The children who grew up there not only had to cope with the trauma of their past, but lived in fear and had no meaningful future to return to. The situation for women was equally dire as an early Human Rights Watch report entitled Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps noted, "When Burundi women fled the internal conflict there, they expected to find safety and protection in the refugee camps. Instead, they simply escaped one type of violence in Burundi to face other forms of abuse in the refugee camps in Tanzania." As the civil war itself ended, the international community lost interest and funding to support those in the camps largely dried up leaving organisations such as UNICEF almost alone in trying to identify and match children with their extended families and provide child protection and support services.

As the refugee camps began to close with Tanzania, already one of the world's poorest countries eager to repatriate those living in exile, many faced an uncertain future particularly families with mixed marriages between Hutu-Tutsi. Those families became convinced that they would be killed on their return to Burundi, and many fled the camps and tried to disappear without papers or anywhere to go with their children. The video (right) explores many of the challenges these returning refugees face, not least where to live in what is already one of the most densely populated nations of Africa. Against this backdrop is the simmering tension between the Hutu and the Tutsi, tension which could again erupt over land disputes, particularly for those returning refugees who hope to reclaim land and property they abandoned a quarter of a century ago.