An orphaned child
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother where are we?
My mind turned East, West, South and North
I could not believe
I looked all round; I could not get a sponsor

Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother where is my father?
I cannot find my father
Who will pay my school fees?

Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother why is there no free education for refugees?
Shall we ever go back to our country?

Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother I wish I was in my country
I could continue with my education up to university
May god bring peace in our country Sudan?
Though I am an orphan
I would enjoy my sweet homeland

Name: Amoti Lillian, 15
School: Can-Rom Primary School, Primary 6

This poem comes from Refugee Children’s Voices: Thoughts and Art by Children Studying in UNHCR Settlements in Uganda, a booklet published by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in 2004 that can be downloaded from the Additional Resources in the Teachers’ Corner section of UNHCR’s website.

The UNHCR has just issued this video summarising the sobering 2011 UNHCR Global Trends Report…

This year the UNHCR invites us to show our support for the millions of refugees around the world by taking a pledge to spread the word of their plight – because “1 family torn apart by war is too many.”
 

Posted by: Marjorie | This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 7:13 am and is filed under Eventful World, International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Tags: UN Refugee Agency, World Refugee Day