Hi, I’m 15F. Before I start, English isn’t my first language so there might be some mistakes. Also this might be long.
I’ve never lived with my dad. He used to visit sometimes, but he was always very strict.
I was born and raised in Sweden, while my dad has always lived in Djibouti. In 2024, my older brother (born 2009) committed a crime by lying in court. My mom was very angry at first, but after a while she stopped talking about it since he was sentenced to 35 hours of community service.
Later, my parents had a big fight because my dad had been cheating. He was actually married to another woman the entire time he was living in Djibouti. After the fight, my mom forgave him and they became closer, and he started visiting more often.
In December 2025, my mom told me and my brothers that we were going to Djibouti for 2 weeks because my grandfather was very sick and close to dying. Me and my older brother were suspicious because she packed around 10 suitcases for just 2 weeks, but we felt bad and trusted her anyway.
We went to Djibouti. After one week, my brothers told me we were actually staying for 2 years. I didn’t believe them until I found out my dad had built a whole house for us in the middle of the desert. That’s when I realized we were being forced to stay.
When I cried, my dad laughed at me. I asked why we had to stay, and my mom said it was because of my brother’s crime—he needed strict parenting from my dad. She also said me and my younger brothers needed to learn about Islam, even though I had been kicked out of Quran classes in Sweden before for “being an embarrassment” and not knowing enough.
Since coming here, I’ve been really depressed. I barely have the motivation to leave my room. My dad hits me when I disagree with him and says I’m disrespectful. One time I left the room when he walked in, and he got so angry that he called me disrespectful and choked me against a wall.
He is extremely strict and makes me cry almost every day. My older brother ran away once because of the abuse, and we found him at 2am on a road. My dad barely cared. But when I refused to go to a family dinner, he tried to force me, and I ended up running away too.
My older brother found me about 20 minutes later behind an abandoned grocery store near our house. When we got back, my dad was furious and started describing how he was going to beat me. He slammed my face into a window. I ran to my mom, but she didn’t help. She just made excuses, saying my dad is the “leader” of the family and can do whatever he wants.
My dad has a pattern of being abusive. He has hit my older brother many times, and once it caused a severe nosebleed. Whenever he gets angry, he either blames you or becomes violent.
We want to leave, but we feel trapped. Our dad is abusive, and our mom, who is supposed to protect us, allows it and even says horrible things like wishing death on us during arguments. We don’t speak the language here, we have no friends, and we live 30 minutes away from the main city in the desert. Me and my older brother don’t even go to school—only my two younger brothers (14 and 10) do.
I want to go back to Sweden and live with my older sister. She’s 19 and lives alone there.