Mwavita’s Story, Tanzania
Photo by UNHCR/Tom Winston Monboe/2014
46 year-old Ms. Mwavita Salumu is a mother of 7 children. She fled from the town of Kubumbi in Fizi Territory, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC in July 1999 at the age of 31 ) after the death of her husband and 3 of her children during the war. Since then, she has been residing in Nyarugusu Camp in Northwestern Tanzania, a camp currently hosting about 70,000 refugees and asylum seekers mainly from South Kivu in Eastern DRC.
Mwavita’s husband was a border Accountant in the Government of Eastern DRC. Leaving behind her house, the bodies of her husband and children remain the most unforgettable experiences of Mwavita. “I would love to return to Congo one day to reclaim my house and find the bodies of my children and their father when the war is over, but some of my husband’s killers are still free and could harm me and the other children. I carry the memory with me every day”, explains Mwavita
Mwavita’s coping mechanisms are similar to most single women in the camp where around 85 percent of the population is women and children. Survival is largely dependent on humanitarian aid. Refugees are not allowed to travel freely out of the camp without a permit. However, to earn extra money to support their families Mwavita like many other women risk fines for leaving the camp without permission.
But Mwavita feels she has little choice. “When you have 7 children like me without a husband, you are forced to go out of the camp to do extra work for nearby host community farmers.” Mwavita also sells vegetables, maize and sweet potatoes which she grows in the camp as an extra source of income.
Text by UNHCR/Tom Winston Monboe/2014
