Faces and Voices- Grown-Ups

S.M. – A woman, age 23

My father died in the war for Eritrean independence. Later, my two brothers and my sister died in the border war with Ethiopia. My mother went blind from crying. I escaped with my husband and my son to Ethiopia. A close friend convinced my husband to go to Sudan, but soon he was kidnapped there and taken back to Eritrea, where he has been imprisoned for six months. Here in the camp in Ethiopia I am active in the Women’s Affairs Committee.  We have obtained an electric generator from Catholic Charities, and we share the small profits from our sale of electricity with the needy. Through that committee I also organize the camp community to help expecting mothers and their newborns.