Life on the lava of Goma

Goma lost many of its schools in the eruption

Andrew Harding BBC correspondent in Democratic Republic of Congo

It is eight in the morning, and the black sea of lava is already starting to shimmer in the heat.

Crowds are crossing it - picking their way in flip-flops over the rough rock. Some are pushing wooden bicycles laden with fruit.

The eruption was bad but the war is much worse

Joseph

A handful of wooden houses have been erected on top of the lava. They look like flimsy boats adrift on a malevolent ocean.

Clarisse and Chance hold hands as they pick their way across the surface. They are both six years old and on their way to school.

It rained last night and in places steam rises from cracks in the lava. Not a comforting sign. It is almost a year since January's eruption but the earth tremors continue and Mount Nyiragongo - towering over the town of Goma - could strike again at any time.

Lava flows obliterated large parts of the town

Clarisse lost her home beneath the lava. Her father lost his job as a driver. Now the family of seven live on the edge of town in a tiny tent made of scraps of plastic sheeting, sticks, old lumps of lava and banana leaves.

Clarisse's school was destroyed too. But several have since been rebuilt and a few, like the Don Bosco Youth Centre, survived intact and, like lifeboats, are now taking in many children as they can.

A thousand kids run around in the courtyard of Don Bosco's. It's 10:30 now and time for a short break between classes. Clarisse sits and watches the bigger boys and girls play volleyball. Near her, Fiston Mirind and Joseph Makelele are playing cards.

Twin evils

"The eruption was bad," says14-year-old Joseph, nursing a withered right arm. "But the war is much worse. I've lost my whole family because of it." After his parents were shot by soldiers Joseph lived on the street for two years. Then, he says, an army jeep ran him over, paralysing his arm.

Some see no future in Goma

Fiston sits quietly. Aged 14, he has not spoken much since he arrived in January, except to explain that he used to be a child soldier in neighbouring Burundi. And that he is an orphan.

It is a familiar story here. In a large shed, 16-year-old Innocent Harerimana is learning bricklaying with 15 other boys. He says he wants to rebuild Goma. But then he pauses and corrects himself.

"Actually I'd like to just leave this whole place," he says. He is scared about another eruption but more concerned about Democratic Republic of Congo's war. "My mother was killed and my father got sick and died."

The eruption may have wiped out half of Goma and attracted massive media coverage. But four years of war in Congo are believed to have led to the deaths of over 3 million people and forced a similar number to abandon their homes.