A phenomenological study was undertaken to consider the essence of the
lived experience of displacement as perceived by a group of ten
Congolese refugees exiled in Uganda. Semi-structured individual
interviews found displacement to be an experience of suffering from
loss; primarily loss of home. Clearly, the "home" articulated in refugee
narratives was an imagined home; imagined as the ideal place where
security, love, connectedness, respect define life. In addition,
Congolese refugees viewed displacement as an experience of suffering
from separation, restless wandering and estrangement. Participants also
reported that displacement had a negative impact on their lives. This
study tied human needs theory with constructivism and framed the latter
as both a driver (of conflict and flight), but also as the basis of
reconstruction (needs satisfaction) that is made possible because the
imagined "home" is a construct that can be reconstructed.The findings of
this study point to how some refugee services might be structured (i.e.
giving people a sense of home is not necessarily keeping them in a state
of suspended limbo with perpetual expectations of returning to their
former home, but home can be reconstructed even in the refugee
locations).