DanChurchAid
Congo (DRC)
Host families of displaced at risk
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Small groups of families cautiously making their way home by foot. |
Although these displaced persons staying at other families’ homes do not appear to be immediately at risk of malnutrition and disease like those jammed into camps, they are weighing on the meager resources of their hospitable host families- and feeling undignified for having to do so.
Large groups of “invisible refugees”
As many aid groups work to assist those in displaced person camps, ACT members are working through church and local networks to identify needs and prioritise assistance for the largely 'invisible' displaced families and the increasingly vulnerable communities who are hosting them. Initial plans for assistance include support for an estimated 60,000 people, as well as water and sanitation support for significantly more families.
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Maria Buira and her mother on the doorstep of her house, now a interim home to 18 refugees. |
According to a list compiled by a local pastor, Maria Buira's family had opened their doors to 18 people that had fled from Masisi. "I couldn’t turn them away, but as they became too many, I started to look for other places for some of them to stay. My house is small, you see.”, Maria says. She identified the owner of an unfinished brick building around the corner and convinced him to unlock the gate to allow additional displaced families to camp at the construction site.
“At the mercy of others”
At the unfinished doorstep of the skeleton of a brick house, three families camp under the clumsily erected roof. Twagira, a 23-year-old mother of four children was sitting on a pile of bricks, holding her six-month-old youngest child, who was born into displacement. Twagira and her husband had left their village of Tongo for the first time in January.
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| Twagira, 23 year old refugee,holding her youngest child, who was born into diplacement. Photo: Anna Muinonen/FCA-ACT International. |
"We came all the way to Goma, because there was no security closer to our home village. Here in Goma we are at the mercy of others, there’s no land to cultivate. My husband goes out in town every day and looks for little things to do here and there to get paid 200, 300 francs [less than US $0.50] for doing small things for others," said Twagira. "There are no latrines. When it rains the water comes inside. We do not have mats, we sleep on those rocks… We just want to go home.", Twagira explains.
In addition to poor shelter conditions for some families, the vulnerability of host communities is also increasing. With the arrival of those who fled, the need for firewood can double or triple for long periods of time and the surrounding environment is beginning to suffer from deforestation.
Interrupted lives and looted homes
Byamungu, an 18-year-old young man who assisted the ACT team with their visit to the community, looked at children returning from school with envy. "I was in the third grade of secondary school back home. I did not run away under gun fire -I left because I heard the war was coming. And every time the war is coming, they come to the villages and recruit young boys by force. I did not want to become a fighter. I want to go back to school, but now I’m just concerned about helping out the family that is housing us here. I spend all day looking for small errands to do, to be able to bring at least something back to our host family at the end of the day."
As violence ensues, families continue to run for their lives leaving everything they had just rebuilt to be destroyed once more. Maria’s mother, who had fled to Goma from Kitchanga earlier this year, said her house had been looted and that there was little left. When asked whether she plans to return, she replied: "Let me ask you something: Is it over? Is there no more war? Why go back just to run again?"
By Anna Muinonen/FCA-ACT International
DR Congo
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