Reconciliation of Refugees Returning from Exile.

1. Context

 April 2025 was a period, first following the capture of Goma and Bukavu towns by M23 with a serious intention of taking Uvira and finally entering Bujumbura before the end February 2025.

Secondly a period where the 2025 electoral campaign still undergoing under an effective economic inflation that affects the whole daily life.

Following this context, IPB conducted the activities below:

• Participation to the Burundi National Bank meeting and training for the local organization initiating and coaching the community savings and credit groups,
• Follow up of established early warning and response groups or individuals
• Preparing for the twentieth Global international training for HROC Program facilitators planned from July 14^th to August 2^nd 2025 in Bujumbura through contacts, meetings and HROC online introduction
• A Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities Program basic workshop with  16 participants including 9 females and 7 males;
• Weekly coaching of the eight (8) Self Help Groups

1. Some key stories

Yvette

I lost a lovely one, my ant after consulting different hospital. She even participated in different prayer rooms and churches for a period of three years.

What wounded mostly is that she die without knowing the kind of disease she was suffering from.

Whenever, I thought about this, I feel headache and fear that this could happen to other family’s members.

This workshop comes te right time for me.  It opens my mind about my today’s psychological situation due to trauma events I went through. I’m glad to learn that, after trauma experience/event, life must continue.  I will follow the instructions about trauma recovery.

Lydia

I was very wounded by losing three people including my mother, my father and my grandmother in a period of one month. The same period our caw got sick and passed away too. My father’s sickens and that of the cow were similar. Both suffered from the throat.

My father died when his surgical operation was about to start. Sorrow and sorrow. She failed to continue her sharing and one facilitators took care of her.

Celestin

 My mother got sick for a period of four years. During that period she stayed in the hospital until she was tested being diabetic. After that she came home and died after two weeks.

During the mourning period, one person told us that my mother died because of poison. As a proof, he told us that our two dogs are going to die soon thee same way. This happened as he said.

Since then, we lived under fear and lack of future life.  Many members of my family moved to live far from home.

This workshop is a real a contribution I needed. After going through the list of causes and symptoms of trauma, I find myself traumatized by what happened to my family. I appreciated to learn the way of recovering from it and that life must continue after traumatic events.

Conclusion

Although the country and region are in a very tense situation, we are proud to remain alongside our beneficiaries and the community in general to relieve them with various interventions, especially the trauma healing and early warning and response.

Done in Bujumbura on May 10, 2025

On the behalf of IPB

 Elie Nahimana

The project leader