“Somebody who lived in an IDP camp … [is] suddenly back home, in dignity, self-reliant and thinking, ‘I want to reimagine what life means for me’ … Yes, I'm very proud.”
A former child refugee, Mohamed Yahya knows the life-long pain of yearning for a lost home. That’s why some of his most emotional experiences with the United Nations have involved helping displaced people return to their towns years after they fled a brutal conflict.
Until recently working with internally displaced communities in northern Nigeria, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Pakistan is a life-long champion of community-led development.
In this episode, Mohamed Yahya reflects on the challenge of rebuilding scattered communities, on his experiences of being a refugee twice, and on the lasting allure of home.
“There's always a sense of something missing. Because you're deprived of going back to where you were born.”