FAR ACROSS MY BORDER
Sofie Hanegreefs // Roel Nollet// 2024 // 25 min
“After they massacred my entire family, they forced me to kill my little sister. I had to, in order to stay alive,' says John. He fled in haste and without his senses to the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania, not far from the border with Burundi. With more than 130,000 people, it is one of the largest refugee camps in the world. Mainly Congolese and Burundians live here and new people arrive every day. Especially now that violence is increasing in eastern Congo.
“I still have nightmares where I see my sister,” John says. He has post-traumatic stress and sees delusions. When he arrives in Tanzania, he loses consciousness. They take him to Kasaka, a psychiatric center outside the camp.
To cope with his problems, John makes music. “I would like people to understand that you are also a human being if you have a mental problem.” In the camp they call me “Chizi”, the “crazy one”. I have accepted that they call me that. I even made it my stage name. I now call myself 'Chizi Fresh', the 'cool crazy'.
“Some refugees really need help that they cannot get in the camp,” says doctor Chantal. She works in Kasaka. “To help people get rid of their psychoses, we have to remove them from that environment,” psychologist Victoria Ntesha also believes. She can regularly be heard on a local radio station to talk about mental problems. 'We have to discuss the issue, because people are now killing each other as if it were nothing.' Together with doctor Chantal, she visits people in Nyarugusu.
“I was walking around in the streets like a lunatic,” Ida says. She and her children stay in a secure area in the camp, because even here they are not safe. “We are Banyamulenge,” says Ida. “Other Congolese hate us.” “We are never at ease,” her daughter Deby agrees. She is 17. When I come outside they shout 'there is the fool's daughter”, to me. Still, we love our mother. She does everything for us."
Since last year, Tanzania has become the country with the largest influx of refugees in the Great Lakes region. Documentary makers Roel Nollet and Sofie Hanegreefs create haunting portraits of refugees with trauma. And there are many. 'Far across my border' tells the story of people who have literally and figuratively gone beyond their borders. The region has been plagued by horrific forms of violence for thirty years.
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"People call me crazy. I have accepted that.”
/// CHIZI FRESH /// Refugee in Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania///
