Thanks for your mail.How life and every thing with you,I hope fine and okay,Thanks be to God.
My name is Deborah Gborie from Sierra Leone in West Africa ,I am 26 yrs and 5.3ft tall, fair in complexion,and presently i am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar following the military coup that brought the Armed Forces Revolutionary council (AFRC) to power back in 1997.
My uncle Mr.Tamba Gborie was accused of being one of the brains behind the coup.The coup was however short lived following the intervention of the west Africa Peace Keeping Force called ECOMOG;and the restoration of the ousted government.
My uncle and 23 others were arrested and excuted by the current government.This left our family very insecure and totally unsafe;therefore we fled our for a hiding place around the outskirt of freetown.
From our hiding place,i constantly received death threats from the local militia group called KAMAJORS that they will surely eliminate the Gborie family to which i belong.
At this that point,i left for Kono town far East of the country seeking a safe haven.Unfortunately,i landed in the hands of a sub-group of the Kamajors,Who wasted no time in torturing me and rapping me in the presence of my nine year old brother.After the rape act,i was forcefully circumised and left to bleed profusely.They were about to kill us finally when the peace keeping forces invaded the area and rescused us.
Whilst we were in the hands of our captives,pictures of all they were doing to us were taken including the rape act and the circucision!These photograhs were scattered all over the township and in every community as a threat for those will later resist their requests.
As a result we became a laughing stock to the eyes oif every member of the townships and the communities.We were even rejected by our ethnic group and they referred to us as outcast and a course will befall the clan if we are allowed to reintegrate.This left left us completely distressed,tramatised and with no sense of belonging.
Furthermore,the traditional leaders at that time even declared that i must undergo re-circumcision if seen,because according to them;i was not properly circucised by the Kamajors and that if i fail to surrender ourself the family will be declared collaborators with the rebels of the RUF and therefore be eliminated.
Notwithstanding the above,we finally made up our minds to flee the country via guinea and then to the
Gambia.In the Gambia,we stayed with a friend of our late uncle (himself a soldier in the Gambian army) in the person of Mr.Ndour Cham for the past years.Earlier this year,Our host Mr.Cham was accused and then arrested for a coup plot designed to overthrow the democratic regime of president Yayah A.J.J Jammeh.
I had to flee the gambia with my little brother to senegal because Mr.Cham's home was vandalised and every body went in disarray.
Presently we are in Dakar without any form of protection as refugees.We don't speak any of the languages and this make the whole thing very impossible.Returning to sierra leaone is out of the issue for now due to all analysis above and even if i insist returning home;it will be a risk of my life and that of my little brother.
I will like to know more about you.Your likes and dislikes,your hobbies and what you are doing presently.I will tell you more about myself in my next mail.Attached here is my photo.
Hoping to hear from you soonest.
Best regard
Deborah
