EL LAHELAI

Thousands of Somalis have undertaken the hazardous illegal trip from their motherland to the Gulf States in search of better opportunities.

Urged by their parents in Mogadishu, five friends left the war-ravaged capital for Djibouti. Waiting for nightfall in El Lahelai village, northwestern Somaliland, Abdul Rahman talked about their journey and collective hope of finding peace and employment in Saudi Arabia.

"We left Mogadishu about 10 days ago, but I have lost track of the exact number of days we have been on the road. When we started out some of us had a little money that we had saved or that our parents had given us; some of us started with nothing.

"From Mogadishu we went to Beledweyne by bus. From there, we rode on a loaded lorry to Galkayo, and then crossed into Somaliland to Las Anod on the back of another lorry. There was no official at the border when we entered. From Las Anod we took another lorry to Burao and then to [the Somaliland capital of] Hargeisa.

"Until we reached Hargeisa, we had been sleeping on the roadside and on top of the lorries. There, the man who drove us from Burao let us stay at his home for the first night. On the second night we stayed with the driver of the four-wheel-drive now taking us to Djibouti.

"None of us have any documentation, and we are completely out of money. If we cannot get across the Djiboutian border legally we will attempt to sneak in.

"Once inside Djibouti we will contact relatives living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and get money forwarded to us to pay for a boat to take us from Djibouti city to Yemen.

"In Yemen we will hire someone to take us to the Saudi border where we will cross and then begin to look for jobs. Fatah and I know the route because we fled Mogadishu to Saudi Arabia in 2003, but were deported back to Somalia.

"During that first attempt we crossed into Yemen from Bossasso. It was a three-day crossing and just as we came within sight of land the boat flipped. We swam to shore, but 60 of the 150 aboard drowned.

"We are optimistic; crossing from Djibouti is less dangerous because the distance is shorter. But regardless, life in Mogadishu is so bad that it is worth risking another crossing. We have lost count of the number of friends who have been killed – complete families wiped out. We have not known a day of peace since we were born."