Scores of children across the globe become separated from families because of wars and conflicts, which see them find their own way to “safety” or being sent by their parents in frantic efforts to safeguard their survival while others are orphaned.
They have to live with the trauma of solitude in the absence of their loved ones and for some; they could have even witnessed their parents getting killed.
Worldwide, about 47,2 million children had been displaced due to conflict and violence as of the end of last year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees.
Nine-year-old Lukugo Byamungo is among thousands of children who have been caught up in a bloody cycle of violence and political turmoil in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
What started as a courtesy visit by a group of rebels demanding money from Lukugo’s grandfather Ngubungu Ndagaramba on the night of May 27, 2022 later turned out to be bloodshed.
The rebels forced their way into the house and demanded money, which Ndagaramba did not have and all hell broke loose.
“At first the attackers came during the early hours of the evening and demanded money and my husband told them that he did not have it and they left,” said Asta Namirenge, Ndagaramba’s wife.
“They came for the second time and demanded money again and my husband insisted he did not have it.
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“They killed and tied him with ropes.”
Such bloody confrontations have become the order of the day in their village of Sange, outside Ubvira town in South Kivu province.
Namirenge said her daughter who rushed outside shouting for help was also shot dead.
Their granddaughter Lukugo, then seven-years-old, suffered a gunshot wound after a bullet shattered her abdomen and damaged her navel.
Emaciated and traumatised, Namirenge had to flee under the cover of darkness.
“It was shocking and disturbing,” said Namirenge.
“I had to escape up to the town of Ubvira with the attackers in pursuit.
“I did not know what later happened at home.
“I thought everyone had been killed only to get relief after I heard my granddaughter was alive and in hospital.
“I could not check her in the hospital because I was hiding.”
Namirenge is among thousands of refugees and asylum seekers at Tongogara Refugee Settlement in Manicaland province.
She described her journey from the war-ravaged South Kivu province in DRC to Zimbabwe as a “long walk to freedom” although she dearly misses some of her family members.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, around 5,2 million people, including three million children have been displaced by the decade-long conflict in the DRC.
Tongogara Refugee Camp is home to 15 835 refugees of which 74% are from the DRC, with other migrants coming from Rwanda, Burundi and Mozambique.
“I came here alongside a number of colleagues, who had fled from their areas in DRC,” Namirenge said.
“From my family’s side, I was alone along the way and I was not sure if my granddaughter was still alive.”
She said she was keen to talk to her granddaughter.
As such Namirenge joined scores of refugees at Tongogara Refugee Settlement who frequent an internet facility established by the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) with the aim of increasing refugees and asylum seekers’ accessibility of services and their families.
“I told the government here in Zimbabwe that I had left my granddaughter in hospital in DRC,” Namirenge said.
“I was referred to the Red Cross, who opened a tracing case.
“In DRC they announced over the radio that the government had in their possession a missing child.
“It was my granddaughter and no one claimed her.”
Namirenge said well-wishers who had taken custody of her granddaughter deliberately referred her to Zimbabwe.
“One day in July this year I was walking from church in the camp, and this small girl came to me, she hugged me and it was my granddaughter,” she said.
“For two years, I prayed and I was hopeful that one day I will be reunited with my daughter.
“We joined up and we approached the authorities, who facilitated our reunification.
“I was very happy.”
Lukugo, who wants to be a doctor when she completes her studies, said she was happy to be reunited with her grandmother.
The ZRCS facility under the Restoring Family Links component offers refugees services aimed at helping them re-establish and maintain contact with their relatives via internet sessions.
It is an addition to other facilities known as RedSafe kiosks established by the ZRCS in Harare, Zaka and Beitbridge with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
ICRC also chipped in with technical support and assisted with the upgrading of the solar system and the connectivity at the camp.
While the facility at Tongogara Refugee Camp is an extension to the restoring family links service, the RedSafe services also include access to the RedSafe app, which allows migrant communities to safely store their personal documents such as IDs, medical records, education certificates through a digital vault.
Fifteen-year-old Yolanda Manuel Da Costa from Angola, an unaccompanied child, stays with her three younger siblings at the Tongogara Refugee Settlement.
They arrived at the settlement on June 17 this year from Namibia and since their arrival they have been trying to reconnect with their father whom they last saw nine years ago in Angola.
“We came to Zimbabwe, Harare with our mother and her ‘male friend’ who dumped us in a bus that was travelling to this place,” said Yolanda.
“She left and we don’t know where she is.
“As for our father, we last saw him in Angola nine years ago.
“According to our mother, he just fled.”
This publication established that Yolanda’s father escaped persecution.
With support of ZRCS volunteers Yolanda and her siblings made a breakthrough and managed to link with their father.
“We opened a tracing’s case with the Red Cross, but unfortunately the government in Angola did not help.
“We were fortunate that our father had opened a tracing case with the American Red Cross.
“One day we were called to the Red Cross office and they told us that our father was in the United States.”
A ZRCS volunteer in charge of the internet facility Mizake Donatien confirmed to Standard People that they successfully linked the children to their father.
“Yes, the tracing matched and these children are now able to talk to their father in America,” he said.
“The father bought a mobile phone which they are now using to communicate.
“He buys them data and is paying for their upkeep although here in the camp they stay with a caregiver.”
Donatien said the ZRCS facility has been helpful to unaccompanied children.
According to the ICRC about 816 people, including 727 children globally were reunited with their families through the Restoring Family Links programme.
Tongogara Refugee Settlement is home to 73 unaccompanied and 46 separated children.
ZRCS secretary-general Elias Hwenga said his organisation was trying everything possible to help refugees link with their loved ones.
“Today’s humanitarian challenges are vast and intricate, hence the need for continuous and diverse engagements with vulnerable communities, who remain at the heart of our work, as we navigate the ever-changing humanitarian landscape together,” said Hwenga.
“In the case of the unaccompanied children you are talking about, an assessment was conducted to establish the extent of family separation and the situation of affected children.
“Due diligence was done before the children could be connected with their father.”
Tongogara Refugee Settlement administrator Johanne Mhlanga said they were doing everything possible to protect refugee children, especially those who are unaccompanied, in accordance with international conventions.
“Our mandate as the government of Zimbabwe is to make sure that these unaccompanied children and separated children are fully protected in line with refugee and children’s conventions,” Mhlanga said.
“We are happy that organisations like the Red Cross are implementing programmes that facilitate the enhancement of children’s rights.”
