1. Wide shot, people walking in the Mugunga III camp for internally displaced people
2. Med shot, families displaced by the violence with their belongings
3. Zoom out, Mugunga III camp for internally displaced people
4. Med shot, child sitting outside the tent by utensils, man cooking
5. Wide shot, children at the Child Friendly Space in the Mugunga III camp
6. Close shot, face of child drawing
7. Close shot, drawing of people being taken by soldiers
8. Med shot, children with their drawings
9. Close shot, child sketching
10. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Sam (not his real name), 12 years old:
“We fled from Rugari to Kanyaruchinya. Then the war broke out there again, so we fled until we reached Mugunga. This is the soldier who came out of the forest; he followed us firing bullets to us”
11. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Anna (not her real name), 15 years old:
“This girl I know is a student and she was in class. After class, her friends warned her, they told her to be very careful. One day, her mother asked her to go find firewood. On her way back, she met a soldier and the soldier fired a bullet. The girl was frightened and she threw away the wood but the soldier caught her.”
12. Wide shot, board for child friendly center managed by UNICEF and AVSI
13. Wide shot, children playing outside the child friendly center in the camp
14. Med shot, teacher distributing chart paper
15. Various shots, children with chart paper
16. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Georges (not his real name), 14 years old:
“When we have these activities in the child friendly space, we don’t stay at home and think about all these horrible things we’ve experienced.”
17. Close shot, child painting
18. Close shot, paint brush
19. Close shot, child’s face as he paints
20. Med shot, painting
21. Close up: hand drawing
22. Close up: hand drawing
23. Med shot, woman standing in middle of classroom
24. Close shot, painting depicting violence, man shot by soldiers

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Storyline

Since fighting between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese army broke out in April last year, thousands have been forced to seek refuge in and around North Kivu’s provincial capital city of Goma

Here, in the Mugunga III camp that’s home to those displaced, children are amongst the biggest causalities of the violence

Girls described numerous rape scenes, crimes that some of their closest friends were victims of while they were doing their daily chores.

Many can’t bear to talk about what they witnessed, so they express their trauma and suffering through drawings and paintings at the child friendly spaces managed by UNICEF and its partners

SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Sam (not his real name), 12 years old:
“We fled from Rugari to Kanyaruchinya. Then the war broke out there again, so we fled until we reached Mugunga. This is the soldier who came out of the forest; he followed us firing bullets to us.”

SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Anna (not her real name), 15 years old:
“This girl I know is a student and she was in class. After class, her friends warned her, they told her to be very careful. One day, her mother asked her to go find firewood. On her way back, she met a soldier and the soldier fired a bullet. The girl was frightened and she threw away the wood but the soldier caught her”.

The Child friendly spaces offer creative and recreational activities that reach some 2,500 boys and 3,000 girls every day.

SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Georges (not his real name), 14 years old:
“When we have these activities in the child friendly space, we don’t stay at home and think about all these horrible things we’ve experienced”

The current spate of violence in North Kivu affects some 70,000 children children who have been scarred for life.