SOMALI REFUGEES IN TRANSIT TO THE U.S FOR RESETTLEMENT, 2003-05-20 (photo)

A Somali Bantu refugees girl waves farewell to her friends and relatives in Nairobi May 20, 2003 from a bus taking her to the airport in transit to the United States for resettlement. Fresh from a crash course in modern living like turning on a water tap, black African Somalis fleeing war and prejudice leave this week for new lives in the United States, many swearing they will never go back to Africa. One of Africa's longest suffering peoples, the minority tribe of descendants of slaves from Mozambique and other parts of southern Africa has tended to be ostracised by Somalis, who are a fairer-skinned, Cushitic people, because of different physical, cultural and linguistic characteristics. Washington agreed in February to take the whole tribe of 11,800, who have been living in camps in northeastern Kenya for most of the past decade because of the violence in Somalia. FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-LIFE-SOMALIA-EMIGRANTS REUTERS/Patrick Olum PO/WS