South Africa

Africa, South Africa

Video: Voices from the camps – Martin Katana

Video: Voices from the camps – Martin Katana

In the lead-up to Africa Day (25 May), MSF South Africa is releasing a series of five hard-hitting and poignant video testimonies from refugees and migrants displaced by April’s wave of xenophobic violence in Durban to refugee camps in Chatsworth and Isipingo. By DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MSF) SOUTHERN AFRICA.

Martin Katana first arrived in Durban in 2006, having fled ongoing civil conflict in DRC in 2006. Until April 2015, he lived with his wife Digne Irakoze and their six-month old daughter Mika in Chatsworth suburb. They have experienced xenophobia in most aspects of their lives: taxis, shops, hospitals.

After a series of xenophobic attacks swept across Durban, he brought his family to relative safety in Chatsworth camp, set up by local authorities after around 6,000 foreign nationals were displaced.

Camp life is difficult; baby Mika is constantly sick and with little in the way of resettlement packages, and few prospects of employment despite refugee status, Martin worries daily about his family’s future. DM

This video is filmed and edited by Durban-based Scholars & Gentlemen.

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