The 16-year-old girl agreed to be identified as Munezero for the interview.

"It was in 2005, I was 14 and went with my father to work in the fields," says Munezero. An armed group operating in the area came and took her that day, sending her father home.

"I cannot forget the day they took me. I thought I was going to be killed as that was a frequent practice. But they told me they needed people to join and that I would become a fighter like them." She explains the group came many times to local villages to take people. Those who tried to flee were shot.

"We were assigned to guard duty, either at night or during the day, and then taken back to the camp afterwards. I was always afraid, I saw friends die and I was always looking for a way to escape."

When the militia group arrived at a centre for the integration of armed groups into the regular army, Munezero first learned of the BVES, a Bukavu organization which runs a centre for former child soldiers.

"He made me his woman"

"But I had problems with my commander who didn't want me to leave because he had made me his woman. However, when he learned I was pregnant he repudiated me," explains Munezero.

Since her capture by the armed group, Munezero has had contact with her parents only once, when the group was near her home. "That is my big concern," she says, "seeing my parents."

A social worker from the BVES centre has visited her family and even brought back a picture of them. The social worker told her the family now knows she has a child and will accept them both.

But Munezero is still concerned. "In this economic situation, I am worried whether my poor family will be able to support me and my child who doesn't even have a father. In my community it is difficult for a woman with a child to find a husband."

"If the BVES centre can help me in my reintegration, I can help my child. If God is willing, I hope someday to find a husband who will accept me and my child."