23 September 2008
interview
Bujumbura — Denise Nzohabonayo, a mother of four, was repatriated from Nduta refugee camp in Tanzania in July 2008 to the Nyabitare transit site near Ruyigi in eastern Burundi. After a month, stranded and with no home to return to, Nzohabonayo left Nyabitare for Muriza Butaganzwa commune, also in Ruyigi, in the hope that she would finally get some permanent shelter for her family. Being a landless returnee is not easy, as Nzohabonayo told IRIN.
"I come from the village of Nyanzalac (in the southern province of Makamba) but my brothers will not let me live on their land; my husband cannot allow it too. It is not acceptable for a man.
"My husband also does not have any land to return to. He left the Kibenga area (now a residential part of the capital, Bujumbura) with his parents who were working as serfs in 1972 for the Democratic Republic of Congo. They later left Congo for Tanzania where he met and married me.
"When we were in the Tanzanian camps we were told that even the landless people would be provided with shelter, but this is not the case.
"Right now we have rented a house for a month with another family, but with no house of our own I don't know where we will go to later.
"If we had some land to go to we would have been provided with shelter. We are here because we have no land to go to.
"We got a cash grant but we have used it to repair the walls of the house. We thought we would have used the grant to start a business, to buy salt, soap or things like that or even to pay for health care for the children.
"In Tanzania we were dependent on the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) for medical care. Now if I don't have money, I cannot get medical care.
"I once took my child to the hospital but I could not afford to buy the medicine, yet two of my children have asthma and need regular care.
"It is difficult getting food here; we are depending on the food ration we got on arrival a month ago. Sometimes we skip the midday meal. We don't even know where we are supposed to go for the food distribution.
"If we knew the situation beforehand, we would have remained in Tanzania."
Jb/aw
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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