Debi's Amazing Journeys Continue: Gihembe Refugee camp

Today we visited the Ghembe refugee camp with over 12000 Congolese refugees.The camp was established in 1997 and many have lived here for 21 years. The streets are dirt, the dust is everywhre. Peoples faces are stained yellow from the dust that is constantly kicked up. Most people wear flip flops The women are wearing traditional colorful dresses and the children are everywhere and seems to be attracted
like bees to honey to visitors. They are dressed in t shitrs from USA and other places with logos like NY and Nike- so I assumed these were donated but they are not because that would make them feel/like beggars. They are all smiling, wanting to touch us, high five us , fist bump, try their english and just enjoy the oddity of us.

341 people were restelled to Iowa, Missouri fro this camp.
We met with teachers- who are mostly women- refugees themselves. We also heard from the representative from ADRAS who have invested a lot in the running of the camp. The reason why the refugees are from Congo is complicated but to summarize- once the genocide was over 1996 the perpertrators fled to Uganda, and Congo. In Congo they began another genocidal onslaught Congolese and Tutsi- they all speak the same language. People began to flee the Congo and go to Rwanda.

The people subsist on the equivilent of $7 USD per month. Certainly not much. They live in huts similar to the houses we visited on Mind Leap visit. But the kids were out playing basketball and soccer. Smilig, laughing, covered in dirt from head to toe. When Johnson as me today what I thought about it and I said the kids were very dusty and dirty he said `I was one of them` my heart just broke. Although not in a refugee camp he was in an orphanage.
The kids are given porridge in the mornings before school and for many this is their only meal.

There are 8 committees covering culture, education, gender issues, sports, security, youth, and people with dsabilities. We met with two people who are President of the committees and one of the heads who was the head of a clan.When discussing the political issue he said that Bad leaders can lead to a loss of humanity.

A good leader can take someone out of a ditch , pick them up and make them part of humanity

Much funding comes from UN World Vision and many other charities but when we were invitted into two homes they looked like the hovel we were in before. Yet the women who invited us in were warm, smiling and excited to show us where they live with their children. Each house had a new born baby. I asked about birth control and ws told they distribute condoms but often they and disposable gloves are being used to make a soccer ball.

In Rwanda there are 6 camps one is for Burundi refugees and the other 5 for Congolese.
In this camp 60% are women. But I saw kids everywhere. It felt suffocating at times.

We heard severeal stories today one was Geoffry- Rep fromADRAS who told us how his grandparents left Rwanda after the first genocide in 1959 they had 12 kids one was Geoffrey father. His father met and maried his mother who was not accepted by the family because she was Hutu. It was a long story but his father was forced to give him up to his maternal grandmother who brought him up to beleive he was her son. There is a long story of when he found out the truth. His parents had reunited and had another chld- his sister whom he would not meet until she was 14. His mother gave her side of the story years later and he made an effort to listen. His father said Geoffrey life may have been different but it was the situation

At dinner we heard from another survivor Vannie, with a horrific tale of rape, torture, and her moher being beaten so severely she still has scars on her head and arms. Her brother hid in the ceiling and she was left for dead. Her father was killed and one of her brothers. SHe survived and has now adopted a child. SHe says how the child s tribe is unknown- its not a distinction to be made anymore.

The stories are horrific but are stories of the human desire to live and find joy . I have witnessed this in all the stories. I am still waiting to hear all of Johnson story since I only got bits and pieces, I do kow he escaped with his aunt who was 14 he was 9. He lost his entre family

Photos to follow

refugee teachers