File:Fatou- "We are too scared to go home" (7836504830).jpg

In late June, Fatou, her husband and three children escaped their terrorised town of Kalengera and hid in the bush, taking with them only the clothes on their backs.

“People were being tortured and killed, women raped and children taken. We were scared of bandits, of being executed or burnt alive in our home,” she says. “We thought we might be safer in the forest and at least that way we could try to stop our children being kidnapped. In the evenings we headed back to our fields to quickly harvest something to eat, then went home to cook, but just for an hour or so – we could not risk being home any longer. Then we headed back to the forest where we tried to sleep.”

They managed to get a place on a truck to Kibati, but on the way they were attacked:

“The rebels started to force all the young men out of the truck, threatening them with guns. My three young brothers were taken. We have not heard from them since. Our neighbours told us that the few who stayed in Kalengera, young children included, have been abducted and recruited for combat.”

Now in Kibati, conditions are still difficult: “When we arrived my youngest child fell sick with malaria. We were not able to get the help she needed. She died here.”

“We were considering going home because we think we will starve to death here. My husband goes to try to find work and we sometimes manage to eat a little at night, but sometimes we do not. But we are scared of returning. I am afraid of being raped and my husband being snatched from us to fight for the rebels. Even here in the camp people are being attacked. We are not safe anywhere. We are frightened that we will be the next victims of the war. What if the rebels advance to Kibati? We live every day in terror. When I go to chop down wood from outside the camp I am scared of being raped. But what choice do I have? How else can we get fuel to cook?”