By THANDIWE MOYO –
NOT too long ago, Fatima Abdirah joined a group of refugees that began a journey to Zambia after war broke out in their homeland Rwanda.
The journey was difficult as  Ms Abdirah had to watch most of her family members get killed in the attacks by various factions that included rebels in her country.
The tragedy happened when she was 12 years old and she was too young to fend for herself.
“When I lost my family, I started living on the streets as I had no home. All our goods were damaged by the rebels who killed my family,” she said.
In due course,  Ms Abdirah found a job as a maid. She was employed by a man who entirely changed her thought of returning to her country by raping her on several occasions.
The abuse she suffered at the hands of her employer gave her the zeal to live her country for good.
A friend advised  Ms Abdirah to travel to Tanzania with her in order to escape the war.
When she arrived in the east African country,  Abdirah became a street vendor.
“I used to sleep on the streets in Tanzania and sometimes I would be raped and beaten by bandits,” she said.
“At that time, I did not understand why I existed. Life to me was meaningless and useless. Many times I would think of killing myself, but I would always fail to do so,” she recalled.
In 1991, when she was 25, Ms Abdirah again found a job as a maid.
While working in that job, she went back to school and she was later advised to pursue her dreams.
Ms Abdirah realised her dream of becoming a school teacher, as she was inspired by the people that she worked for.
However, due to the persistent wars in Tanzania at that time she, and the family she was staying with, travelled to Zambia where they found political stability.
It was not easy for Ms Abdirah to adapt to the way of life in Zambia due to language barrier. But with persistence and time, she managed to learn the local languages.
Looking back at her life, Ms Abdirah feels she has no life in her country of origin.
She considers Zambia as her home, because she has no relatives she can remember.
“Zambia is not my original country. But it is my home, as it is Zambia that has shown me the best times of my life, despite the hardships I went through. I am happily married to a Zambian Bemba man, with whom I have four children and I am a teacher by profession,” she said.
She hopes to be considered as a citizen of Zambia, so that she could obtain a passport as she dreams of venturing into cross border trade.
“I am very proud of what I am because, although I came as a refugee, I am able to contribute to the country’s development by educating Zambian children,” she said.
Ahmed Wane, also seeking asylum, said his journey to Zambia was not out of choice. He said he was forced to flee wars and hunger in his country Somalia.
When war started in his country, Mr Wane felt his dream of being a business executive was shuttered, as he did not know where he was heading to or what he would become.
“Many died along the way. Others drowned in different rivers while some went missing in equatorial forests in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Up to now, their family members could be searching for them, not knowing if they are still alive or dead,” he said.
Mr Wane said his country had suffered from a critical shortage of food and starvation as most goods were destroyed due to successive wars.
“I used to run a business in my country, but all my goods were destroyed by fire when the attackers burned our houses and business places, leaving us with nothing,” he said.
He said due to the confusion in his country, he feared to stay as he hoped to live a peaceful life with his family.
Mr Wane urged local people in Zambia to be an example to the world for their open-door policy and integration efforts that the country has embarked upon to assimilate some of the migrants that have satisfied requirements of being part of the local community.
Ms Abdirah and Mr Wane are just two of the thousands of migrants that entered Zambia as refugees to find a semblance of peace in a country renowned world over as an ‘oasis of peace’.
Many of the migrants living in Zambia have endured so many hardships so much that one cannot bear to listen to the emotional stories of their experiences without shedding tears.
But mostly out of ignorance, the local society has sometimes sought to paint migration as a social evil or a divider of families and communities and a spawning ground for fanaticism.
Yet, like Abdirah, a good number of migrants move from one place to another in order to find work or better living conditions away from their vulnerabilities.
Some local people have a negative perception about migrants, especially refugees.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Country Representative Laura Lo Castro said millions of people who flee from their countries of origin did not migrate by choice, but did it because it was a necessity as they feared for their lives.
“These people, like asylum-seekers, refugees and internally displaced persons leave their countries of origin or homes for fear of death or persecution, or else why should a person leave their families and friends?” she asked.
Ms Castro said despite the high numbers of migrants in Zambia, members of the public and the Government had shown generosity towards them.
She said Zambia currently had 52,261 migrants mainly from the Great Lakes region.
Ms Castro expressed gratitude that the migrants have not been deprived of their rights in Zambia.
She said the Government understood the perils of the refugees as it allowed them to contribute to the economic fabric of the country as famers, carpenters, traders, nurses, doctors and teachers
“Migrants are humans just like any other and they have the right to be protected, educated and to be loved,” she said.