Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
Honorene is ten years old. Sitting on the floor of a small shelter for abused women in the northeastern town of Goma, she explains how she has ended up here.
"I was visiting my aunt when fighting broke out. Soldiers broke into her house, waving their guns," she says. "I ran outside but a soldier found me. And then he raped me and then another one came and did the same. After they left I couldn't find my aunt..."
"I heard about this place in Goma where a woman would help me, so I went to the port and begged a place on a boat to come and find her. The woman at the center took me for treatment but I wasn't tested for HIV because the test was too expensive - we needed to buy food for other people living in this house."
The house Honorene is referring to is a shelter run by ActionAid partner Maode (Mothers' Organisation for Development), a simple place that consists of five small wooden huts, each housing up to 12 women and their children. Shelter is also provided for 132 orphans. "I didn't think things would ever get much better. I thought the war would always find me," Honorene says quietly. "But I feel safer now that I am in this house."
Left: Maria Lives in the shelter run by MAODE.
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
Kanyele Mirevu lives in an IDP settlement at Lac Vert, near Goma, which Action Aid supports."I have three children - 2 girls and a boy and am about to have another. My husband is in Goma with his brother who is sick. We all came from Butembo because people were killing each other so we decided to run away and we went to live in Goma for four years but then the Volcano came and we lost our house so we went to live in a camp but then it was dismantled and we were all told to leave because the land belonged to someone and we were forced to come here to Lac Vert. But this land doesn't belong to use either - there are 71 families living here with us."
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
Angela Luanda with her grandchild lives in a camp for displaced people outside of Goma. The camp is soon to be supported by Action Aid."My husband died in the war in Massisi 24 years since - in the first war I remember between Rwanda and Congo - for me my life has been about war and trying to hide from it. When he was killed I ran from Massissi into the forest with my six children - The three boys and three girls they were all killed while we were running and trying to hide. Now I live here with my other three daughters, I have had them since by different men - this child - he is the grandchild of one of these girls who goes with different men in the town and the soldiers when they make her. Two families in total live in this room - me and my daughters and grandchildren and another family - it is nothing really - only plastic sheeting and wood and there is no door to protect us from anything outside."
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
A child who lives in a settlement for Internally Displaced People outside of Goma. Action Aid is supporting a hundred families who are living her with non food items, including plastic sheeting, pots and pans and tools for cultivation.
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
A child who lives in a settlement for Internally Displaced People outside of Goma. Action Aid is supporting a hundred families who are living her with non food items, including plastic sheeting, pots and pans and tools for cultivation.
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
Massamba Sanata lives in a camp for displaced people assisted by Action Aid."I live here with my children and grandchildren. In this tent - there are other families that live here too but we have no men - they have all been killed in the war. We lived in Busindo in Massissi and walked here through the forest. We arrived last year in June - some women came earlier but I came with some of the smaller children later. We were running from the war....We don't know why we came here, we wanted to protect the children and be safe and didn't know what else to do so we ran until there was no more fighting around us and found this place to live and some plastic sheeting."
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
A woman in an adult education workshop being run by Action Aid in Goma.
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
A man in an adult education workshop being run by Action Aid in Goma.
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Action Aid, Democratic Republic of Congo
July 2004
Kalemera Kurukiza lives in Janga Village, near Goma and is 20 years old "When the volcano went off we had to move from our old place- it was ruined by the volcano. So I came to Janga I go to school through the Reflect programme run by Action Aid, I never went to school before, and it now means that I can work and have a job.”
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