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Martin Katana fled his home in the DRC to seek refuge in South Africa. During the recent xenophobic violence in Durban, Martin and his family faced death threats from neighbours and "friends". This is his story.
About Martin:
Martin Katana first arrived in Durban in 2006, having fled ongoing civil conflict in DRC in 2006. Until April 2015, he lived with his wife Digne Irakoze and their six-month old daughter Mika in Chatsworth suburb. They have experienced xenophobia in most aspects of their lives: taxis, shops, hospitals.
After a series of xenophobic attacks swept across Durban, he brought his family to relative safety in Chatsworth camp, set up by local authorities after around 6,000 foreign nationals were displaced.
Camp life is difficult; baby Mika is constantly sick and with little in the way of resettlement packages, and few prospects of employment despite refugee status, Martin worries daily about his family’s future.
From Doctors Without Borders:
The Chatsworth camp, south of the coastal city of Durban, is currently home to 520 foreign nationals – mostly refugees and asylum seekers from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They were left behind after more than 3,000 Malawians alone, as well as several hundred Mozambicans and Zimbabweans were repatriated to their home countries.
Initially about 7,000 people sought refuge in three different displacement camps in Durban.
The Burundians and Congolese are now stuck in limbo: they cannot be repatriated to conflict zones they fled from but they don’t feel safe to re-integrate into communities that they fled from only weeks before.
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