It was one o'clock in the morning when I heard someone knocking on my dad's window. My dad answered and opened the door. It was my uncle. I woke up during the noise and I knew that something unusual was happening. Suddenly I heard a male say "If you make a noise I am going to blow your head off. You must obey everything I say." My dad didn't have any choice but to listen to what was said and do what ever he was asked because my mother was five months pregnant and my grandmother was sick. After a while I jumped out of my bed and decided to get a hand grenade and an M-16 rifle so I could defend my family.

The burglars were seven men and they were all armed. When they came in they spread themselves around the house in case anything happened. All they wanted that night was my dad's car and any extra things that they could pick up. I came out and three of the men pointed guns at me and told me to put my rifle down or else they were going to kill me. My grandmother heard the noise and started to call out my father's name. My dad answered, "Mum, come down. Everything is going to be alright." The men decided to kill my grandmother because of the noise she made, but my dad begged them not to and told them that she was a sick old lady who meant no harm.

A few days after that incident a horrible war broke out in the suburb where we lived. There were dead bodies everywhere. The reason was that social and political divisions existed between competing clans, and a war broke out, between the Isaq who live in the north, the Darod, in the north-east and south-west and the Hawiye, on the east-central coast. My parents decided to leave Somalia,because everything was getting of hand. We had a chance to escape with some people who were leaving the city of Mogadishu.

We travelled for seven days on foot until we reached the city. While we were in that city, gun-men killed two of my uncles. Fortunately we escaped from then on a bus that was going to Ethiopia. We were fifty seven passengers on a bus travelling to save our lives from a group of angry gunmen. They wanted to kill anyone who was related to the ex-president Said-Bare. I and my family were exiled from Somalia because my mother was related to Said-Bare and we could have been killed a couple of times.

We stopped at a village where we stayed overnight. The villagers welcomed us and gave us food and let us stay the night. They were so nice that they even sent five men with us because the path that we were heading down, was a bit dangerous. The man who owned the bus let them aboard. After two nights of travelling, these five nice men made us stop and they took over the two buses. We were lucky they did not kill anyone. I wondered all the time why they were so nice to us, why they gave us free accommodation, free food. They told us to get off the buses and run or else they were going to kill us. As I was getting off the bus, I tried to get a big jug of water and some cookies that my mother had made. One of the gunmen hit me with the back of the rifle, I fell to the ground. The man told me if I tried to do anything again he would kill me. After that they robbed us. We were in the middle of nowhere. We had nowhere to go, no food, no money, nothing.

The whole group decided to head in the direction that the bus had been heading. Sometimes even now when I remember what happened my eyes fill with tears. My mother was pregnant and she had to walk a very long way. I left my family to get some help. Two of my friends came along. We walked for about ten kilometres, then we rested.

Suddenly, we heard the sound of a lion roaring. It sounded close, so we started running until we were tired. Then we saw the lights of the city. We were so relieved, but really hungry and thirsty. It seemed as though the city was close, but it wasn't. We had to walk for another two hours.

When we arrived the only thing in my mind was water. I knocked at the first house. I think it was about six in the morningand everyone was sleeping. No one opened the door. I lost hope of living after a while and then I fainted. When I awoke a man with a rifle was standing above me. He tipped water onto my face. He gave me some bread and I stayed there for another hour. Then I went to a refugee camp. I asked for help and told them that nearly fifty three passengers were starving in the middle of nowhere. They sent three buses with water and food. I stayed where I was until my parents came.

During those deadly nights I experienced some very bad moments that I will never forget. I have learned that bad people can get so close to you and harm you. I have also learned that it was love that has kept my family together.