‘We just want to go home,’ Congolese refugees in Rwanda say

Asylum seekers at Nkamira Transit Centre in Rwanda.

Photo credit: Jackson Mutinda | Nation Media Group

At Nkamira Transit Centre, a temporary refugee holding site in Rwanda’s Rubavu District, children chase a ball over volcanic rocks, take turns on a single swing and skip rope as their mothers shelter from a drizzle.

Elderly men in heavy jackets sit in small groups, speaking in low tones — or not at all — perhaps recalling life in eastern Congo before fighting drove them out.