One Day the Soldiers Came - Charles London [61]
“We had land and many types of food. It was good land to farm. We would do some farming and some trading, growing many things,” she said. “We were happy. During the war, there was much fighting and I hid in the bush. When the fighting around my home stopped, I left the bush to find my parents. I found that they were dead. I saw their bodies, and I went to Tanzania with strangers. The strangers would not care for me. I met a woman who was kind and she brought me here to safety.”
“Were you afraid when you arrived?”
“When I arrived, there were rumors of a bad spirit in the camp, and outside the camp there were blood suckers and animals that kill people. I was afraid then. I’m not afraid anymore. I have gotten used to living here.”
“Do you feel safe here?”
“Living in the camp is too difficult. It is hard to build a home. It is hard to get enough food, and we always eat the same yellow peas. It is hard to get enough supplies, women’s supplies.”
Safety and supplies are one and the same for girls. If girls do not have access to sanitary napkins, then once a month they must stay out of school until their period is over. If their clothes are torn, it is impossible to go to school, as they could be seen as goading men on. Falling outside of accepted norms can be an invitation to violence against them. Non-food items are essential to the well-being, education, and safety of school age girls and are often in short supply.
“Some people go into the Tanzanian villages [to get supplies] but it is dangerous to go without permission. Sometimes you are beaten and sometimes you are not. They may rob you and leave you with nothing. You cannot go alone, and I have no one to go with me.”
“Does your foster family help you?”
“They mistreat me. I have left their home.”
“Your foster parents mistreated you?”
“No, there is a brother and sister. They mock me for being an orphan. They insult me so I do not stay there anymore.”
“Do you know other children who have lost their parents, in school maybe?”
“No, I do not go to school. I stopped going because the other children tormented me about my past. About being an orphan.” She sat with her dress tucked between her knees and looked over her shoulder out the window. “I want to learn to read and write. I would go back to school if they would not torment me. One day, when there is peace, I want to go back to Burundi and take my inheritance for my family. For now, I am getting used to living here.”
Jeanine felt very alone with her problems. In Burundian culture, women cannot inherit property, and somewhere in her mind, she must have known that. The land would go to her uncles or brothers, if she had any. I didn’t want to remind her that her plans were nearly impossible, because her regard for the future seemed to be a source of strength for her and perhaps she would grow up to challenge societal norms, to get her own piece of earth. She had already chosen to leave her foster family and live on the streets rather than endure their taunts. I got the sense from one of the social workers in the camp that she was a troubled girl, who made a lot of trouble for the agencies that tried to help her (specifically for this one social worker), though towards me she was polite. I think her troublemaking was not too different from many adolescents who act out to get attention, but in this case the attention she sought was to help her survive, to help her get a better break and put an end to her abuse. I had arrived in a UNHCR land cruiser, though I had only hitched a ride. I assume that seeing my mode of transport influenced Jeanine’s behavior towards me. She figured I had influence and put on her best behavior. She was not at all oblivious to power relationships in the camp, knowing that a white UN officer would have some pull over the social workers to whom she had been rude.