Thomas Tumusifu Buregeya wishes he were at school so he could study for his final examinations. He now survives by performing menial jobs in a displaced people’s camp in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is after a wave of insurgent warfare once again shattered his life.
Buregeya and his family were forced to evacuate their home for the third time in the past 15 years. He also missed an entire academic year due to an October attack by the M23 insurgent group in the town of Kibumba. At the age of 22, he has not completed his education.
He lamented, “When I look out from this camp and see, finalists like me, my heart aches. I ponder when I will finish my studies, as the years pass.”
UNICEF estimated at the end of March that 750,000 students in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri were unable to attend school due to insecurity.
Buregeya repairs his mother’s tent in the IDP community in Nyiragongo, Congo Basin, Goma.
Buregeya spends his time reclining against the tin wall of the evangelical church in the small settlement. It is contiguous to it outside the provincial capital of Goma, where he has found sanctuary with fellow Kibumba evacuees.
According to UNICEF, violent conflict in eastern Congo has forced the closure of nearly 2,100 schools since January 2022.
There may be lasting consequences. According to a 2011 United Nations report on global education and armed conflict, without education, children and young people in places such as the mineral-rich eastern Congo are less likely to acquire the skills they need to escape poverty and overcome the desperate economic challenges that fuel conflict.
Buregeya is concerned that he is running out of time.
After graduating from high school, he desired nothing more than to attend college to become a teacher and support his family.
