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| Mungo
Mulhima looks at her baby son named Volcano, while in hospital
in Goma town |
There was only one name Muhima Mungo felt
was right for her new-born baby -- Volcano.
Just 24 hours old, Volcano was among the first babies to be born
in the Congolese town of Goma after a tide of molten rock devastated
the lakeside city following a volcanic eruption last week.
"We're going to call him Volcano," said Mungo, 37,
sitting in a hospital bed in Goma next to the baby swaddled in
a pink and white chequered blanket.
As his mother spoke, an earth tremor sent a shudder through the
building and the dozing Volcano stirred in his sleep.
Volcano, like thousands of other residents whose homes were razed
by the eruption, faces an uncertain future.
"Our neighbourhood was destroyed by the lava," said
Mungo, 37. "My house was burnt, I don't know where we're
going to go."
Like an estimated 300,000 other residents, Mungo fled across
the border from Goma to the town of Gisenyi in neighbouring Rwanda
when rivers of lava bulldozed through much of the city last Thursday.
Heavily pregnant, and suffering from labour pains, she returned
to Goma where the baby was born at 12:50 p.m. on Monday. Mungo
said Volcano was born without complications, but his problems
may have only just started.
Volcano, Muhimo's ninth child, now has no home to go to. Two
of his brothers were lost in the flight from Goma, and Mungo said
her husband is still looking for them.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2002-01-25 01:00
