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Democratic Republic of the Congo: families torn apart by the conflict never lose hope
18-06-2009 Photo gallery
As part of its mandate, the ICRC works to reunite family members separated by conflict. In North Kivu, as in most war-torn areas, this often involves registering unaccompanied children and advising distraught parents.
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Three-year-old Shadu was found on a road near Rutshuru. In Goma, he was entrusted to a grandmother, already looking after three of her grandchildren, who offered to care for him until his mother could be found.
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A woman saw Shadu’s photo on the noticeboards in the town of Rubare and claimed he was her son. The teams from the ICRC and the Red Cross Society of the DRC set out to verify the information she had provided.
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Neighbours confirmed that the woman was indeed looking for her son. But Shadu didn’t recognize her, either from photos or in person. She then admitted that her son was six years old, not three. Shadu is still living with his host family.
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In Rubare, a volunteer from the Red Cross Society of the DRC explains to the mother what she needs to do to start looking for her son. The first step is to file a tracing request with the ICRC. It is always a challenge to find family members who have been separated when information is limited.
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Abraham Kishuhe-Nzuki is an ICRC employee in Goma. He often accompanies the teams that reunite unaccompanied children with their families. On this occasion, however, the roles have been reversed. He and his wife Jacqueline have just been reunited with their granddaughter Gloria, just one and a half years old. However, there were no screams of joy: on finding Gloria, they also learned that her mother, their daughter, was dead, having fled the violence a few months earlier.
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With Gloria’s return, there are now 18 of them living under the same roof. "We tend to think that losing children or becoming separated from them only happens to other people, but the conflict spares no one. Even those of us who work for the ICRC are not immune."
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Pastor Patrick Senzoga Bihuri opened his doors to orphans and children separated from their families in October 2008, when violence erupted again in North Kivu. The ICRC tries to trace the children's families. In the meantime, the organization has built dormitories, a canteen and latrines, to try to improve their quality of life.
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“A lot of the children have already gone home," says the pastor. “Last autumn, there were almost 190. With the ICRC's help, we managed to trace most of the families. They are 92 left, 18 of whom are probably orphans. But for them, as for all the others, we will continue searching.”
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Thirteen-year-old Ushindi Riziki is one of the children staying at the centre run by Pastor Patrick Senzoga Bihuri in Goma. “I came from Kiwanja with my sisters. We left on our own because our mother was in the fields and our father wasn’t there. On the way, we met other children who said that the pastor was taking in children who were alone. So we came here. I don't know whether I will find my parents again – one day, perhaps."
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When the conflict broke out, seventeen-year-old Shukuru Ndagije followed the soldiers to the north. He ended up in the town of Béni, which was where he heard about the family reunification programme. When he returned home, his mother had gone to Uganda to look for him. His aunt, Gaudencia Nzamfurundi, was there to meet him: “I felt as overjoyed as when my children were born.” As for Shukuru, he had only one thing in mind - "going back to school."
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