Client Narrative «
Name: Jahira
Age: 27
Occupation: Student
Country of Origin: Somalia
Country where Tortured: Somalia
After the government of General Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, the political situation in Mogadishu deteriorated badly. Clan fighting broke out in several areas of the city. Major clans fought for dominance of whole neighborhoods and members of minority clans began to be killed summarily, especially those who had had some connection to the previous government. The area of town where Jahira’s family lived, fell under the control of the United Somali Congress (USC), part of the majority Habir Gedir sub-clan of the Hawiye clan. This is the same clan that had been responsible for the recent coup d’etat. Jahira’s family was Tumaal, a minority clan historically were seen as “untouchable”. While many minority clan members had done well during the reign of General Siad Barre, when his regime fell they went overnight from being tolerated by their majority clan neighbors to being persecuted.
Jahira’s father, who had just months before been a respected professional working in a local government office, was now heckled and cursed every time he left the house. Even if he left the house, just to go to the corner and buy water or bread, Jahira could hear her neighbors call out “dirty, disgusting Tumaal”. Fighting and clan-based violence was so bad that it was no longer safe for Jahira or her sisters to walk to their school. Several young girls in the neighborhood had been raped or killed on the basis of their clan affiliation. Then, Jahira’s father had begun receiving death threats from members of a local militia. Jahira’s family made plans to stay at a farm on the outskirts of Mogadishu where Jahira’s older brothers worked.
Two nights before they had planned to leave, a USC gang burst into her family home, and shot and killed her father, one of her older brothers and both of her younger sisters. Jahira ran into the other room, was shot in the leg and arm, and knocked unconscious.
Several hours later, she awoke to hushed voices in the dark. Her mother and a friend had come home from a salon where they worked. They were quietly bandaging Jahira’s leg, the anguished look on her mothers face told her everything she needed to know. Everyone else had died. Her mother’s friend silently gathered up the bodies and put them in the back of their truck. Jahira heard her mother whisper to a friend to gather some clothes and other small items and put them in the truck.
An hour later they arrived at the farm where her other brothers worked. Her brothers cried upon seeing their father’s and siblings’ bodies. They worked through the night to dig graves and at sunrise her father, sisters and brother were buried.
For the next few weeks, Jahira was very ill. When her health began to improve, her brothers arranged for her to work with a tutor who had been working with other children who had come to the farm for safety.
The following July, however, the civil strife that had engulfed Mogadishu, now had expanded throughout the country. In the next several months, there were reports of killings so massive, even the international news agencies started to take notice. The minority clans were the easiest targets because they had the fewest resources with which to defend themselves.
Leaving her family and country behind
As famine persisted throughout much of the country, and international aid and most foreign trade had come to a halt, majority clans began coming after local farmers more and more. When the members of a neighboring farm were killed, in November 1993, panic and uncertainty again re-entered Jahira’s life. For her safety, her brothers and mother arranged for Jahira to be smuggled into Kenya, hidden among bags of grain on the back of a truck. In Nairobi, she would be connected with her father’s sister.
For four years, she lived with her aunt, waiting for the war to end and to hear news about her family. Jahira could not stop thinking about the night her father died, and she hoped her brothers had not faced more violent gangs. Despite her depression, nightmares and insomnia, Jahira continued to be hungry for knowledge. Her aunt found her a teacher who strongly urged Jahira to continue in school. While the idea of attending university was nice, it seemed a far off fantasy. At 19, Jahira had a number of much more urgent problems.
Because she had been living in Kenya without authorization, she was constantly harassed by the Kenyan Police and she had to hide constantly. Once, she had even been arrested and taken into custody. In jail, the police beat her and told her they would send her back to Somalia. Her aunt had had to sell some jewelry to raise money to bribe a guard to let her out of jail. It was clear that Jahira was a liability for her aunt’s family. She also could not return home to Somalia. Most of her family was dead or missing, and the country was still at war.
Becoming a new American
Ultimately, her teacher suggested she come to the United States where her daughter had just the year before been resettled as a refugee. Her teacher helped her secure the funds and paperwork necessary for the international flight. Her teacher’s daughter met her at the airport and welcomed her warmly. The next day, she took Jahira to an attorney to help her to petition for political asylum; they referred her to the same attorney that had helped someone else from their mosque just one year earlier.
Jahira was nervous to speak to an attorney, but the attorney was kind and after hearing just a few of the horrors that she had endured, referred Jahira to SURVIVORS for support services.
The treatment plan for Jahira was similar to that of other young, traumatized torture survivors in our care. She was introduced to a full range of services and allowed to choose where to start. Her attorney requested a psychological evaluation which was done by a SURVIVORS therapist with help from an interpreter. The psychological evaluation is instrumental in bringing to light the deep emotional damage of torture that can not be easily seen. Nightmares, depression, anxiety, and a fundamental shift in existential beliefs are common expressions for survivors of human-induced traumas. For the documentation of the physical damage from being shot and beaten, a volunteer physician provided a medical affidavit.
