Taken by : IOM
Ten years ago, Aziza Mohammed, a young Ethiopian woman from the Hararghe region, left her home in search of a better future. Her goal was to support her family and change the course of their lives, and the journey to Saudi Arabia seemed like an opportunity fraught with risks. Aziza recalls:
“I left Ethiopia ten years ago, I was planning to go to Saudi Arabia… even though I was afraid of the journey.”
She began her journey from Hararghe toward Jijiga, accompanied by seven childhood friends, without her family’s knowledge. The first leg of her journey covered approximately 120 km, passing through Tog Wachale, each step filled with hope and fear. After 300 km, Aziza arrived in Hargeisa, Somaliland, where the difficulties of the journey became apparent. One by one, her seven companions went their separate ways, leaving Aziza to continue alone.
After nearly 900 km, she reached Bosaso in northern Somalia, where she faced the difficult decision to cross the sea alone to Yemen, arriving completely by herself:
“When I got off the boat, I was all alone.”
Aziza’s journey continued for a total of approximately 1,600 km to reach Sana’a. There, she began a new life full of challenges. She worked with a Yemeni woman, then got married and gave birth to her first child. But after her husband traveled to Saudi Arabia for work, he was imprisoned and later died, leaving Aziza to care for her child alone. She recalls:
“I found myself alone with a child completely dependent on me.”
Despite being pregnant again, Aziza continued working, using her husband’s savings to cover the family’s needs. She worked until the very end of her pregnancy and returned to work less than a month after giving birth, as every day without income meant her children might go without food:
“My children need education, and I didn’t want them to be illiterate… Everything had also become very expensive, and hard work alone wasn’t enough.”
As the economic and living conditions in Sana’a worsened, Aziza realized she could neither stay nor return on her own. She then learned about the right to voluntary return through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and registered for support to return to Ethiopia with her children, holding on to hope for a more stable life.
After a journey spanning ten years and over 3,300 km, Aziza arrived at the IOM Transit Centre in Addis Ababa. There, she received essential support for herself and her children, including temporary shelter, food, health and psychosocial care, and assistance in obtaining a national ID, allowing her to reclaim her dignity and begin rebuilding her life. She says:
“It wasn’t just help, it was dignity.”
Aziza’s story highlights the unique risks and pressures faced by migrant women, from dangers along the migration route to exploitation in host communities, while also demonstrating the importance of voluntary return mechanisms provided by the IOM, which enable women to return to their home countries safely and with dignity.
Today, Aziza is preparing to return to her hometown in Ethiopia with her children, after ten years of challenges, illustrating the importance of protecting migrant women’s rights and supporting them in rebuilding their lives.
Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM) – “Every Kilometre Echoes a Heartbeat”
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