For many Burundians on the run from the violence in their country, this will be home until it is safe enough to go back: Mahama Camp, a sprawling hillside of tents put up on Rwanda's eastern border with Tanzania in April 2015 to house 20,000 refugees. There are already around 30,000 refugees living here.[1]
Conflict doesn't just tear families from their homes, but often from each other.
Fredric Ngango is one of thousands of parents far from home looking for his child. Before leaving Burundi, he sent his eldest son, who was very ill, to Gashora, a Rwandan refugee camp close to the capital Kigali, knowing he would get treatment there. But he did so with a heavy heart, not knowing when and how they would see each other again.
“I organised for my wife and children to come to Rwanda first, but my eldest son was left behind in Burundi because he was too sick to travel,” Ngango explains. “I stayed behind to take care of him for a while, but I had to join the rest of my family here, so I sent him to Gashora. While he was there, I approached the (International Committee of the) Red Cross in Mahama and asked to be reunited with him.”
When people cross borders, their phones often stop working. Not only have they left everything behind to get to safety; they also find themselves completely cut off from family and friends.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working in refugee camps around the world to help people far from home make contact with their relatives.
Ibrahim Dukuze runs the ICRC's tracing service in Rwanda, which registers refugees in Mahama camp to receive their own sim cards in collaboration with a local telecommunication company MTN. The ICRC also operates a mobile solar kiosk within this camp, where people can charge their phones for free.
“We put phones at their disposal,” says the ICRC's Ibrahim Dukuze, “and then with the airtime we buy from telecommunications companies, they can call their loved ones. In addition, we register unaccompanied children with the aim of reuniting them with their families, be it with family members who stayed in Burundi, or those who are in refugee camps.”
The ICRC staff help the children they've registered to make calls home or to other camps, to find out what happened to the rest of their family. In Rwanda, 1,200 unaccompanied minors have registered so far with the ICRC in the hope of finding relatives, 41 have since been reunited with their families, while some 400 are back in contact with their families thanks to the Red Cross phone call service.
It didn't take long for the ICRC to find Fredric's son – he was still in Gashora, and once he was better, 18-year-old Armel was able to travel to Mahama Camp to join his parents.
As soon as Fredric's phone is charged, he calls his relatives back home to let them know his son has been found and is on his way to be with his family.
“When I was supposed to reunite with my parents, I fell sick again, and was hospitalized in Nyamata hospital,” remembers Armel. “Meanwhile, the other unaccompanied children whom I was with were reunited with their parents without me.” When Amel was finally well enough to be discharged he contacted the Red Cross. “They told me I could be taken to Mahama with the next group of unaccompanied children and last Monday they told me I would be reunited with my parents today. Something that was promised has been done today.”
After the uncertainly of the past few weeks, it was an emotional reunion for both father and son.
Their search had a happy outcome; but to date, ICRC staff have placed over 19,000 calls on behalf of Burundian refugees trying to contact their families, 6,000 of those haven’t yet been able to speak to anyone form home. For them, the search for their loved ones continues.
Shotlist
Location: Mahama Refugee Camp, Rwanda
Length: 5:24
Format: Mov H264 HD
Sound: Kirundi and French
ICRC ref: AV346N
Date: 29 and 30 July 2015
Copyright: ICRC access all
0:00 Wide views of Mahama Camp
0:07 Fredric Ngango, a 57-year-old refugee from Burundi, walks through the camp
SOUNDBITE: Fredric Ngango, a 57-year-old refugee from Burundi (in Kirundi)
0:20 “I organised for my wife and children to come to Rwanda first, but my eldest son was left behind in Burundi because he was too sick to travel. I stayed behind to take care of him for a while there, but I had to join the rest of my family here, so I sent him to Gashora. While he was there, I approached the (International Committee of the) Red Cross and requested to be reunited with him.”
0:56 Fredric Ngango receives asim card (pre-loaded with 1,250 RWF of airtime for use in his own phone) from the ICRC's Ibrahim Dukuze, who oversees the ICRC's family-tracing activities in Rwanda
1:33 Dukuze shows Ngango how to use the ICRC mobile solar kiosk to charge the phone; details of the mobile solar kiosk including chargers and solar panel
SOUNDBITE: Ibrahim Dukuze, head of ICRC's tracing unit in Rwanda (in French)
2:05 “We put phones at their disposal, and then with the airtime that we buy from telecommunications companies, they can try to make contact by calling their loved ones. In addition, there are also unaccompanied minors that we register with the aim of reuniting them with their families, be it with family members or parents who stayed in Burundi, or those who are in refugee camps.”
2:41 ICRC staff help unaccompanied minors make contact with relatives or family friends back home, who might be able to help them trace their parents; various of children speaking on the phone.
3:26 Fredric Ngango retrieves his charged phone from the mobile solar kiosk and makes a call to relatives in Burundi to let them know that his son has been found.
SOUNDBITE: Armel Akimana, Fredric Ngango's 18-year-old son (in Kirundi)
3:48 “The time I was supposed to reunite with my parents, I fell sick again, and I was hospitalized in Nyamata hospital. Meanwhile, the other unaccompanied children whom I was with were reunited with their parents without me. So my unification was postponed. When I was discharged I tried to contact the Red Cross staff. They informed me that I would be transported to Mahama with the next group of unaccompanied children, and last Monday they told me that I would be reunited with my parents today. Something that was promised has been done today.”
4:44 Dukuze helps Ngango's son out of the vehicle that has brought him to Mahama; father and son are reunited
5:24 END