Viviane Asengwe always knew she had an older sister but she didn’t know much about her.

Asengwe’s family fled to DR Congo during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and she was born there four years later.

Her sister stayed behind in Rwanda and was taken in by her uncle’s family.

So the two girls had never met.

Last week, after sixteen years, Asengwe and her sister Ishimwe met each other for the first time.

Although she was standing in front of a girl who looked almost identical to her, it was still hard for Asengwe to acknowledge that she was looking at her older sister.

"It took me a while to believe it, but it was exciting at the same time,” said Asengwe, who was one of 11 children reunited with their families, last week, by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Hundreds separated

She is one of hundreds of children (with Rwandan origin) who have been separated from their families as a result of the ongoing conflict in DR Congo, according to the ICRC.

On average, the aid organisation follows up on 400 to 500 reunification cases annually in the region.

Last year, in Rwanda the ICRC followed up on over 700 reunification cases because of conflict in eastern DR Congo.

Many of the children are refugees who fled with their families during the Genocide, only to be caught up in the violence gripping DR Congo.

Astèrie Kakuze is the wife of Asengwe’s uncle. Kakuze had been raising Asengwe’s sister as her own child for 20 years.

In 2011, Kakuze received a phone call from someone who said they knew where Asengwe was.

"I received a phone call with a Congolese code number. Like any other person, you would definitely not trust every number that you are not familiar with,” she said. "I was a bit hesitant to pick it up.”  

In 2009, Asengwe’s mother found out that her family in Rwanda was still alive, and made plans to return home. 

A year later, Asengwe, her mother, brother and cousin started a long journey from South Kivu to North Kivu in DR Congo. 

But misfortune struck along the way. Asengwe’s mother fell ill and passed on.

Separated from her brother and cousin, Asengwe was left in the hands of a woman only identified as Christine, who made it her calling to take care of displaced children in the war-torn eastern DR Congo.

Strange motherly figure

During the time Asengwe stayed with Christine, the woman was taking care of 20 other displaced "siblings,” providing them with shelter, food and clothing.

Asengwe called her "a stranger but kind mother.”

Kakuze said she was very sceptical when she first started speaking with Christine on the phone. She did not know how to confirm whether or not she was telling the truth.

She communicated with Christine periodically over two years.

However, it wasn’t until one of Kakuze’s friends came back from DR Congo and said she had seen Asengwe that she realised it could actually be her.

Asengwe’s case is particularly extraordinary because most family members who come to the ICRC seeking help have little or no information about the whereabouts of the kids they are looking for, according to Ibrahim Dukuze, who is responsible for the tracing agency at the ICRC.

Kakuze finally came into their office in April to ask them for help. 

"The girl wasn’t even registered in our system,” Dukuzee said. "We handed it over to our contacts in DR Congo, and they found her within a couple of months.”

A lot of children spend years in the ICRC registry before their relatives can be located. Jean Claude and Petit Olivier, two boys who were also reunited with their family last week, were in the organisation’s system for several years before their mother was located.

Although Christine provided a loving home for her, Asengwe said she felt out of place staying with someone whose culture was different from her own.

"Now that I’m with my real family, life will never be the same again,” she said. "I feel like I am at home here, I can feel that I am part of the family.”

Asengwe’s reunion is a happy one, but the family is still waiting on news about her brother and cousin. So far, they have no leads.

For Asengwe and many other children separated from their loved ones by violence, reunification is a dream come true.

"Coming back, being reunited with my family, there’s nothing better than that,” said the softspoken Asengwe.