Salamatu’s story: The girl I used to be
| At the child advocacy and rehabilitation centre, Salamatu, 18, carefully plaits her classmate’s hair as her young son hangs on her skirt. “Do my hair, Mummy!” he cries, and she smiles at him and combs his bald head.
“After the war, I was just sitting around doing nothing. I was quite unhappy because my life was in a mess,” says Salamatu. | | |  | |
“Then I heard about the Red Cross programme and was happy when I was given a place. My son Hassan is 18 months old and I saw in the centre that other girls were bringing their kids to school. So I enquired and was told if I don’t have someone to take care of my son, then I can bring him to the centre. Now he goes to day care here.”
Living through war
“Because of the war, I had forgotten everything I’d learnt at school but at the beginning of the programme we were taught how to read and write. We also learned about agriculture and business,” Salamatu explains. “Then I chose to study hairdressing and it’s simple for me now. The teacher encourages me and with the counselling it helps me put the war behind me.
“I was working in the bush when the fighters attacked our village. They killed my father and then they took me. I didn’t know where my family was and I had to stay with the rebels. If they said they were attacking, we had to go. It went on like that for a long time.
“When I returned home, I had no one to care for me and I was suffering, but still I preferred to go back rather than stay with strangers. My mother wasn’t there, my father was dead and I just had a few relatives. That’s all, until I started seeing a man and we had a child together. But the man was maltreating me all the time and it was at this time that I heard about the Red Cross programme.”
Moving forward | |
| “I feel full of excitement,” Salamatu says with a smile. “This is because the hairdressing skills I have learnt will help me earn a living. The course certificate is a memorable emblem and I will show it to my friends and relatives.” | | |  | |
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As well as providing children with an education and, for those who are old enough, a vocation, the Red Cross programme helps children come to terms with their experiences of the war through counselling and getting involved in creative activities, such as dance, drama and music.
“The counselling sessions and the activities have helped me a lot, they’ve helped me to be the Salamatu I used to be. After graduating I’m planning to open a hair salon with some of my classmates.
“If the Red Cross hadn’t helped me, I wouldn’t have amounted to much. Thank goodness things have improved. I think my future is going to change. My advice to others is that we must make the best of what we have now for we might not have a second chance.”
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