Mirror on the wall
Am I for real?
Or a reflection meant to dwell?
Coz I got nothing to tell
Or commodity to sell
Just a soul running from the violence
You can call me immortal
For all I have survived
Survived the war, hunger, drought, and famine.
For how long am I going to be a refugee?
How long am I gonna be stuck in this Kakuma refugee camp?
With harsh weather conditions
The atmosphere filled with dust
Where there are insufficient basic needs.
Harassment by the police, sexual assault and poverty.
When I look around me, all I see is misery
I see people who are separated from their families and loved ones
People who are traumatized, victims of violence and war.
They are uncertain about their future
All I see is, traditionally rooted men
Who take advantage of innocent girls and women
Inflicting gender based violence on them
As they fold their arms and watch their lives crumble at their feet
I have witnessed women and girls protest
For more than 10 years, they have been fighting for change
But the change they have been fighting for is,
To come, don’t know when
They have been living in dreams that one day change will come
So that they can face their realities
And have a fate to decide about their future
Am like a mirror on the wall,
Stagnant at one position,
I can’t move until am moved
Always the same each and every day, month and moment.
Tomorrow is a new day, no one knows about it
We keep hoping that it will be a better new day,
With new moments and new possibilities.
Sometimes I look up the sky and see a new moon
Hoping for a better tomorrow
Being a refugee,
The brightness of the moon and sun dims every single day
Why me?
Is this my destiny or someone is deciding my fate?
Am always lonely, no one knows what am going through
No one feels the pain of being me in this jungle.
Where people are passing through hardship every day
A jungle filled with hot days and dark nights
The river of dust flying above the atmosphere
A place with harsh unbearable living conditions
Many people have lost hope and others embrace suicide as their last option
I felt it’s home, but it’s no different to the hell I am from.
Thought I would be loved, but I was wrong
All I am is, “a mirror stuck on a wall.”
10 January, 2023
