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 Monday 12 May 2008 Latest reports:
 
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Hear our Voices
A forum for people whose voices are often not heard, whose lives have been affected by catastrophe, be it natural or manmade. Many have been abused and denied their universal human rights; others have seen their livelihoods washed away by floods or lost to drought. Their personal accounts are a testimony to their struggle and their hope for a better future. Stories from aid workers offer a glimpse into the relationships between victims of humanitarian crises and the people who help them.

IRIN welcomes editorial and photographic submissions for inclusion on this page, reserving the right to select and edit as appropriate.

Africa [archive more testimonies »
Stéphanie Malak, Senegal, "I'd love to return to my village... but I don't dare"
Stéphanie Malak was injured by a landmine in 1998 when her village, was attacked, allegedly by rebels from the Movement for Democratic Change (MFDC), and then mined. She fled with her family to Ziguinchor where she is trying to make ends meet. She told IRIN her story.
full testimony
Fadumo Hussein: "Staying home meant certain death"
Together with hundreds of other drought-stricken residents of central Somalia, Fadumo Hussein, 35, arrived in the town of Adado on 28 April with her seven children, weak from lack of food and water. She and her family lost all their livestock - 150 goats and sheep and three transport camels.
full testimony
Fahmo Aden: "I would do anything to see my boy normal again"
June 18 2007 was like any other day in the life of Fahmo Aden, a 34-year-old mother and small trader, until she was told her oldest son had been killed in an explosion.
full testimony
Asia [archive more testimonies »
Nazia, Afghanistan: "My husband cut off my ears and nose and broke my teeth"
Doctors at a hospital in Qalat, capital of Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan, are treating a brutally tortured woman whose husband cut off both her ears and nose, broke her teeth and shaved her head only three months after their marriage. The victim, 16-year-old Nazia, is also suffering from psychiatric distress due to her experience, according to a doctor in Qalat hospital.
full testimony
Fadumo Abdullahi: "Staying in Mogadishu was worse than dying"
In mid-November, Fadumo Abdullahi, 30, fled fighting in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and is now living in a cramped, makeshift camp for the displaced on the outskirts of Bosasso, the commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia.
full testimony
Mohammad Hasan, Bangladesh: "Now I am alone"
I will never forget the cyclone. It roared like a beast. We heard the cyclone warning three hours before it hit, but there were 300 people on the island at the time and not enough boats to take us ashore.
full testimony
Middle East [archive more testimonies »
Ibrahim Sayyid, Syria, “You have to study hard to escape life in a tent”
"When my father began to receive death threats from a Shia militia, we decided that living in the desert was safer than being Palestinian in Baghdad. He bought a tent and we left along with my four siblings in the summer of 2006."
full testimony
Abed Akkawi, Lebanon: "I couldn’t pay the full bill so they wouldn’t let my wife leave the hospital"
Eventually I told the [hospital] authorities I had divorced my wife because I knew that was the only way they would stop coming after me. The hospital let Wafa go and she moved back to Syria and divorced me."
full testimony
Ahmed Hassan, Lebanon: "It felt like a kind of resistance to celebrate and dance despite everything"
When we celebrated our engagement during the 2006 July War, the Israelis bombed Abdeh, on the edge of Nahr al-Bared and we ended up in the shelters. Then the fighting delayed our wedding.
full testimony
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This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Republication is subject to terms and conditions as set out in the IRIN copyright page.