Refugee Fire Research Paper

Words: 630
Pages: 3

43 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced due to conflict. According to the United Nations Global Issues, children constitute roughly 41 percent of that. Refugees often experience crazy events and unsubstantial situations such as genocide, sexual abuse, death to their loved ones. This frequently prompted refugees like the ones in They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky to escape from their country. For instance, a study done in 2003 on Somali refugees in a Ugandan refugee settlement found that 73% of those surveyed reported witnessing dead or mutilated bodies, while 69% reported witnessing or experiencing a shelling or bomb attack. Effects of Refugee camps on children expose them to war and all of the world's terrors that a child should never undergo. …show more content…
Because of the mental heartbreak and stress that they have experienced, children are at a high risk of developing emotional problems. Health issues are very common among refugee children, and are most affected in the process of moving to refugee camps because of the separated anxiety from their parents or guardians and also the constant sight of death. “ I have many bad memories that I will never erase from my brain, but witnessing how the River Gilo gulped Sudanese underneath to their death will always prevail”(Deng,Deng,Ajak 137).In the novel, They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky, ten year old Benson Dang witnesses a genocide of his own people:

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bullets flew from the Ethiopian side to our side of the river. My heart pounded at the crying and shooting. Thousands of people flowed into the river and disappeared like water poured into the sand of the Sahara. So many bodies filled the river people were walking across them without touching a single drop of water”.(Deng,Deng,Ajak