Voices from the Camps : Amuri Djuma

Publisher:: MSF
Publication Date:: 20 May 2015
Tags:: Congo-Kinshasa, South Africa, Human Rights, Legal and Judicial Affairs, Refugees and Displacement

Amuri Djuma came to South Africa in 2004, leaving behind conflict in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. He first worked as barber, then branched into carpentry as a trade. Later Amuri opened a furniture store and hairdressing business, which employed South Africans. During March and April 2015 violent xenophobic attacks spread across South Africa's KwaZulu Natal province, leaving seven people dead, several injured and more than 7,000 foreign nationals displaced. On the night of 16 April, after several nights of intimidation, Amuri's shop was looted and 80% of his stock was stolen. He fled along with hundreds of foreign nationals to Isipingo displacement camp, set up by local authorities. As the displacement camps emptied out towards the end of May, the vast majority of Malawians, Mozambicans and Zimbabweans departed en mass back to their home countries. Refugees from Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo like Amuri remain stuck, facing a difficult dilemma: they cannot return to their countries of origin at war, neither can they return to the communities they fled from for fear of being attacked again. With very little left, Amuri is waiting for signs that it is safe to return to his community and hopes to rebuild his life in Durban: "You can still achieve anything if you are alive, you need to focus on what is next." For more Voice from the Camps visit: http://www.msf.org.za/xenophobia

Multimedia

Voices from the Camps : Amuri Djuma

Follow AllAfrica