By Francis Hweshe

With the Muslim community preparing to celebrate Eid after a month of fasting, Muslim refugees living on a city safety site say they don't have much to look forward to.

For the second consecutive Eid, the refugees, most of whom are from Somalia, will spend it in the Blue Waters Camp near Strandfontein.

And they said they would spend the usually celebratory day worrying about their situation at the site, and what the future holds for them.

Their biggest fear was returning to local communities after last year's xenophobic attacks that displaced about 20 000 foreign nationals across the Cape Peninsula.

Many said they would prefer to return to their war-torn homeland, than to stay in the camp or to be reintegrated here.

Among other things, camp life was marked by cold, disease, hunger and misery.

But returning to the townships was not an option, they said.

A 12-year-old girl, who lives at Blue Waters with her parents and sibling, said: "We have no nice clothes or good food for Eid."

"It's cold in the camp, we have no money. My dad does not work. I don't like it here. It's not safe."

The girl, who interprets for her mother and hopes to become a doctor one day, said getting food for daily survival was hard, and that life in the camp was very boring.

A 27-year-old man said: "We have been here for a long time. Nothing has changed except that things are getting worse.

"There is nothing to enjoy about Eid."

One of the community leaders said last year they had at least received donations.

• This article was originally published on page 4 of The Cape Argus on September 18, 2009

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