Congolese torture survivor finds healing in empowering others

Six years ago, Bahati Musabyimana was a broken woman, forced to flee her home in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, with nothing but the clothes on her back. Today, she is a strong, successful and independent entrepreneur, heading a women’s empowerment project in Uganda’s Kyangwali refugee settlement.

“My work makes me forget about my past and the pain of losing a husband and a home,” says the 54-year-old mother of nine.

Bahati’s world turned upside down when one day in May 2014, rebels attacked her village in Buganza in North Kivu. They brutally assaulted her nine-year-old son with a machete, kidnapped her husband and killed her parents-in-law.

"My work makes me forget about my past and the pain of losing a husband and a home.”

After raping her and her preteen daughters, the rebels abducted her and her daughter Easter, and took them to their base in the forest where they continued to brutally rape and torture them for several days.

“I lost track of time and days. I don’t know for how long I was there,” she recalls, in tears.

She was finally dumped unconscious in a ditch, where she was found by a group of pastors who took her to a hospital for treatment. Weeks later, she went in search of her children and found them all, except Easter, at a local church. She took them and fled to Uganda where they were registered by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and the Ugandan Government as refugees. 

“Life was hard, but we were safe. We were no longer afraid of attacks in the middle of the night,” she says, adding that she and her older children had to work long hours, doing odd jobs to get money for food and shelter.

Bahati’s ordeal is, too common, unfortunately. Many Congolese women, forced into exile, have experienced similar violence and torture. Women and children, in particular, have borne the brunt of the DRC’s brutal conflict, which has seen over 400,000 refugees flee to Uganda over the past decade.

Thanks to Uganda’s progressive refugee policy, refugees have opportunities to rebuild their lives. They have freedom of movement, access to schools and health services and can open businesses. They also receive plots of land for shelter and farming. 

When Bahati was finally reunited with her lost daughter Easter, at the end of that year, she was overwhelmed with joy.

Buoyed by their reunification, she joined a local church and soon became the head of the women’s groups, thanks to her friendly nature and willingness to support other women. She started to think of ways to help the women in her community and decided to make use of her Diploma in Project Management, which she had got back in the DRC.

“I decided to start a savings group to mentor women on how to save and start small businesses,” she explains. 

© UNHCR/Duniya Aslam Khan

Congolese refugee Bahati (left) speaks with two of her group members as they inspect a new fishpond in Kyangwali refugee settlement, Uganda.

Her interventions soon got the community’s interest and she decided to take a further step. She approached the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and UNHCR’s partner agency Alight with a business plan on how to empower both refugee women and men.

In 2018, she formed her first formal village savings and loan association (VSLA) with Congolese refugees in the settlement. With the additional farmland that OPM provided to her, the group increased their sales from the seasonal fruits and vegetables they grew.

Today, Bahati chairs a group of 52 refugee men and women who work on12 different farms in the settlement. Their produce not only supplements their daily diet but also earns them additional money. 

“Things are going well and we have even started fish farming and have four fishponds,” says Bahati proudly.  

Her success in business has greatly improved the lives for her group members and her family. Her children are studying in school and she spends her days managing the group’s finances and visiting the farms. 

“Before, I didn’t know if I could do much with my diploma and yet I wanted to do something for my community, especially women,” says Bahati. “I wanted to pass on the little knowledge I had to my people.” 

Bahati adds that many women in the settlement are not educated and face all kinds of discrimination and exploitation. 

“I want them to learn the basics. I tell them, ‘don’t sit idle or else you will die.’ No one will put food on our tables if we don’t earn it ourselves,” she adds.

Bahati’s tenacity and approach to empowering those around her resonates with this year’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.’ Her efforts are significant in a time where progress in gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is crucial. 

“Bahati brings men and women together through her programmes.”

In Uganda, where 52 percent of the 1.3 million refugees are women, programmes on gender equality are encouraged. UNHCR works closely with communities and groups like Bahati’s to identify those who are most vulnerable and in need of special assistance.

“A good number of refugee women are vulnerable and prone to protection risks, particularly sexual and gender-based violence or SGBV and exploitation,” explains Olga Nora Ruza, UNHCR’s Assistant Field Officer in Kyangwali. 

“Bahati brings men and women together through her programmes. Her meetings with them often turn into educational sessions on protecting the rights and well-being of women,” adds Olga.

UNHCR, through Alight, has trained Bahati and other women on how to prevent and respond to SGBV in the community. The trainings have also taught the group how to be climate-smart in their agricultural activities and have better access to markets. They have also received farming materials like seedlings and learnt how to store their harvest properly.

Bahati’s efforts have endeared her to her community.

“Empowering women is now my top priority,” she says with pride.