We Have Nowhere to Go

Ethiopian refugee Helana Wolde locked his home and watched on television as thousands of angry demonstrators marched through South Africa this week, calling for foreigners like him to leave.

His wife and their three South African-born children were terrified, he said in the shop in downtown Durban where he sells coffee and lentils.

But after leaving Ethiopia 21 years ago to escape political persecution, Wolde says going back is not an option.

“I have no place, no property, no family” in Ethiopia, he said, adding that his brothers there had been jailed. “We’re all extra-scared,” Wolde said.

He reopened his shop the morning after the protest. Unlike others, it wasn’t looted, and he was hoping for the best. For Wolde, the math is simple: “I make business here. I don’t know why they’re angry”.

Photos Credited to REUTERS