In the 1990s, after 30 years of war with neighbouring Ethiopia, Eritrea won its independence and embarked on the monumental task of recostruction. At the heart of this effort was the quest of hundreds of thousands of returning refugees and demobilised soldiers who hopde to make new lives for themselves and their families. This book examines, through first-hand accounts, the obstacles these returnees, mainly women, faced. He also looks at the role of the new government and aid organisations in the process, and explores how gender issues had an impact.