Exposed and Hungry: Life in eastern Congo

A young boy, displaced by violence and fighting in his hometown, stands in front of the school in Mitwaba, in the violence-wracked Katanga Province. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A elderly woman and her grandson, pictured near the camp for internally displaced people in Mitwaba where they have sought refuge. Offensives against militia groups in Katanga Province have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

Refuge for the displaced who have fled fighting, in Gety camp, in Ituri Province. Heightened violence has left their villages in ashes. In July 2006 the camp's population had swelled to 30,000. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A mother prepares a meal for her family in front of their shelter in Gety camp. Conditions in the camp are basic and overstretched due to the swelling population. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A young child with eyes older than her years waits while her mother prepares a meal made with ground plaintain or yam and cassava, at the camp in Gety. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A father attempts to spoon feed his daughter at an emergency therapeutic feeding centre, one of two in Bunia. Children such as this young girl are treated for severe malnutrition with medicines, re-hydration salts and specially fortified food. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A mother with her severely malnourished daughter at the emergency therapeutic feeding centre in Bunia. This little girl is one of 169 at the centre who were brought down by aid agencies from the camp at Gety. Many of the children and their families spent weeks in the bush hiding from fighting before finding their way to Gety camp. Several of the children were so malnourished that they died at the centre. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A young boy perches on a frame used to hold weighing scales at the therapeutic feeding centre in Bunia. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A young girl and her mother wait to disembark from the UNHCR and WFP supported ship that, twice a week, returns hundreds of Congolese refugees to the port of Baraka, South Kivu, from refugee camps in Tanzania where they have lived for up to 8 years. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

Food is prepared at the transit centre in Baraka, which welcomes and provides for the needs of the newly repatriated Congolese. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

At the transit centre in Baraka, a returnee is allocated supplies to sustain her and her family while they rebuild their lives back in the DRC. On arrival, each returnee receives a standard assistance kit. This includes household items, plastic sheeting, buckets, jerry cans, mosquito nets, agricultural tools and food rations. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

Staff prepare food supplies at the transit centre. Each returnee is entitled to food rations for three months over the transitional settling in period. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

Joyful reunion of a newly repatriated young man with his mother in Baraka, after seven years spent in Tanzanian refugee camps. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A mother cares for her poorly child while waiting at the transit centre in Baraka. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A newly repatriated family prepares locally caught fish in their home village, Malindi, near Baraka, South Kivu. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance

A recent returnee burns a field to prepare the ground for planting at his new home, in Malindi village. Photograph: Susan Schulman/freelance