Matialy, 22 years old: “I attended a hairdressing school from where I graduated with a certificate. Now, I have a small hairdressing salon built of sticks and plastic sheets here in the refugee camp. I don’t earn much, and I am a single mother, which is why I need food rations to take care of my family.

I want to continue with my hairdressing career. It is what I like and what keeps me busy every day, and I can teach other girls. I train a lot of girls from the camp although I don’t receive money from their parents for the training. I feel happy helping these girls to learn and to have new opportunities.”

Matialy and her two daughters at her small hairdressing salon. (c) UNHCR/D.Diaz

Matialy, her two daughters, and one of her sisters. “It is difficult, but I am hopeful." (c) UNHCR/D.Diaz

Matialy is a single mother. She lived with her parents and four siblings in Divo, Ivory Coast. In early September 2010, during the electoral violence, her father, mother, and two older brothers did not return home and have been missing ever since. When the war intensified, Matialy fled with her two sisters and her daughter. They followed neighbours fleeing to Liberia.

In 2013, while on her way to get fruit and farm products in a neighbouring community, Matialy had a motorcycle accident and broke her leg. She is now disabled and needs clutches to walk. “It is difficult, but I am hopeful. I want to be able to walk again even though the doctors at the hospital informed me that there is no treatment available here. I hope for the future that I will have the opportunity to access treatment in another country,” she says.

Refugees. Ordinary people living through extraordinary times. Share their stories.