Busuma, Burundi camp
Updated: Apr 29, 2026
• 24 files
Fataki Zawadi, a Congolese refugee living in the Busuma camp, poses for a portrait with his daughter Charlotte, who he was separated from during their displacement. 3rd March 2026, Busuma, Burundi.
Notes: I arrived in Burundi in December 2025. We stayed for two weeks at the Kansega transit camp, and now we’re in Busuma. I’m here with my seven children. When we left Kansega, everything happened very quickly. Due to the large number of refugees at the Kansega camp who needed to be urgently relocated to the Busuma camp by bus, I lost track of my daughter.” I don’t know how it happened. We arrived to Busuma on 19 December, and since that moment, I’ve been in the anguish not finding her again. But on 27 February, I finally found her with the support of the Red Cross. I’m very grateful and I was to thank you. My daughter is named Loria Charlotte, she’s 16 years old. Life is hard here. We struggle to find food. We have no shelter and it’s very cold. We don’t have good clothes and it’s difficult to fetch water. If I was offered to go back to the DRC now, I would go immediately. Here, there’s no school for the children. I know there a health center in the camp, but there’s no medicine. For instance, if you get malaria, you only get a tab of paracetamol. And my son here, he got diarrhea, but they couldn’t do anything for him.
Photographer: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham
Copyright: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham for the ICRC
Shooting Date: 03/03/2026
Location: Busuma, Burundi
Fataki Zawadi, a Congolese refugee living in the Busuma camp, poses for a portrait with his daughter Charlotte, who he was separated from during their displacement. 3rd March 2026, Busuma, Burundi.
Notes: I arrived in Burundi in December 2025. We stayed for two weeks at the Kansega transit camp, and now we’re in Busuma. I’m here with my seven children. When we left Kansega, everything happened very quickly. Due to the large number of refugees at the Kansega camp who needed to be urgently relocated to the Busuma camp by bus, I lost track of my daughter.” I don’t know how it happened. We arrived to Busuma on 19 December, and since that moment, I’ve been in the anguish not finding her again. But on 27 February, I finally found her with the support of the Red Cross. I’m very grateful and I was to thank you. My daughter is named Loria Charlotte, she’s 16 years old. Life is hard here. We struggle to find food. We have no shelter and it’s very cold. We don’t have good clothes and it’s difficult to fetch water. If I was offered to go back to the DRC now, I would go immediately. Here, there’s no school for the children. I know there a health center in the camp, but there’s no medicine. For instance, if you get malaria, you only get a tab of paracetamol. And my son here, he got diarrhea, but they couldn’t do anything for him.
