Don’t Ask Me Why…
Thousands are fleeing your borders and lands..
Dragging their feet through your deserts, mountains and plains.
Swimming across your lagoons, rivers and lakes.
Men and women, young and old walking for days,
with dust on their heads and feelings of despair.
Although they left with radiant faces and dazzling glares…
Don’t ask me why
They left the richness of their land behind,
The diamonds, gold and iron mines…
An abundance of culture and local knowledge that had filled their minds…
On their long journey they crossed the highlands and lowlands..
Staying away from cities and towns on their path…
To avoid greedy businessmen and foolish intellectuals
Roaming the streets, acting like sociopaths
holding daggers at each other’s throats…
Don’t ask me why
They were heading towards foreign grounds..
Leaving the comfort of their sheltered homes..
Walking in the darkness in isolation…
But ended up in these over-crowded camps
surrounded by bones and carcasses
Not forgetting the memories of festering corpses
corpses of loved ones that mothers had to leave behind…
Don’t ask me why..
Your children are screaming in terror…
shattering the glory of your ancestors..
The big bellied-babies are still latching on their dying mothers
Trying to nurse from their shrivelled breasts…
Don’t ask me why
The rate of stillbirth increases in these camps…
But If you want to know, jump into their mothers’ wombs
You will suffer from the screams of the unborn
not wanting to be born into an unjust world.
To a world that deprives them from their basic needs…
Needs of food, water, sanitation and housing…
and most importantly the need of a sense of belonging
Don’t ask me why
the world remains watching in silence,
while thousands of my people had fled the homeland…
Hoping for a bright future away from tyranny, deceit and repression
Don’t ask me why
But If you must know, jump into the hearts of the dictators of my land
You will suffocate from the stinking darkness of their hearts
And the blackness that fills it’s cavities and walls..
You will suffocate from the foul smell of every word that comes out of their mouth…
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In memory of the Millions of refugees that were born and died in refugee camps all around the world… written to the forgotten refugees of the Eritrean People of today.… Dedicated to all the children of the world on this International Day of the African Child