Goma, December 2008 - This is the story of Maria (not her real name), 42 years old.
"I am from the village of Ntamugenga which is near Rutshuru. On the 28th October during the night there was a lot of shooting during the night and when we heard it we were very worried and didn’t know what to do. There was then more than just shooting, there was a lot of noise coming from other types of weapons.
We were shut inside our house, listening to all of this noise outside and hoped that we would be safe. But then we heard the noise of boots outside and they came towards our house and then broke down the door. There were many of them and they shot and killed my younger brother, his wife and their son.
I was hiding in another room with my sisters and mother and all of our children and as soon as we could escape we did and ran as fast as we could to the road outside. There were many people everywhere, screaming and running in different directions and I got separated from the others.
I ran to a place called Kalengera but when I reached there I came across five armed men. They told me to give them money and I had nothing to give them - so they made me give them my clothes which is all I had. I stripped off all my clothes and gave them to the armed men and they walked away with them and left me but then three of them came back and both of them raped me. They weren't drunk but they were very dirty. They beat me a lot on the face and wounded me and when they left me I was in a lot of pain. I was very scared and went to sleep in the bush for two days not knowing where to go or what to do.
Then I came across a small village and a man saw me hiding naked and he came and gave me some clothes. Then I walked over seventy kilometers to Goma because it was the only place I thought I would be safe. I begged food along the way from people to eat and drank water from streams - it was the only way I could survive.
I still don't know if I have got a disease called HIV from the armed men after what they did to me, but I have been to a centre for counseling since I got here because the person I am staying with suggested I do this.
I don't know what has happened to the rest of my family now back in Ntamugenga because I haven't had word from there. I had three children - two sons and one daughter. They were with me on the night of the fighting but we got separated and I am hoping that a neighbour has been looking after them and that they are OK. I also hope that they are still attending school but nobody knows what is going on up there at the moment.
My husband, their father was killed in the first war in 1997 - the situation was very similar to what has just happened now and I am very worried that something bad may have happened to my children but I don't know what I can do to find out the situation up there.
I am too scared to go back there to find out but I know that it will be the only way...Every time I see someone with a gun here in Goma I feel afraid and remember what the armed men did to me and remember them killing my brother and his family."