Ethiopian Red Cross Society unites father with his baby
August 14, 2018
Since the conflict in the Ethio-Somali-Oromiya border area broke out in September 2017, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, many separated from their families and loved ones. The Somali branch of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society has been inundated with requests for assistance to find and reunify family members that have disappeared in the chaos of the conflict. It’s often a big challenge for the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, due to scarce information to work with and the difficulties that come with conducting detective work in insecure and remote locations.
On 12 July 2018, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society received one such request for assistance. The call came from Remedan Ibrahim, an Oromo man from the Somali region who had been separated from his pregnant wife when the conflict erupted in Jigjiga. At the time Remedan was at work in an organization that takes care of orphaned children. He managed to escape but could not get back to his wife, who he was told had been badly beaten in the attack and hospitalized.
During this time Remedan’s wife gave birth to their child. She managed to contact him on his mobile to let him know they had a son. However, just three days after speaking to his wife, Remedan received the tragic news that she had passed away. The phone call came from Gargaaro*, a woman living in Somali who had taken in the baby.
Gargaaro had heard the news that a woman in the community had passed away and she gathered for the mourning. Local officials were asking if someone could take the newborn baby and Gargaaro volunteered. She took the baby home and cared for him as if he was her own. She asked around about the father until she found a contact number for him and called to let him know about his wife and baby. Remedan begged Gargaaro to keep the baby until he could find a way to get him.
Remedan was living in a displaced persons camp in Adama and was too fearful for his life to return to Jigjiga to collect his son. So he contacted the Ethiopian Red Cross Society to ask them to facilitate in bringing his baby to him. The Restoring Family Links team at the Ethiopian Red Cross Society headquarters contacted the Somali branch of the Society and together they organized for Gargaaro and the baby to travel to Adama.
On 3 August 2018 Remedan was reunited with his baby. The day was a full of both joyous and sad emotions for Remedan and Gargaaro, “Today, I am entertaining mixed feelings. On one hand, I am so sad that we [my wife and I] separated that way and I couldn’t even attend her funeral. And on the other hand, I am so happy that she left a memorial behind” said Remedan. “Ethiopian Red Cross Society has done a great thing; I can’t tell it all. They have gone to where I couldn’t and brought my baby boy to me”, he added.
In addition to facilitating the reunification, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, in collaboration with International Committee of Red Cross, is providing six months of milk formula, bottled water and cleaning assistance to Remedan to help support the ongoing care of his baby.
After handing over the baby to his father, Gargaaro stated “In the future, I will sustain my relationship with the baby and his father; the baby has become a member of our family already… My message to others is that everyone should support the helpless, irrespective of ethnicity, religion and any other factors.”
For anyone searching for family members in Ethiopia that have been separated by conflict or are missing due to any other factors, they can contact their local Red Cross branch office or the Ethiopia Red Cross Society headquarters on ercsinfo@redcrosseth.org
*Name changed to protect identity.