Tanaya 1

Creative Writing Project

English 10 A
Mrs. French
20 September 2015
Dear my beloved father,
Dad, this is me, Abuubakar Kaahin, your son. It has been 12 years since you went to
Kenya to seek for a better life. Ive been living with mom since you and her divorced 12 years
ago. I was 5 years old back then and it was too much for me to handle a broken family. It is why
I have never contact you for the past twelve years. Im really sorry for my grudges towards you,
but I really need your help right now. Mom has died 2 months ago, because of the shooting
occurred near our house in Merka. Al-Shabab aggression triggered some public executions by the
AMISOM troops and mom was one of the wrong victims caused by that action. For the last two
months, I have stayed at my uncles house which only 2 blocks away from our house. Im really
sick with my living condition here in Somalia and I tried my best to move from this indigent
country. I dont have anywhere else to ask for help except you. With all my heart I beg you to
allow me to stay with you in Kenya.
This is my last year at school but my education process is interrupted in here. The civil
war stopped everything and disrupting our tranquil life. I believe that Al-Shabab and the African
Union troops are reprehensible for this situation. Somalias condition when you left to Kenya
was bad, but the condition was exacerbating year by year. Since AMISOM troops began its
deployment in 2007, most of them who came from Uganda created many turbulent situations.
Instead of doing their job as peace keeper, they showed reverse actions. Their assignment was to
oust and exterminate Al-Shabab while also protecting the civilian of Somalia not inflicting

Tanaya 2
innocent victims by doing reprehensible and abusive actions. Me, myself has experienced one of
their deeds on the day that I lost mom.
It was 31 July 2015, just around 2 months ago when I came back from my school with
my friends. It was the last day of school on that week and hanging around with my best friends
felt really satisfying after an exhausting week of study. I made a promise a day before to my
mom that I will accompany her to uncles house on the next day. I and my friends were walking
on a crowded street heading to our house. We were joking around and chatting until I met mom.
She was drinking a cup of African tea on her favorite restaurant while waiting for me. I said
farewell to my friends and departed to meet my mom. She paid her bill and we continued our
journey to uncles house. Passing by a patrolling AMISOM soldier is a common thing for us, just
like seeing a dog protecting its jurisdiction area; they always stay sharp and alert. If they see an
Al-Shabab potential, they will chase that person down like a dog running after a cat. But I saw
something unusual that day, there are some suspicious people following their convoy. Maybe
they did not sense it, but my sharp instinct said something bad will happen. All of the sudden, I
heard a loud bang coming from the back of my head. I turned my head around and saw
something awful happened. The convoy was bombed with a hand grenade by an anonymous
person. It turned into a riot, people were running all around and forthwith the AMISOM soldier,
in a paroxysm of rage pulled out their rifle. They began to pursue people and gunned them down.
Instinctively, I and my mom started to rush away from that place. People were tumultuously
searching for a place to hide from the AMISOM fighters. The soldier began to break into some
several houses. Loud shooting sounds were heard here and there, and at one point my mom fell
down. A bullet penetrated her heart and killed her immediately. I was shocked and kneeled
beside her. I felt like I was on the other dimension, until an officer forced me to prone.

Tanaya 3
The officer brought me to the convoy jeep which was located near a house that seemed
like having a wedding party. Inside the house, I saw 7 people were kneeled down in front of
some officers. They were shaking and crying. The people around them were silent and terrified.
One of the officers was shouting towards them and he looked like demanding something. I
couldnt hear him, but deep in my heart I knew that he was demanding for a confession from
those innocent men. Seriously, those men were having a wedding party; they cant be Al-Shabab.
The officer pissed out and started atrociously shoots the suspects without any valid reason.
Cognizant to what has happened; the guard who restrained me approached the officer.
Skirmishes between the soldiers arise and I utilized that moment to flee from them.
Moms corpse was returned a day later. The government conveyed their condolences and
they said that she is a victim of stray bullets. They are lying, I was there and the soldiers were
just shooting at random people. I never told this story to anyone else because Im afraid that I
will be harassed or killed by AMISOM without any trials or clear reasons. So father, I beg you to
allow me to stay in your house and live with you. Im sick of this war and the situations here. Im
afraid of losing my life. I want to live a better life, so please reply this email as soon as possible.
Your beloved son,

Abuubakar Kaahin