A Typical Day in the Life of a Displaced Person in Mali

By Muganzi M. Isharaza, Communications Officer, World Vision

It is 5am in a small town in central Mali. The sun, while not yet visible, has already started casting away the dark cold night. And in a tiny two-roomed house, hardly larger than twelve square meters, Miriam, age 32, awakes. She walks around the children who stir in their sleep, careful not to step on or wake them. Altogether, there are nine children squeezed in one room, while the second room acts as a pantry and “living room,” though there’s hardly any space for them to sit. With only one room to sleep in, they are still among the lucky ones: for many other internally displaced persons (IDPs), having all her children with her, in one tiny space, is actually a luxury.

“Some of the other families that fled Timbuktu had no choice but to leave their adult children there to take care of the land and property,” she says, “and now, every night they worry about whether or not their children are alive.”

Miriam fled Timbuktu with her children on January 9, but her husband, Yussuf, had insisted on staying there to take care of the family’s property; as of January 30, she had yet to hear from him and does not know whether he has survived. She’s heard of the successful recapture of Timbukutu by the Malian and French armies, but that does little to settle her mind. (Muganzi Isharaza/World Vision)

This worry has not stopped for the Touareg families like Miriam’s who fled into Central Mali from Timbuktu and other places in the North. Touaregs are light skinned Malians and have traditionally lived in the Northern part of the country. However, because the anti-Government militants in this region are often of a similar light complexion, many other Malians believe that all Touaregs support the armed opposition groups who imposed vicious laws on the fabled Northern Malian city before the French troops came.  Because of this, revenge attacks against Touaregs and even killings have been reported in several parts of the country.

Miriam prepares breakfast for her children, before waking them up at 6:30, prepares them for school and at 7, serves their breakfast and sends them off. She then sweeps the yard, tidies up the two rooms she now calls home and then heads to the market.