UNICEF's Humanitarian Activities in Democratic Republic of Congo

Sarah: You're watching UNICEF television. Cripple not by age but war.
Soldiers broke her legs, raped her and killed all her family. Evelyn
will never be the same. This silent emergency, the war in the
democratic republic of Congo has killed more than any other
conflict since the Second World War. Five million have died in
seven years, not only by bullets but by hunger with its children
weakened unable to fight diseases. These are the real killers of
children, cholera, malaria, measles and just not having a home.

In this classroom outside Goma, eastern DR Congo every child has
their own war story to tell, orphaned, or wounded, living through
their nightmares, waiting for their families to be found.

Rachelle: My mother and older brother went to look for food and when they
got to the top of the hill, the rebels started shooting at them and
then they tried to rape my mother. She ran away.

Sarah: Just ten years old, Rachelle has had to become a mother to her little
brother, making this tiny shelter their home. For more than a year
now, these two children have been utterly alone.

Dr Joe Lusi: The children have paid a very high price. They are born, most of
them are dying of rare diseases, and illiterate. They haven't gone to
school, and they are, let us say it is really a bad thing."

Sarah: Not far away, young Habimana is not yet back in school. Since the
recent peace conference, the UN Blue Helmets are out in force
here. The date on the blackboard remains untouched since soldiers
ransacked this place, cleaning out the clinic, looting the medicines,
taking eight of his schoolmates.

Pascale: We fled when the bandits came through here and looted the school.
They took our books and pens and everything, and they took some
of the children by force. They raped my big sister and left.

Sarah: All he wants now is just to get back into his studies and peace is
not far from his thoughts.

Pascale: I do hope that one of these days soon we will have peace."

Sarah: For UNICEF television, this is Sarah Crowe in Goma, DR Congo.
Unite the children.