Alice*

Imagine for a moment that you and your family are celebrating a loved one’s birthday, filled with joy and laughter. Then, suddenly, armed men intrude upon your gathering, threatening your lives, and changing everything in an instant. This is the harrowing reality Alice* and her sisters faced when the Mai-Mai rebel group disrupted their father’s birthday dinner at their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“After they killed my dad and my sister, they took the remaining girls, four of us sisters… When they captured girls, they would take them to the mountains to perform unthinkable acts on them.”

Alice was held captive in the Mai-Mai mountain camp with her sisters for over two months. Finally, the women got an opportunity to escape and took it. “They chased us. We ran, falling down and kept running.” After escaping the camp, Alice and her two children fled from their home country, first to Uganda and then to Nairobi, Kenya, where they hid in the trunk of a car with luggage piled on top to conceal themselves.

However, their journey to safety didn’t end there. Even in Nairobi, Alice and her son faced ongoing violence and insecurity. Alice was attacked again. Since they could not live safely in the city, RefugePoint submitted the family’s case for resettlement. In 2022, Alice and her children were accepted for resettlement in Australia.

“My expectations when I get to Australia… I’ve always wanted to own a business. I’ll set up a business and I’ll be happy… You know I didn’t go to school, that’s why I want my son to get educated. I would like to see him become an engineer or a doctor. I would love to hear people saying, ‘Her son is a doctor, her son is an engineer.’ I will be very happy.”

Today, Alice and her son are awaiting his Australian visa, with hopes of being resettled soon.

*Name changed for protection purposes.