"For millions of refugees across Africa life is a daily struggle. Many dream of one day returning to their homeland while others have spent decades building a new life. On World Refugee Day, BBC Focus on Africa's Anne Soy visits a Somali family in Nairobi, Kenya, who cannot imagine returning to their roots."
Kendra King's insight:
No one should have to be burdened with returning to a failed state, which is exactly what Somali is. As the main male figure in this clip mentioned, the conditions of the failed state he left 20 years ago has only gotten worse. It would make little sense for him or his family to return because there is no economic opportunity and no government stability. At least in Kenya, this family now has "a modest living." If this family were to return, the family would struggle to survive. If I were in their shoes, I would feel the same way. A decent standard of living is just as important as a safe community. For even though their is less violence to instantly kill people, starvation and disappear from lack of financial and governmental support would eventually prematurely kill people. So without either, I wouldn't return. Thus, I agree that the decision of a refugee to return should be left up to them as the reparation program between Kenya and Somali are currently doing.
Leaving ones country behind is still a tough choice. Abandoning the area increases "brain drain" and the man power to make the situation better. During our class on the Caribbean, it was mentioned that the government of countries facing these problems will try to attract their population back through incentives. In a failed state, the government isn't strong enough to incentivize people to come back. So, who does take care of this region? Someone with a great sense of duty to their country more than likely. For instance, Nelson Mandela was extremely smart and could easily have turned his back on the harsh conditions facing his country. Yet, he didn't and eventually become the leader needed to improve the standard of living in South Africa. Now I realize this was never a failed state, but their were still plenty of problems within the area that made staying harder that it should have been for the citizen of a country. So ultimately, the people who will have the greatest impact are those who have the sense of duty to their country. This isn't something every refugee will feel and as mentioned earlier, I can't blame them. It takes a rare selflessness and strong sense of courage that few people have. For those that do though, their country will be indebted to them forever.