Last September, my friend and I were flying from Dar es Salaam to Zurich on Swissair with a stopover in Nairobi. There were literally 15 people on the first leg from Dar to Nairobi and we were pretty psyched because we could stretch out and sleep in peace. We were hoping not too many people would join us in Nairobi. That didn’t happen.

When people started to board the plane in Nairobi there was something strange going on. Although we were in Africa, the people getting on the plane didn’t look like normal air travelers. Literally there were 150 Somali refugees boarding a Swissair plane bound for Zurich. That struck me as very odd so I asked the flight attendant what was going on. He informed us that it was part of a UN program to take innocent Somalis out of the impending warzone of Mogadishu, which is the capital of wartorn and disputed Somalia.

Somalia is a rogue country that hasn’t had a real government in place in decades. Famously, the US had a brief military involvement or some might say blunder, made famous in the movie ‘Black Hawk Down’. They have until last year had a relative cease fire but factions have risen up again and they are still fighting against each other for control of the country and against their neighbors to the west, Ethiopia. The US has quietly been involved in the training and development of the Ethiopian military.

That aside, these refugees as they had become, were being moved to Switzerland which seemed strange. I have been unable to find out where they were moved to in Switzerland. I have also been unable to find out what happens to the Somalis once they arrive in Switzerland. I am not sure what percentage are granted asylum and allowed to stay. I am not sure how they work and/or live. I believe they are covered for health insurance by either the Swiss government or by some UN program.

Refugees are a very difficult topic to address for Africa and the UN. I have seen refugee camps and they are not pretty. It is a horrible way to live and they are basically forgotten by their parent countries and have little hope of attaining a life. However, for some they are a blessing because they are given food and reasonable healthcare. It is also very difficult to keep track of them and I wonder to this day a year later what has happened to these refugees that I shared a plane ride with. They were all extremely nice and very well behaved. I have an extreme affinity for the African people, especially the ones who are unable to help themselves. I just hope they are being treated fairly and given a chance to make a life in Europe.

If anyone has any information on these Somalis or refugees in Switzerland in general, please comment or email it to me.

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