Natsinet Tukabo is a 25-year-old Eritrean Kunama woman from Gashbarka/Shamboko. The Eritrean government suspected that her father had connections with anti-government forces. He was put in prison. Natsinet was forced to drop out of school in the 7th grade, at the age of 17. To support her family, she started working as a traditional gold miner near Shambuko. She explains,
“I always cursed my fate that I would not continue school and gave-up the life I dreamed starting from childhood, just to support my family.”
Natsinet lived six years filled with despair and anger because of her circumstances. The Eritrean government requested that her family contribute one person for the military. She was the only eligible person. Her only option was to flee from her country. In September 2014, with her husband (Dawit) whom she had met in the mining work and her five-month-old baby (Solyana) on her back, she crossed the border into Ethiopia. They had traveled on foot to the Badme border. From there the family was taken to Endabaguna Reception Center by Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affaire (ARRA) in Ethiopia. Later they joined her uncle who was already living in Shimelba Refugee Camp.