The Danish Refugee Concil has asked 60 refugees and displaced teens from Somalia to describe their life with pictures. Their pictures and experiences have been collected in the book “Once upon a time on a sunny continent.”

Teens living in Somalia, Kenya and Yemen took stunning pictures of their world. Some had left Mogadishu and its surroundings recently, others had been forced out of their homes years ago. A few had been born in exile. Home had turned into an imaginary place for them, a place so different to their reality. Home was a green fertile land where they had proper houses.

They said they would love to return there if only peace could finally reign. All of them had big dreams. We met with would-be doctors and teachers, a future flight attendant, a hopeful journalist and a few potential football stars.

”I know that Somalia was the best country, but now it is not good. There is a lot of war”, said Fatma, 17, who lives in Basateen, the Yemeni slum where her family has found asylum.

She is one of the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have been forced to flee their homes since the collapse of the last central government in 1991. Over the past few years, unrelenting violence has led to the displacement of some 1 million people within the country. That is more than one in eight Somalis. Another 560,000 people have been forced into exile, mostly to Kenya and Yemen. The lasting turmoil combined with recurrent droughts prevents a large part of the population from meeting its basic needs. Nearly half of the population is in need of food aid.

The pictures in the book were taken by the talented teens.

Download the book (PDF 5.1MB)

Go to story on BBC News:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8305405.stm

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