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SOMALIA: Abdullahi Osman - "I came back to find my family lying on the ground, blood everywhere"
Source: IRIN
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MOGADISHU, 12 June 2008 (IRIN) - Abdullahi Osman, 46, father of four children aged between three years and nine years, left his house in Laba Dhagah area of Wardhigley district, south
Mogadishu, on the morning of 8 June to go to the market where he is a small trader. Osman and his family had been displaced by a previous wave of violence in the city and had returned to their home a
day before. However, that weekend saw some of the most intense fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and insurgents. Wardhigley was one of the areas most affected. An hour and half after
he left his home, tragedy struck: "I knew there was trouble as the fighting had been going on for two days already but I thought I would leave for a bit and they would be alright. Life is very
difficult in Mogadishu and you have to struggle to feed your family and I managed as best as I could. "So that morning I left my wife and four children but I kept calling them to find out how they
were. On Sunday, at around 8:00 am, I got the news that our house was hit by artillery shells. "I quickly returned but our house was almost gone and the family was lying on the ground, blood
everywhere. At first I was not sure who was alive and who was dead. I first got my oldest daughter but she was not moving at all and I realised that she was dead. I then went to my wife; she was alive
but hurt very badly in the head and the face. "My neighbours came and we started to take my wife and surviving children to hospital. There were no cars or buses so we had to carry them on
wheelbarrows for almost an hour. They are now at Madina hospital. "The doctors tell me that my wife and my youngest daughter [three-year-old] are in a critical condition. They said there is not much
they can do for them. The baby has five pieces of metal lodged in her head and my wife has sustained injuries to her head and face. Neither of them is aware of where they are. I am hoping and praying
for a miracle. "The other two [six-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl] are doing better. I have been at the hospital since Sunday to stay with them. I don't even know what happened to my stall at
the market. I cannot worry about that now. "The hardest thing is not knowing whether they will live or die. This is killing me slowly. But as a religious person I know everything happens for a
reason. "So I am leaving everything to God. All I can do is pray that this nightmare will end and we can get our country and our lives back." ah/jm© IRIN. All rights reserved. More
humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org
