The Strength of a Refugee Woman - by Rob Carr

In 2015, I was working in Tanzania when violence erupted in neighboring Burundi, triggering a massive wave of refugees. (this happens every few years - it was my 3rd refugee influx I had seen in 15 years at this border.)

I traveled to the border with UNHCR colleagues to assess the situation--at one border point we saw 50,000 people huddling on the beach of the lake. Within the first few weeks of the influx, we began setting up makeshift classrooms in the sprawling camps. With tens of thousands of children arriving, these schools became vital. They kept kids learning, provided a safe space to play, and gave overwhelmed parents a chance to breathe. The adults were consumed by survival—navigating endless paperwork, pitching tents, queuing for food, gathering water, and searching for lost family members.

The woman in this photograph survived that journey. She fled the war in Burundi and walked for two weeks through jungles and mountains to evade armed groups. She crossed the border with only the clothes on her back, only to face a deadly cholera outbreak on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. She was among thousands that huddled in the shallow water, using the same lake for drinking, bathing, and waste while waiting for registration and placement in camps.

When she finally reached the Kigoma region, she was heavily pregnant. She gave birth to her baby at a Red Cross clinic supported by UNICEF.

As soon as she recovered, she strapped her newborn to her back and stepped up to teach. As a former primary school teacher from Burundi, she was a lifeline during a severe teacher shortage. Under a simple plastic tarp, she managed up to 100 children in a single tent using a UNICEF "School-in-a-Box" kit.

As she paced the dirt floor to make sure every child could hear her, she walked with a gentle rocking motion so her baby could sleep.  Sometimes she would gently sing to her child and to her students to soothe them.   

To this day, I will never forget her smile, her determination, and her sacrifice. She embodies both the endless suffering of war and the resilient hope carried on the shoulders of strong women.

Do you have any examples of such powerful women that you will never forget?