UNICEFEthiopia/2020
Berhan Berhe 17, from Tigray left his hometown in northern Ethiopia in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia for better life. He returned to Ethiopia after being deported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in April.
After enduring five months of captivity, Berhan was released by his captors without paying ransom. He proceeded to Saudi Arabia where he was detained by authorities upon arrival. After a month in detention, he was deported to Ethiopia where he says he has a chance to reunite with his family and rebuild his life. Yet that chance has to wait because, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Berhan and other returnees need to go through a 14-day quarantine to ensure they are in good health and have not been infected with the virus. With more returnees expected this month, the resulting demands on the country’s health system are unprecedented. At the time of writing, Ethiopia had reported 85 cases of coronavirus and three deaths.
Berhan’s story is like that of thousands of other young people who have embarked on similar treacherous journeys, only to find dangers they had not known existed. After his father passed away, he dropped out of school in third grade and assumed the responsibility of taking care of his family through farming.
“I believed if I went to Saudi Arabia, I would be able to support my mother and three siblings,” he says. Due to limited rain, he was unable to harvest much crop. He reached out to a broker who promised to smuggle him out of the country.
Tegaru refugees quarantine in Addis Ababa
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https://www.unicef.org/ethiopia/stories ... s-pandemic
