Picking up the Pieces Away From Home, the Story of Samatar Abbi

Judging from his physical appearance, would only give you a wrong impression of who  Mohammed Samatar really is. Samatar now aged 58, is a Somali refugee who came to  Dadaab camp in 2008 with his five children, after an attack which left his wife dead . Being a talented guitarist and a composer of music in his local dialect, the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) discovered his talent and enrolled him as one of the Participatory Education Theatre(PET, )member. He would become very instrumental in RH/HIV –AIDS advocacy in the camp through music and poetry.

And as the saying goes, ‘age is nothing but a number,’   Samatar overcame the loss  of his wife and got married to a young woman, with both becoming PET members

Citing some security threats  back home in Somalia, Samatar and his family were relocated to Kakuma refugee camp in 2010. Here too he did not hide his talent, and once again, the Council engaged him as one of the RH motivators. Due to age disparity and other family values, Samatar’s young wife divorced him, and left the camp for Nairobi.

After his retirement and with no other source of income for his family, life became very difficult for Samatar and his children.

As a way of recognition for his contribution to NCCK, Samatar was considered among other elderly in need for an income generating activity, and as such he was given a grant to start up a small business. Due to his daughter’s  health that kept deteriorating making life even harder, Samatar decided to seek medical attention first for the daughter. He spent half of his grant on his daughter’s medication. Her health has since improved significantly.

Samatar invested the rest of the money in a small retail shop  in Kakuma 3 market. He also managed to buy uniform for his other children who are all currently in school, two being candidates in primary school, while the others are in class five and three respectively.

From his small retail business Samatar has also built a decent house furnished with a television set.

He is grateful to the NCCK family for the invaluable support. NCCK too salutes Samatar as a hero who has made the Council proud of her contribution to the community in RH/HIV awareness creation.