Bonheur Mandjakete (2nd right) in the Boyabo camp for refugees from Central African Republic (CAR). Bonheur and his family fled from their village the day that Bonheur's friend Princi was shot and killed by Seleka forces in front of his eyes. With surprising eloquence, nine year-old Bonheur recounted the escape of his family. "When they shot Princi I was 'frustrated,' and I ran away crying," he recalls. When he found his family and told them what had happened, they waited until night fell, then slipped away to an island in the middle of the Oubangi River. They lived there for "three Sundays," (three weeks), he says. "We found some brothers (friends and neighbours) and made shelters out of bamboo like the fisherman do. We didn't sleep much at night, and didn't do much during the day. We were scared all the time." In late April, Bonheur and his family safely arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though Bonheur was forced to abandon everything he valued in CAR, his shoes, his schoolbooks and pen, he reflects on the situation with an uncommon optimism. "The most important thing is that I have my life, and my family," he says. "We are all alive, even though we had to leave all our important things behind."