To protect their only source of livelihood, some Saudi refugees forced to leave their homes last November because of clashes between the Saudi military and infiltrators from Yemen have given up living in the Ahad Al-Masareha refugee camp, 200 km from the Saudi-Yemeni border, preferring instead to live in shacks, where they say they can take care of their livestock. “Our sheep are our wealth”, said Yahya Abdo, 18, a refugee from Umm Al-Sheeh village, about 90 km from the border. Abdo, along with his friends, live in one of over 20 shacks that line the west side of the camp. They built their humble abode from pieces of wood, colorful cloth and blankets. “We left our families in the camp because we consider it to be our responsibility to protect our families' wealth,” said Abdo. Old tires placed inside the shack remind the ‘sheep guards' of the “lovely days when we used to enjoy performing driving stunts, known as drifting, in our village,” he said. These refugees fled from their village in the face of increased military activity along the border area at the end of last year. “Once the fighting ended, I visited my home in Umm Al-Sheeh village, which is in a border zone from which all people were evacuated during the conflict. To my horror, I found that my house was totally damaged and everything was upside-down,” said Faisal Mohammed, another refugee who lives in a shack so that he can protect his sheep. Although there are mobile schools that are functioning under the Saudi Ministry of Education in the Ahad Al-Masareha region, refugees like Abdo have decided to delay their education until they can return to their village. “I only care about my current economic and living situation, which are the two top priorities for my family and myself,” said Yahya Ali, who decided not to continue his second year in high school at a mobile school at the camp “because I am not ready – mentally and psychologically – for it”. “We live in a safe environment, receive meals three times a day provided by the Saudi government and get medical care,” he said. Seated in the shack, five-year-old Ali caught Saudi Gazette's attention as he appeared to be guarding a sheep from a distance. When asked how he spends his days, the boy could not disguise his longing for his favorite electronic game – PlayStation. “Because we were ordered to immediately leave our village, we were able to take with us only some blankets and clothes,” he said. In the absence of anything else, Ali now likes to sing and whistle to pass the time of day. “I like to sing our traditional songs which tell us that ‘patience is the key to any problems'.” When Saudi Gazette offered Ali a new gaming device, the boy refused to accept it citing his tribe's local tradition which does not permit one to accept gifts from an unrelated person.
