Gugu Mbatha-Raw Instagram – I’ve just returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where I spent a week with @refugees. I wanted to take a moment to share my initial reflections and what I witnessed there. Many of you have followed my journey with Françoise, a Congolese refugee and all-round shining light, who I first met in Uganda in 2019. It was an eye-opening and emotional experience to visit her home country. DRC has the largest displacement crisis in Africa and has been the scene of one of the world’s longest running conflicts. It is one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world. I saw the heartbreaking choices that mothers have to make on a daily basis. It was moving to see the stark reality of what lack funding for UNHCR’s life saving work means for people. It means lack of shelter or sufficient food, or things many of us take for granted like sanitary towels or being able to go to school. It means a survivor of gender-based violence might not get the help she needs and deserves. From medical attention, to the psycho-social support to heal from unimaginable trauma. It means that every day displaced people – and the UNHCR staff that work with them – are forced to make impossible choices. I also saw joy, resilience, inspiring sisterhood and the potential for transformation that is possible with the right support. But that support is precarious and the needs are deep. Nearly 1.3 million Congolese have been displaced within DRC this year alone, in a context of traumatising violence, especially towards women. This year, the world proved that they can open their hearts to people who were forced to flee their homes. We must now extend the same kind of solidarity to the forcibly displaced people of DR Congo and all around the world. Even if they don’t make the headlines. 💙 Democratic Republic of the Congo