After years of exile, refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are keen to participate in their country’s renewal. The UN Refugee Agency is helping them to come home and make a new start. But a chronic lack of funds means that – without urgent help – we may be forced to withdraw our support.

The mood at Baraka port is one of jubilation. There is cheering, singing and dancing as the boats arrive from Tanzania, and elated brothers and sisters are reunited after years of separation.

“I want to contribute to the agriculture here, build a proper life and not be dependent. I can only do that at home,” one refugee told us. After life in a confined Tanzanian camp, dependent on food aid and struggling to survive far from home in difficult conditions, he just wants his own life back: tilling his fields and working towards a better future for his country.

Helping people go home

The UN Refugee Agency has helped many to come home safely, and given them the tools to start again. People like the frail mother of two who the UN Refugee Agency and its partners identified as particularly vulnerable, because of her poor health. After making the arduous journey back to Congo's Equateur province with virtually nothing, she was delighted with our survival pack; a kit of basic items – from plastic sheeting and mosquito net, to soap, a kitchen set and three months' supply of food. While every homecoming refugee gets a shelter package with tools to help reconstruct their homes, we felt she needed more – so we rebuilt her home ourselves.

UN Refugee Agency Officer in the DRC, Jens Hesemann, recalls visiting her some months later. “It was good to see her home again, and happy.”

Repairing the damage

At the UN Refugee Agency, we know that helping people come home is not enough. We have been busy addressing their most urgent needs by setting up basic health projects and building concrete schools with tin roofs. We're also supporting communities so they can build up small businesses, work together on local projects – like building a well or a village hall – and live peacefully and productively together.

Refugees returning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo are keen to help us and other international organisations rehabilitate their country after years of conflict. But that chance is threatened as the UN Refugee Agency faces a desperate shortfall in funding.

“If the peace is to hold, we don't just need to help people come home,” says Jens. “We urgently need more funds to help repair the crumbling buildings and services so they are able to live and work here again. Otherwise a humanitarian crisis is waiting to happen.”

Aid threatened by funding shortfall

The country's facilities and services have completely broken down and the UN Refugee Agency is faced with a challenging problem. Traditional mud-hut schools are already overcrowded and simply don't have the capacity to support returning children. Health facilities are equally inadequate. Jens describes a typical hospital he visited in South Kivu: “There was no equipment. Patients were lying on the floor without so much as a mosquito net and the roof was infested with bats.”

It would be terrible if the determination and optimism of the Congolese people were undermined by a lack of funds. The UN Refugee Agency appeals to its supporters to help us finish the vital work we have begun.

Top: A Congolese child born in exile in Tanzania is among the 488 returnees ferried home to Baraka in South Kivu province aboard the UNHCR-chartered Mwongozo. Successful reintegration of thousands of returnees is surpassing expectations, but funding shortages are a problem. © UNHCR/S. Schulman

* Data provisional and subject to change. Status as at 2 June 2006. Source: UNHCR

* Includes mass ( prima facie ) arrivals of 50 refugees and more. Status as at 2 June 2006. Data provisional and subject to change. Source: UNHCR