Refugees abound the world over due to various factors, such as human rights violations, wars, ethnicity-related problems, political instability and so on. In South Africa, refugees have a high rate of unemployment and no one knows what they are going through. Unemployed refugee women suffer more than men and bear the burden of unemployment. South Africa is a developing country and many of its citizens are unemployed, thus refugees are not protected by refugee laws that exist in other countries. This study aims to explore the life experiences of unemployed professional refugee women from Rwanda who live in the Durban inner city. Moreover, the research objectives also encompass discovering contributing factors behind their unemployment, as perceived by professional refugee women from Rwanda, and to explore their livelihood and coping strategies in their quest to earn a living. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.