Saturday, December 20, 2008

A Ugandan mother and daughter talk about their joy at being reunited after 26 years

Five-year-old Florence Kampi was kidnapped at her father's funeral by a family who used her as a slave. She was taken to Yemen where she was eventually rescued by a Tanzanian oil worker who, after he paid the family money, was allowed to marry her. "I feel so happy," she said about the reunion. Her mother said, "I burst out crying... but they were tears of joy." Language is now a barrier for the pair as Florence, now called Sara Aisha Abdulhakim, speaks Swahili and Arabic. Her mother, Sesiriya Biryeri, speaks Lesoga, the local language in the eastern Ugandan district of Iganga. "We have a few people here helping with translations from Swahili to Lesoga and vice versa; it is a nice confusion," Ms Abdulhakim, who arrived in Uganda with her four sons, said.

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