Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/28
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 04/27
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 04/26
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/25
In Pictures: Where Your Clothes Come From
In Pictures: Millenium Development Goals: GLOBAL PROGRESS REPORT
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/24
In Pictures: Mexico's Economy
A refugee mother and child in Mtabila camp, in Kasulu, Tanzania, an hour from the spot in the northwest of the country where Bill and Igey were born. Forty thousand Burundian refugees now live in Mtabila. The Tanzanian government wants them out by summer's end. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Outside the United Nations refugee agency's Mtabila office, goats - a major source of food in the camp - find drinking water after a rain. Across the globe, 13.6 million refugees and asylum seekers are living under or seeking UN protection; 60 percent have lived in places like this for 10 years or more. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Mtabila residents wait to receive their rations at a food distribution center. Refugees spend a great deal of their camp life waiting in lines - and often, decades waiting for permanent homes. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Camps are notoriously dangerous places, especially for women and members of minority groups. One such group is albinos, who are targeted in much of Central Africa, and frequently dismembered so their limbs can be used in ritual medicine. In Mtabila, people with albinism and their families live fenced-in lives of protective custody. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
A guard talks on his cell phone before a visit to Mtabila by the acting United States ambassador to Tanzania. US, UN, and Tanzanian officials insist Burundi is now safe enough for refugees to leave the camp and return there. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Refugee Jean-Paul Rukundo (fourth from left, with his wife and seven of his eight children) disagrees. The family's mixed, Hutu-Tutsi marriage made them victims of attempted murder back home. Mr. Rukundo says he will flee the camp and live on the run in Tanzania rather than take his family back to what he believes is certain death. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Three hours up the road, in Kanembwa resettlement camp, refugees face a somewhat more secure future. The 2,000 Congolese residents have all been approved for resettlement in the US and other nations. Here, a couple carries food home from a distribution in the settlement they call 'American Village.' Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Two and a half years after they arrived in Atlanta, Bill's parents Dawami and Hassan still have many friends in Kanembwa. Here, Dawami's friend Eva Sango fills a water bucket to wash up after lunch. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Ms. Sango's son Emmanuel (left) and other young Kanembwa residents visit their favorite hangout, the guava tree in a nearby field that doubles as a clubhouse and midmorning snack. School has been forbidden in the camp for over a year, and their parents despair to see Emma and his friends losing ground academically. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Refugees aren't allowed to work or attend school in Kanembwa, and gender roles are so rigid that women do almost all the household chores. So beyond cultivating food in the fields around the camp, men and boys have a lot of time on their hands. Here, 20 gather around this favorite board game. No, they say, the divisions -- Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Congo Martyrs - aren't meant to be political. They could be anywhere. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Despite the 'Sexual and Gender-Based Violence' workshops that international nonprofits conduct in the camp, and despite men's complaints that the refugee experience is emasculating in a way that upsets the traditional order of Congolese society, women and men continue to operate in pretty separate spheres. Here, Dawami's friend Mama Gloire (foreground) finishes off a set of crocheted doilies while her husband Pierre (background) chats with his friends. Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
The US is the world's top funder of refugee aid, and many refugees' fondest hope for a permanent home. Of the two camps I visited, Kanembwa is the much better appointed; residents say it feels more secure also. Still, refugees and aid workers alike laugh ruefully at this sign, which sits on the hill overlooking the dirt roads and mud-brick homes of the 'American Village.' Mary Wiltenburg/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/28
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 04/27
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 04/26
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/25
In Pictures: Where Your Clothes Come From
In Pictures: Millenium Development Goals: GLOBAL PROGRESS REPORT
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/24
In Pictures: Mexico's Economy
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