Transcript

 

Slate:

Since the mid-1990s a brutal war has raged in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes.

 

Slate:

Minova,

Democratic Republic of Congo

 

 

Narration

Minova is just one of dozens of makeshift centers where civilians try to shelter from the war. A recent surge in violence has forced thousands of families to flee from the countryside to this lakeside market town. The camp they’re living in is congested and chaotic. Cholera and malnutrition are common. With nothing to eat, the displaced people whose homes are not far away try to return to cultivate their fields each day. But with fighting in the hills around town, they’re vulnerable. They only move in groups. Bachibola Muvunga fled to Minova eight months ago from her farm just an hour’s walk away when rebels paid her brother a visit.

 

Soundbite Bachibola Muvunga (in Kiswahili language)

He was in his house eating when six rebels came to his house and asked him to step out. They told him not to worry, they said they wanted to ask him a few questions. My brother told them not harm him, he left his food and when outside the house. Once he was outside they shot him in the head. That is how my brother died. Because of that we ran away to Minova. There is no one there and there. Also on this other side there is no one. All of us moved to Minova. After my brother’s death and the frequent rapes, we had to run away.

 

Narration

Bachibola tries to go to farm her fields everyday but the journey is risky.

 

Soundbite Bachibola Muvunga (in Kiswahili language)

That is my house down there. I can’t go there because it is very dangerous. I am sad I cannot live in my own house. But we are afraid to go back, because the rebels are killing our people.

 

Soundbite Cecile Nyanzira (in Kiswahili language)

Oh God!... Oh God! I’m dying!... I’m dying!

 

Narration

Cecile Nyanzira was shot while walking to her field hoping to harvest her crops. She was caught in the crossfire between the Congolese army and rebels. Her husband carried her to Minova’s only hospital.

The hospital is understaffed and has only the most basic medicines and equipment. With only 30 beds, it struggles to serve more than 150 thousand people.

 

Soundbite Dr. Tarsis (in French)

We are so close to the war zone these kinds of cases arrive here fairly often. For example this lady has taken so much time to get here from where she was shot, her wound is already infected. Obviously this is going to affect things. I just wish our hospital could be better equipped with an ambulance, and the right kind of equipment to be able to look after cases like this.

 

Narration

Unable to treat Cecile’s leg, Dr Tarsis has appealed for help to transfer her to a better equipped hospital.

This camp was set up spontaneously and food distribution is irregular. The biggest worry for the displaced is where the next meal will come from. 600 children who live in the camp are vulnerable.

Shamard Shamalirwa works for the UN in Minova. Today he’s called a meeting with some community members to find out the challenges that the displaced are facing.

 

Soundbite Shamard Shamalirwa (in Kiswahili language)

Is there anyone who wants to speak?

 

Soundbite Claude, a Community Member (in Kiswahili language)

I have been displaced from Ngungu. During the war in our area, the rebels came and we have to run away. I ran away with my wife and three children. On our way, we were kidnapped by the rebels. Ever since then, I don’t know where my wife and children are. After a while, I escaped and came to Minova.

 

Soundbite Shamalirwa (in Kiswahili language)

Is there anybody else who want to speak?

 

Asumane Yahaya (in Kiswahili language)

Since we arrived here, we are very hungry. Our women have to go to the fields to look for work. There are in the fields who strangle them. These men rape our women as well. A woman was hanged in the hills recently. We felt terrible about the incident.

 

Narration

They’ve been eight hangings in Minova between April and May this year. Victims are lured into the fields with the promise of work and then set upon by gangs who sell the ropes for use in black magic. Magdaline Nyabagurizira survived one of these attacks. She was brought to the hospital by her husband.

 

Soundbite Ngirira Nerushoke (in Kiswahili language)

My wife had gone to the farm. Someone had to find a job. When she got there, two men tried to hang her with a rope. I thought she was dead. I looked for her for two days in vain. I really thought she was dead. Some goat herders showed us where she was. Our children are suffering. There is no one looking after them. I am here at the hospital, so I have no means of providing for them. My wife is very sick, I am sad. War broke out where we lived. We decided to run away and save our lives. We did not know we would have the same problems with security here.

 

Narration

Violence against women has been a hallmark of the war in Congo.

 

Soundbite Codance Mukashema (in Kiswahili language)

The rebels came on Thursday and destroyed the kiosk. They stole all the goats. Then they came and grabbed me. I struggled and I ripped the rebel’s nose, then another rebel came from behind and hit me with the butt of his gun. They all hit me several times and I became weak. After that, they tied up my hands and legs. Then they raped me. Five of them. After I was raped, my husband ran away. To this day, I do not know where he is. I am taking care of our children on my own. Life belongs to God. If I decide to die… I would rather die. Where will a good life come from? Will it come from my husband who has run away? Will it come from my children who are suffering? Where will the good life come from?

 

Soundbite Counselor (in Kiswahili)

I told her we must go to the doctor. She said she won’t go if the doctor is a man. She thinks all men are soldiers.

 

Narration

This young woman has just been gang raped by armed men. A counsellor has brought her to Shamard’s office for help.

 

Soundbite Shamard Shamalirwa (in French)

 I get some terrible cases. I have to get involved as I don’t have many colleagues here. We have a woman who has been raped only a day ago, yesterday, and I have three or four cases like that. I don’t know what to do. I am the only OCHA person here. I can’t leave because the people here who are suffering and very vulnerable they’d have no-one to plead their cause. It’s my duty to be here. I work to bring other partners here, I send reports, I outline our needs, so they can provide the right help. This is the situation here, try to come and help.

 

Narration

NGO workers try their best to help the displaced, but Minova is just one of hundreds of communities across eastern Congo needing help and with renewed fighting in the area the aid agencies are desperately over-stretched. In January, two aid workers were attacked and held hostage for two months before being released. As in other areas of Congo, the security situation hinders the work of aid agencies.

Meanwhile Shamard has sent out another request for an urgent hospital transfer for Cecile. Her leg is getting worse.

 

Soundbite Bavuna Sinavidikya (in Kiswahili language)

I do not think my wife will get proper treatment here. Since she got here, she has not received adequate medication. Her bone is completely broken. If she remains here I fear for her life, and I am powerless to do anything.

 

Narration

Dr Tarsis is running out of ideas.

 

Soundbite Dr Tarsis (in French)

I don’t know! We can’t look after her. We don’t have the right equipment. She must be taken somewhere she can be looked after properly. That’s the problem. Given the state of her wound now, it must happen very soon. She has one day to get there, to get the right care. If not, the worst might happen. If not, she will die here.

 

Narration

Bahati Amisi is 17 years old. When he was 15, rebels came and kidnapped him from school and he spent a year as a child soldier. He escaped and was reunited with his family. But 8 months ago they fled to Minova, running from the same army he had fought for. Every day he walks with his brother to the fields around Minova looking for work from local farmers. If they’re lucky to get work, they’ll earn 60 cents, barely enough to buy food for a day.

 

Soundbite Bahati Amisi speaking to a Farmer (in Kiswahili language)

Bahati: We are looking for work.

Farmer: There is no work here. You should go try somewhere else

Bahati: Where else can we find work?

Farmer: Please go ask someone else.

Bahati: Okay

 

Soundbite Bahati Amisi (in Kiswahili language)

We have been here for eight months. We ran away from the war. Life here is very difficult, we struggle to get food. Most days we sleep hungry, because it is hard to get work here. We are suffering because today we did not get work, that means we will sleep hungry today. Yesterday we also slept hungry. You are lucky to get work here.

 

Narration

There’s been a fire in the camp and 15 huts have been destroyed. Now the few things they’ve managed to carry from home are lost as well.

 

Soundbite Claude Bitwaiki (in Kiswahili language)

We were cooking supper when the fire broke out. Our tents are too close together so the fire spread. Everything burnt, there was nothing we could save, they looted our things. All these things got burnt. This pot is the only thing that did not get burnt.

 

Soundbite Dr. Tarsis (in French)

I’ve come to see you! I have a problem with the displaced person.

 

Narration

Meanwhile Dr. Tarsis has come to see Shamard. The hospital transfer for Cecile still hasn’t arrived. It’s now nearly a week since she was shot and she’s running out of time. They must put out a new call for help.

 

Soundbite Dr. Tarsis speaking to Shamard (in French)

Dr. Tarsis: Who’s going to come for these poor people?

Shamard: Let me call my office in Goma, see if they have a solution. We have an emergency. Doctor Tarsis wants to talk to you.

Dr. Tarsis: I am worried. A displaced person has been shot in the leg. It’s an open fracture. She was wounded a long time ago so we’re very worried about septicaemia. It’s really urgent that we get her evacuated. Monday’s too far away.

 

Narration

A week after being lynched, Magdaline has been discharged from the hospital and is returning home to the camp.

 

Soundbite Ngirira Nerushoke (in Kiswahili language):

I am an IDP. We ran here for our safety but our safety has not improved. We still have no safety. My wife has been hanged and so on…

I can’t send my son to look for food. Now it is up to me to look for food and I am afraid. My wife is sick and we have no food we will suffer a lot. I don’t feel happy, I feel bitter. She was fine, she was walking. Look at her now. There is no safety, I feel bitter. Normally I would be crying but I have to hold my tears back. I am bitter.

 

Narration

Help has come at last. A car has arrived to take Cecile to a hospital two hours away where they’ll be able to treat her.

 

Slate:

Cecile made it to hospital where Doctors managed to save her leg. She is now walking on crutches.

 

Slate:

Just weeks after this film was made rebel troops tried to occupy Minova.

They failed to capture the town but some of the displaced people who helped to make this film, were forced to flee yet again.

 

 

ENDS.