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In the south of Somalia, the city of Kismayo was taken back from al-Shabaab seven years ago. In recent years, life has come back to the city, its population has doubled. Many of the returnees are single women who find a country they can't call home.
My Contributions
Correspondent: Melanie Cura Daball
Producer: Deutsche Welle (DW) / ARD
Camera: Kimani Githae
Short Documentary
Director & Producer
Jul 2019
They thought they'd find a peaceful country, work, education for their children - a place to call home, finally.

They are returnees, Somalis who spent most of their lives in refugee camps such "Dadaab" in neighbouring Kenya, who opted into a resettlement scheme by the United Nations.

Many of them are single mothers who had hoped to raise their children outside a camp back in their country of origin which has been ravaged by one of the longest on-going civil wars in modern history.

But Kismayo, a city in the south of the country isn't quite what they expected it to be. It's relatively peaceful, with al-Shabaab having been driven 50km outside the city (two weeks after our visit, an attack by al-Shabaab killed at least 26), some returnees have been lucky enough to have been offered a roof over their heads, but apart from that, they say "there's nothing".

All they have is their resilience, and hope.