Down the hall was the control room, with several computer screens on which Gonzaga and Setrakian and their team of researchers observe their test subjects.

Grullos says the children have been taken to the town of Gitega, east of Bujumbura, where the process to reunite them with their families would begin.

Gonzaga, an affable Philadelphian, introduced me to one of his colleagues, Heather Setrakian, who was running the study.