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| Andrea Nicodemus (right) with Bishop of Barentu Diocese Eritrea Rt. Rev. Thomas Osman at AMECEA Secretariat in Nairobi |
News of refugees and migrants perishing in the sea whenever an overloaded boat capsizes usually elicit sympathy and grief among people who are not directly affected. However, such feelings may only last a while among those who are not directly affected.
According to media sources, international reports indicates that more than 1,750 migrants perished in the Mediterranean Sea since the start of the year 2015 - more than 30 times higher than during the same period of 2014, says the International Organization.
While the rest of the world may grieve in solidarity with the families of the victims, the pain would easily be forgotten. However as the saying goes; it is the wearer of the shoe who knows where it pinches most and in this case, the loss of a family member through such tragedies may not be easily forgotten.
Andrew Nicodemus, an Eritrean refugee currently living in Kenya, knows too well what it means to lose an entire family in such a tragedy. The outgoing 47-year old lost his entire family in September 2008. His wife and three children perished when a boat capsize in the Atbara River in Sudan. The first incident to be reported from Sudan was when 21 refugees from Shagarab Refugee camp in Sudan perished.
They say that time heals; that is true with Andrew, the pain is gone but the memories are vivid as if it were only yesterday. Born and brought up in Eritrea, Andrea got married in 1993 and proceeded to start a family. He was blessed by three children.
“In 1998, during the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea the government forcefully recruited young people in the military, many of whom were killed in the conflict. Since I was very active in the Church activities, being a catechist and drama teacher for the youth, my bishop intervened and so I managed to come to Kenya to study diploma in Theology in 1994, at AMECEA Gaba Institute, after which I went back home,” he said.
Andrew managed to return to Kenya by the end of the year 2000 to study Social Communications at Tangaza College and Master’s Degree in Peace Studies and International Relationship at Hekima College both in Nairobi.
While in Kenya the separation from his family weighed heavily on him and he planned to get them out of Eritrea to join him in Nairobi. Unfortunately the wife was denied a visa. Eritrean government had made a policy that children were not allowed to leave the country. “I was not settled, my children were young, and I missed the companionship of my wife. I wanted to be with them and going back to Eritrea with all the problems the country was facing was not a better option.”
“Together with the parents of my wife, who were living in the United States of America, we decided to find ways to get my wife and children out of Eritrea. At the time, my firstborn child, a daughter was 14 years old, the second born was 10 and the lastborn eight.”
Andrew and his relatives desperate to get his family out of Eritrea decide to look for other ways to smuggle them through Sudan. His family managed to reach Shagarab Refugee Camp in Sudan, which is about 60 km from the border of Eritrea and Sudan. They stayed at the refugees’ camp for one month with the intention of going to Khartoum to get visa to come to Kenya.
“On 22ndSeptember 2008, at around 7 pm, Kenyan time, my wife called me and asks to pray for them because the following day they were to leave the refugees camp to go to Khartoum. The journey to Khartoum involved crossing Atbara River, which is situated near the refugee camp. To avoid being captured by the immigration officers, they had to cross the river using a small boat with a capacity of 15 people.
“The journey to Khartoum started at night around 2 am, the dawn of 23rd September. My father-in-law called from America and told me that my wife and children had not reached Khartoum and that the person who was supposed to receive and accommodate them in Khartoum had not heard anything from them; the news was very disturbing to Andrew from there I never felt the same again.”
“Unfortunately the boat which carried them was overloaded, carrying 26 passengers, and in the middle of the lake it capsized killing 21 people, including my wife and children. Six bodies out of the 21 were never recovered. I am glad that the refugees from the camp were able to retrieve the bodies of my family members during a search that took three days. They were buried at the camp.”
On 25thSeptember, many of his Eritrean friends in Nairobi had heard about the tragedy but were afraid to break the news to him. “I think they were afraid of how I would react upon receiving the news. However, even before I was told, I felt restless, and unsettled; I lost my appetite and could not concentrate on anything. By the time a delegation of Eritreans living in Nairobi led by an elderly man came to my apartment to break the news, I was already apprehensive. It felt like a dream; so many questions went through my mind. I was speechless, motionless, it felt terrible.”
He lost interest in life or anything else. He just wanted to be left alone to his thought. “I thank God that I received a lot of support from all over the world. Relatives and friends gave me messages of hope until I eventually accepted. Three months later, I was able to go to Sudan to visit the burial site and six years later my mother who lives in Eritrea came as well as my sister who lives in Germany and together we went to visit the refugee camp in Sudan.”
Andrew still hopes that one day he will be able to transport the bodies of his family back to Eritrea so that he may give them a decent burial even if it will be just bones. He now uses his experience as a testimony to other refugees to encourage them whenever there is a forum to do so. He says that talking about his experience has been part of his healing process.
Since the demise of his family members, Andrew says that he has never dated or looked for another woman to start a family with. However, he hopes that someday he will marry again and start a family. He feels that the situation in Eritrea is not yet conducive for him to go back home even though he desires to. He hopes that this will happen one day. His mother and two sisters still live in Eritrea and he has maintained contact with the parents of his late wife.
According to Andrea, being a refugee has many challenges, it is hard to get a job. However, he is currently teaching Basic English to Ethiopians and Eritrean refugees as well as hosting a program in Eritrean Language at Trans-world Radio.
Boat tragedy in Atbara River; 23rd September, 2008
In a Press Release, by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 24 September 2008 21 refugees were reported to have drowned the previous night when their overloaded boat capsized in the Atbara River, near the Shagarab refugee camp in eastern Sudan.
The refugees were part of a larger group that tried to cross the river in four boats at approximately 1:30 a.m. One of four boats meant to carry 15 passengers at most, but packed with 26, capsized some 600-700 metres from shore. Four Eritrean men survived by swimming to shore along with one Somali woman who clung to a floating log.
Among those who perished were 11 Eritrean and Somali families, including eight women and at least three children. The boat crossing was intended to bypass road blocks out of the camp as government regulations stipulate that refugees must remain in camps and receive assistance there.
Poor living conditions, however, and the absence of any prospects compel refugees, including women and children, to embark on perilous journeys (most often at the mercy of smugglers) in the hope of reaching Khartoum and, ultimately, a European destination.
Population of Eritrean Refugees in Sudan
According to report by European Resettlement Network published in 2013, Eastern Sudan hosts 112,283 Eritrean refugees – 83,499 of whom live in camps and 28,784 in urban situations. The first refugees arrived in 1968 fleeing Eritrea’s war of independence with Ethiopia.
Over the course of the subsequent thirty-year conflict, successive waves of people fleeing repression, insecurity, famine and drought crossed the border into Eastern Sudan. Although significant numbers of Eritrean refugees returned home after a peace treaty was signed in 2000, ongoing deterioration in the political and human rights situation in Eritrea has again caused many to flee - in some cases for the second time – to Eastern Sudan.
Boat tragedy in Atbara River; 23rd December, 2014
On 25th December 2014, Radio Erena Sudan reported that 21 Eritrean refugees sank in an attempt to cross to the Sudanese capital – Khartoum when their small boat capsized in the Atbara River on 23rdof December.
The Eritreans believed to be from the Sudanese refugee camp of Shagarab, were trying to get to Kassala – the town where they would then have to take a bus to get to Khartoum.
Eight bodies out of the 21 victims were recovered. Two people were rescued and taken to a local hospital called Girba.
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News