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RUBURA, BURUNDI – Bernadette and Matthias have six children and like all parents, want a beautiful life for them. They want their children to go to school, play, grow, learn, laugh. To be children. Burundian but born as refugees in Rwanda, Bernadette and Matthias were forced to flee this adopted nation to Tanzania in 1994 when the Rwandan Genocide erupted. Their first daughter, Francine, was just a few months old as they crossed the Tanzanian border. Though they faced discrimination as refugees, life slowly gained some normalcy, including having a field to cultivate, a home, and the birth of five more children. The oldest children were in school, there was food to eat, and there was peace. But peace is a fragile thing. "They came with their dogs because they knew we would try to hide in the forest. The oldest two were at Primary school," Bernadette shared, pulling at her faded skirt, her quiet movements revealing the pain beneath her story. Behind her, Mathias drew near, his gaze intent on his wife's eyes, affirming her words. Without warning, Tanzanian militia had entered their community. Their objective: to rid the area of all refugees, and to do it immediately. Bernadette and Mathias weren’t given time to gather their things, or pack food or clothes for the children. Their only option was to run, all the way back to Burundi – forced to leave their two school-aged children behind. Francine and Elisa were ten and eleven at the time. They returned from school to an empty home and a neighborhood in chaos. Their parents were nowhere. Not in the house. Not in the field. Then, neighbors began to share. Burundi. Without parents, without passports, without a map or any money the children left the only place they had ever known in search of their family. Francine and Elisa travelled for hours until they reached the Burundian province of Kirundo, an area just beyond the Tanzanian border. They didn’t know anyone there, and they didn’t find their parents. They were hungry, tired, and lost. For two years they lived off the land, earning income as Elisa worked as a goat herder. For two years, the children lived with the responsibilities of adulthood. And for two years Bernadette and Matthias lived in grief for their lost children and their children’s’ lost childhood. And then the impossible happened. An old neighbor from Tanzania visited Bernadette and Mathias and shared with them that she had seen their children living in Kirundo as goat herders. Kirundo was far from Kinyovu, and the couple had no money. They quickly sold their goat, their most prized possession, and got on a bus to Kirundo. They found Francine and Elisa. After two years of separation, grief, and uncertainty, Bernadette and Mathias were reunited with their children. FH is working in Bernadette and Mathias’s community of Kinyovu, a community of Burundian refugee returnees, to assist them as they resettle into a country they have never known. The family, now together, stands in front of their home, animals in hand, and beams. |
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