More than 100,000 inhabitants of the Gorongosa district, in Sofala province, have no access to education, income-generating initiatives and social assistance because they lack the identity documents they lost when they fled the political-military conflict between the Mozambique Defense Forces and Renamo in the region..

Six years on, the district government recognizes the situation as worrying and says it is working with the justice sector to carry out a free mass campaign to re-register people in this situation.

A VOA report reveals that the plight of thousands of people living in various villages in the Gorongosa district who have been forced to leave their homes in search of safe places is painful.

"Without documents, lost when they fled, they are now unable to have a formal job or benefit from income-generating projects, as well as access government social benefits reserved for disadvantaged families," she said.

Maria Ndapassoa feels like she doesn't exist, because she is missing out on many job opportunities due to the lack of a document, even though she has been registered.

Also quoted by VOA, Ndapassoa reveals that for years she has faced a series of obstacles related to bureaucracy and procedural costs in order to obtain a new birth certificate, which is having an impact on her son's life.

"I'm going through a lot of difficulties because I don't have a document. What makes me most sad is that I can't register my son to enroll him, his father has lost it, and when I go to witnesses I get people in the same situation. It's not easy to get a duplicate," laments Maria Ndapassoa.

Tomé José, a refugee from the town of Vunduzi, in the foothills of Serra da Gorongosa, an area extensively affected by political-military tension, and now living in the district town of Gorongosa, where he carries out his business, said that shame and despair are common feelings among people who don't have documents, as they are prevented from accessing micro-credit projects, which means that they can't aspire to progress in life.

José thinks that his situation and that of many others could be avoided by integrating documentation policies.

"There are a lot of people who need documents, I'm talking about personal ID cards, and the district has already had initiatives. I'd like to ask you, when you're available, to also look at the Gorongosa district, because a lot of people need access to employment," he says.

However, the Gorongosa district administrator recognizes that the situation is worrying. "The situation of (lack of) registration is a reality, we had an initiative called the peace and conservation consolidation caravan, in which we managed to challenge over 100,000 inhabitants that the cry for help is birth registration," says Pedro Mussengue, who adds that he has made a request "to the Provincial Justice and Labor Service for registration to be free, especially in schools for children and adults."