The refugee situation in Congo

2008-10-16–2008-10-28

Over one million people are fleeing the fighting between the army and the rebels in eastern DR Congo. Some of them get shot, many of them end up in crowded refugee camps where the UN has cut food rations in half. Still, it is difficult to find people willing to discuss politics here. They know that the winner of today can be the loser of tomorrow. It is quite difficult to keep a conversation going too, when every minute is a struggle. Congos refugees are not following African soap operas, planning their future wedding or dreaming of becoming a pop star. They only think about food. All the time. 25 year-old Shukuru Kahindo sits in her banana leaf hut in Mugunga camp outside Goma, breastfeeding her two twin sons. Nine months pregnant, she fled her village because of heavy fighting. All she wants now is to go home. Life as a refugee is a life of suffering. Look at me: I just became a mother, but I´m a mother without food, a mother without pots and a mother without a stove. That´s no life. Text by: Anna Roxvall

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