Atosha winced as she recalled the 15 minutes she spent in the fast-flowing Rusizi River, which separates the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Burundi, on a night in late February.
“I was terrified,” the 23-year-old said of her journey of about 130 metres, spent clinging to a makeshift float alongside a young man whom she had paid to take her to the Burundian side. “It was my first time crossing that river and I had no option.”
Her relief on reaching the riverbank quickly turned to anguish, however, when she learned that her younger sisters, aged 10 and 14, had been swept away by the current.
“I stood there and started crying,” said Atosha, one of tens of thousands of Congolese refugees sheltering in a stadium in Cibitoke province,…
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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 21 March 2025