In early September 2019, internally displaced persons living in the Kababi Bukoro IDP site since 2012, expressed their desire to leave the camp in order to resume a working life. Some wished to return to their home communities, while others preferred to stay in the region by integrating into the host community. The IDP site is located in Masisi territory, province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Most had repeatedly fled deadly clashes between armed groups that scourged the eastern part of the DRC and distressed their communities.

Ms Boboto Tumaina, in her fifties, is part of the group of internally displaced persons who has chosen to integrate into the host community in Bukoro, a commercial centre within Masisi territory. She joined the Kababi Bukoro IDP site in 2012 after fleeing fighting between two groups in Bugoyi, her home village, on the border between Masisi and Walikale in North Kivu province.

As an internally displaced person, Ms Boboto Tumaina benefited from income-generating activities initiated by IOM as part of resilience measures to empower the camp’s residents.

Ms Boboto Tumaina had been engaged in trade and small livestock for about five years. With her savings, she, as an internally displaced person, was able to buy a piece of land. IOM teams met with her as camp coordination prepared to dismantle the site on 27 September. She had some good news to entrust IOM’s CCCM teams:

« I chose to integrate locally in the center of BUPORO. I bought a piece of land with the profits that I made thanks to trade in clothes and farming activities. Thanks to the support of IOM, I was able to carry out these activities and save money. I was a displaced person. Today I leave the camp as the owner of a piece of land. I am very happy about this. », she said.

 « We need assistance to build our own shelters »

Ms Boboto Tumaina says she made the right choice to be independent and integrate into the Bukoro community. She would now like IOM assistance to successfully integrate. She says she does not have the means to build a house where she and her children, with whom she has fled insecurity, can live in peace.

« I recognize that I am fortunate to have land and I thank IOM for this support. However, I would like to ask for additional support. Many of us have chosen to stay here. The help we have been given is immeasurable. I have got a land ! If now they help us build a house, I can house the others there. I was welcomed and helped when I was in need. I would like to do the same for those who remain in need. Probably I can help them to build a house ! »,  she pleads.