher for the youth, my bishop intervened and so I managed to come
to Kenya to study diploma in Theology in 1994, at AMECEA Gaba Institute, after
which I went back home,” he said.

Andrew managed
to return to Kenya by the end of the year 2000 to study Social Communications
at Tangaza College and Master’s Degree in Peace Studies and International Relationship
at Hekima College both in Nairobi.

While in
Kenya the separation from his family weighed heavily on him and he planned to
get them out of Eritrea to join him in Nairobi. Unfortunately the wife was
denied a visa. Eritrean government had made a policy that children were not
allowed to leave the country. “I was not settled, my children were young, and I
missed the companionship of my wife. I wanted to be with them and going back to
Eritrea with all the problems the country was facing was not a better option.”

“Together
with the parents of my wife, who were living in the United States of America,
we decided to find ways to get my wife and children out of Eritrea. At the
time, my firstborn child, a daughter was 14 years old, the second born was 10
and the lastborn eight.”

Andrew and
his relatives desperate to get his family out of Eritrea decide to look for
other ways to smuggle them through Sudan. His family managed to reach Shagarab
Refugee Camp in Sudan, which is about 60 km from the border of Eritrea and
Sudan. They stayed at the refugees’ camp for one month with the intention of
going to Khartoum to get visa to come to Kenya.

“On 22nd
September 2008, at around 7 pm, Kenyan time, my wife called me and asks to pray
for them because the following day they were to leave the refugees camp to go
to Khartoum. The journey to Khartoum involved crossing Atbara River, which is
situated near the refugee camp. To avoid being captured by the immigration
officers, they had to cross the river using a small boat with a capacity of 15
people.

“Unfortunately
the boat which carried them was overloaded, carrying 26 passengers, and in the middle of the lake it
capsized killing 21 people, including my wife and children. Six bodies out of
the 21 were never recovered. I am glad that the refugees from the camp were
able to retrieve the bodies of my family members during a search that took
three days. They were buried at the camp.”

On 25th
September, many of his Eritrean friends in Nairobi had heard about the tragedy
but were afraid to break the news to him. “I think they were afraid of how I
would react upon receiving the news. However, even before I was told, I felt
restless, and unsettled; I lost my appetite and could not concentrate on
anything. By the time a delegation of Eritreans living in Nairobi led by an
elderly man came to my apartment to break the news, I was already apprehensive.
It felt like a dream; so many questions went through my mind. I was speechless,
motionless, it felt terrible.”

He lost interest in life or anything else. He just
wanted to be left alone to his thought. “I thank God that I received a lot of
support from all over the world. Relatives and friends gave me messages of hope
until I eventually accepted. Three months later, I was able to go to Sudan to
visit the burial site and six years later my mother who lives in Eritrea came as
well as my sister who lives in Germany and together we went to visit the
refugee camp in Sudan.”

Andrew still hopes
that one day he will be able to transport the bodies of his family back to Eritrea so that he may give them a decent burial even if  it will be just bones. He now uses his experience as a
testimony to other refugees to encourage them whenever there is a forum to do
so. He says that talking about his experience has been part of his healing
process.

Since the
demise of his family members, Andrew says that he has never dated or looked for
another woman to start a family with. However, he hopes that someday he will
marry again and start a family. He feels that the situation in Eritrea is not
yet conducive for him to go back home even though he desires to. He hopes that
this will happen one day. His mother and two sisters still live in Eritrea and
he has maintained contact with the parents of his late wife.

According to
Andrea, being a refugee has many challenges, it is hard to get a job. However, he is currently teaching Basic English
to Ethiopians and Eritrean refugees as well as hosting a program in Eritrean
Language at Trans-world Radio.

Boat tragedy in Atbara River;
23rd September, 2008

In a Press Release, by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 24 September
2008 21 refugees were reported to have drowned the previous night when their
overloaded boat capsized in the Atbara River, near the Shagarab refugee camp in
eastern Sudan.

The refugees were part of a larger group that tried to cross the river
in four boats at approximately 1:30 a.m. One of four boats meant to carry 15
passengers at most, but packed with 26, capsized some 600-700 metres from
shore. Four Eritrean men survived by swimming to shore along with one Somali
woman who clung to a floating log.

Among those who perished were 11 Eritrean and Somali families,
including eight women and at least three children. The boat crossing was
intended to bypass road blocks out of the camp as government regulations
stipulate that refugees must remain in camps and receive assistance there.

Poor living conditions, however, and the absence of any prospects
compel refugees, including women and children, to embark on perilous journeys
(most often at the mercy of smugglers) in the hope of reaching Khartoum and,
ultimately, a European destination.

Population of Eritrean Refugees
in Sudan

According to report by European Resettlement Network published in
2013, Eastern Sudan hosts 112,283 Eritrean refugees – 83,499 of whom live in
camps and 28,784 in urban situations. The first refugees arrived in 1968
fleeing Eritrea’s war of independence with Ethiopia. 

Over the course of the
subsequent thirty-year conflict, successive waves of people fleeing repression,
insecurity, famine and drought crossed the border into Eastern Sudan. Although
significant numbers of Eritrean refugees returned home after a peace treaty was
signed in 2000, ongoing deterioration in the political and human rights
situation in Eritrea has again caused many to flee – in some cases for the
second time – to Eastern Sudan.

Boat tragedy in Atbara River;
23rd December, 2014

On 25th December 2014, Radio Erena Sudan reported that 21
Eritrean refugees sank in an attempt to cross to the Sudanese capital –
Khartoum when their small boat capsized in the Atbara River on 23rd
of December.

The Eritreans believed to be from the Sudanese refugee camp of
Shagarab, were trying to get to Kassala – the town where they would then have
to take a bus to get to Khartoum.

Eight bodies out of the 21 victims were recovered. Two people were
rescued and taken to a local hospital called Girba.