Somali students leave Iraq with heavy hearts

[Caveman]

By P.K Katharason & Shahanaaz Habib

RUWEISHED: Hiba Ali and Fauziah Moumein are now safe at a refugee camp in Jordan but their hearts are with the Iraqi people they left behind.

 

The two Somali girls on an Iraqi government scholarship at the University of Baghdad took a US$50 (RM190) bus ride, which took eight hours to cross into the Jordanian border from the Iraqi capital, a day before US-led forces started bombing.

 

“We were very sad to leave. Some of us girls were crying in the bus all the way here.

 

“We love the Iraqis. They are very nice and kind to us. If you are there, you will understand what I mean. They treated us like queens,” said Hiba, trying hard to hold back her tears.

 

She said the two of them did not want to leave but their Iraqi friends advised them to leave and be safe.

 

“They even offered to drive us to the border,” she said.

 

The first-year biology student said all the Iraqis she knew did not want to leave as they wanted to stay and defend their country.

 

Her Iraqi friends said they had seen wars before.

 

“The people have a lot of pride. Leaving Baghdad would be like a big humiliation for them,” she said.

 

Both Hiba and Fauziah managed to contact their families back in Somalia by e-mail at the refugee camp to let them know they were safe.

 

Fauziah said they did not want to go back to Somalia as there was also a war there.

 

“So we told our parents we will stay here and go back to Iraq when things clear up,” she said.

 

Asked what her message to the US or Britain was, she said: “Tell them to stop the war.”