Maman Soki is one of the older women transporters at the Petite Bar- rie?re. Today, she is independent and able to provide for her four children. Trapped by her girth in her tricycle, she protects herself from the sun with a rainbow-coloured umbrella, giving her the airs of a diva. "It's when I am with my children that I am really happy," she says. But when we ask her about her husband: "What man wants a woman in my condition? None!" she asserts challengingly. "I had her four children by four different men. Each of them left when they learned I was pregnant. For me, being disa- bled is different. They can find a wife and get married. But for a women, being disabled is being condemned to remain single." It's not easy to be a woman in Congo, and even less so for disabled women." Gisenyi, Rwanda 6th June 2013. Cross-border trade is an economic lifeline for the stalwart citizens along borders in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. The DR Congo, and its neighbouring nations is the epi-centre of this trade, a region economically broken through decades of armed conflict, a region where corruption flourishes and its humble citizens flounder in profound poverty under an umbrella of poor governance. There are estimated more than 30 competing armed groups threatening the region, especially the M23 operating close to the Eastern capital of Goma creating waves of murder, rape and displacement. Conflict, accompanied by endemic poverty is the divisive weapon assaulting the citizens' daily. ? Carol Allen-Storey / International Alert / eyevine