This is why she chose to stay.

In this final chapter of Ruth’s oral history from the Democratic Republic of the Congo 🇨🇩, she reflects on life in Goma under rebel control, raising a young daughter alone, and surviving a conflict that has shaped nearly every stage of her life.

Ruth remembers fleeing violence in Walikale as a child, only to experience war again in Goma years later. Today, she lives in a city where insecurity remains part of daily life, opportunities are scarce, and many families stay not because they feel safe—but because they have nowhere else to go.

As a single mother, Ruth speaks candidly about judgment, poverty, interrupted education, and the challenges of caring for her daughter while trying to finish university. She shares what it means to build a future when survival itself requires constant effort.

This episode is a story about conflict, motherhood, faith, and the determination to keep moving forward even when the future feels uncertain.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

00:00 Transition to Womanhood02:45 Relationships and First Love06:30 Love, Pregnancy, and Breaking Point14:40 Facing Single Motherhood18:20 Birth and Early Motherhood21:10 Learning to Be a Mother25:15 Social Perception and Identity28:45 Emotional Journey of Motherhood

Why This Story Matters

Displacement is often described as a single event. For Ruth, it has been a recurring reality.

Her story reveals how conflict reshapes not only where people live, but how they study, work, parent, and imagine their futures. It also highlights a reality faced by many female-headed households: survival depends on balancing caregiving, education, income generation, and emotional endurance all at once.

By listening to Ruth, we gain a deeper understanding of what life looks like for women raising children amid ongoing insecurity—and what remains possible despite it.

About The Archive Speaks

The Archive Speaks preserves oral histories from displaced women and female heads of households around the world.These stories are shared in women’s own words, without political alignment or editorial interference, so that lived experiences shaped by conflict, displacement, and survival remain part of the historical record.