Reference :
V-F-CR-F-01352-N
Date :
12/08/2015
Title :
Rwanda : torn apart by violence, Burundian families reunited
Duration :
00:05:24
Editor :
unknown
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Production company :
ICRC
ICRC producer :
SCHWENDEMANN, Nina
Production reference :
AV346N
Description :
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.
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.
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.
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.
French title :
Rwanda : séparées par la violence, les familles burundaises sont réunies
English title :
Rwanda : torn apart by violence, Burundian families reunited
Colour/B&W :
colour
SD/HD :
HD
Resolution :
1920 x 1080
Aspect ratio :
16/9
Original material/format :
H264
Best material/format available :
ProRes 422
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