Wednesday, December 3, 2008
2nd December 2008
We are back in Goma with rumours of war imminent; traffic jams that rival London rush hour, and the beautiful Lake Kivu to swim in after a long hot day. Most of the day was spent updating Sadiki (Tearfund’s Country Representative for DRC) and partners on our findings so far.
The security situation has deteriorated west of Goma with renewed fighting near a town called Masisi causing more displacements of the local population.
Gary is leaving tomorrow but I will go out with a team to assess the situation over the next few days. Please continue to pray for peace in DRC and for her safety and that of our partners who work courageously under difficult circumstances.
The security situation has deteriorated west of Goma with renewed fighting near a town called Masisi causing more displacements of the local population.
Gary is leaving tomorrow but I will go out with a team to assess the situation over the next few days. Please continue to pray for peace in DRC and for her safety and that of our partners who work courageously under difficult circumstances.
DRC Crisis: Blog 5, 30th November 2008
We have just got back from 4 days in Beni, North Kivu. It was a very special time for us as we were in Beni in 2002 when there was a crisis in the Ituri region and we helped establish our local partner PPSSP. It was fantastic to arrive at the airport after a short hour long flight to be greeted by old friends again. We were also greeted by Albert Baliesema who heads up the Health Department of Province of the Anglican Church (PEAC) in DRC, and with whom I have been implementing an HIV Impact Mitigation pilot project. We were overwhelmed with their kindness and generosity throughout our stay. We visited PPSSP’s offices and were so encouraged to see how they have grown as an organisation since 2002 and are now the foremost local NGO in Beni. We were so proud that Tearfund has been able to partner with such a competent and committed group of Christians and to see all that they had achieved.
On Friday we travelled to the south of Beni to a town called Lubero, together with an assessment team from PPSSP and PEAC. The trip was breathtakingly beautiful, but also backbreaking as the roads were some of the worst we had ever experienced. The population of Lubero has doubled with displaced families from fighting to the south. We visited a Catholic Church in Lubero that was hosting 20 families, all of whom were sleeping on a cold mud floor in an old school building without blankets or mattresses. The church congregation was doing all they could in supplying food and other essentials, but they themselves were hosting many other families in their homes. The local health centre had been so overwhelmed that they no longer had any drugs to provide the displaced who came for treatment. They were also having to treat many survivors of sexual violence, including a 3-year old girl. The partners are hoping to provide some support to the displaced there this week with money provided by Tearfund. We were also introduced to four newly born babies at the church site who were born on the road whilst the displaced were fleeing the fighting. It was encouraging that in the midst of all the suffering there was new life to be celebrated.
On Friday we travelled to the south of Beni to a town called Lubero, together with an assessment team from PPSSP and PEAC. The trip was breathtakingly beautiful, but also backbreaking as the roads were some of the worst we had ever experienced. The population of Lubero has doubled with displaced families from fighting to the south. We visited a Catholic Church in Lubero that was hosting 20 families, all of whom were sleeping on a cold mud floor in an old school building without blankets or mattresses. The church congregation was doing all they could in supplying food and other essentials, but they themselves were hosting many other families in their homes. The local health centre had been so overwhelmed that they no longer had any drugs to provide the displaced who came for treatment. They were also having to treat many survivors of sexual violence, including a 3-year old girl. The partners are hoping to provide some support to the displaced there this week with money provided by Tearfund. We were also introduced to four newly born babies at the church site who were born on the road whilst the displaced were fleeing the fighting. It was encouraging that in the midst of all the suffering there was new life to be celebrated.
DRC Crisis Blog 4
Yesterday we went to a camp where almost 14,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are living. At first it seems that their needs are well covered; the camp looks organised, the shelters, although small and extremely basic, at least have plastic sheeting, and there is a market in the centre of the camp. Some of the IDPs have been here for 2 years, as a result of DRC’s ongoing conflicts. There’s been a huge wave of new IDPs in the last couple of months, which has swelled the numbers.
Around 60% of the families are headed by women. Once in the camp, the women are still not necessarily safe. In order to make their shelters and find fuel, they have to go to the forest to find wood. We came across a small girl, Cherie, aged around 2 years old, sitting on the ground eating from a bowl. Her mother had gone to collect wood a week ago and had never returned. General Nkunde’s troops are in the forest and kidnap women, raping them or taking them into the army. No one knows what happened to Cherie’s mother, and it is likely that they never will. Now she is being looked after by her father, and neighbours who help to care for her.
Around 60% of the families are headed by women. Once in the camp, the women are still not necessarily safe. In order to make their shelters and find fuel, they have to go to the forest to find wood. We came across a small girl, Cherie, aged around 2 years old, sitting on the ground eating from a bowl. Her mother had gone to collect wood a week ago and had never returned. General Nkunde’s troops are in the forest and kidnap women, raping them or taking them into the army. No one knows what happened to Cherie’s mother, and it is likely that they never will. Now she is being looked after by her father, and neighbours who help to care for her.
Friday, November 28, 2008
DRC Crisis: Blog 3
We spent the day with one of our partners here in North Kivu, PPSSP.
PPSSP was established when we came out to DRC in 2002 and 2003 following the previous crisis in North Kivu and Ituri regions. It was great for both of us to meet up with our dear friend, Mwaka the Executive Director, and catch-up on all the latest news and gossip in PPSSP. We were also really encouraged to see how PPSSP had developed in the past 6 years. PPSSP have opened an office in Goma in August and was implementing a water and sanitation programme when the current conflict broke out so now they are seeing how they can scale up and respond to the influx of displaced people.
We visited a church, Shirika 4, led by Pastor Emmanuel Shamavu. When the first wave of displaced people arrived early October the church members hosted 95 families, however when the second wave came in November they could not host anymore so they opened their church and now 125 families are living in a half completed church building. They share one toilet and have no washing facilities. They sleep on the floor which is made of lava rocks from the volcano. They have very little and besides the church-members the only people who have provided any assistance are the local Muslim community which gave all the women mattresses to sleep on.
I met a schoolteacher, Eugene Kighoma, from Kiwange north of Goma, who had fled fighting 4 weeks earlier. In the confusion he had got separated from his wife, but he managed to keep his two children, 5 and 8 yrs, with him. He has not heard from his wife and does not know if she is alive. He hopes and prays she made it to safety.
We visited a number of sites like this, where the displaced have arrived at churches or schools, too afraid to stay in the displaced camps which are often raided by the various armed groups. They are all deeply traumatised and have been displaced several times and so have nothing with them. Almost all we spoke to had, like Eugene, been separated from their loved ones. But at Shirika the church has provided a shelter and they have shared what little they have. Truly God is present when the church becomes the compassionate hands of God.
PPSSP was established when we came out to DRC in 2002 and 2003 following the previous crisis in North Kivu and Ituri regions. It was great for both of us to meet up with our dear friend, Mwaka the Executive Director, and catch-up on all the latest news and gossip in PPSSP. We were also really encouraged to see how PPSSP had developed in the past 6 years. PPSSP have opened an office in Goma in August and was implementing a water and sanitation programme when the current conflict broke out so now they are seeing how they can scale up and respond to the influx of displaced people.
We visited a church, Shirika 4, led by Pastor Emmanuel Shamavu. When the first wave of displaced people arrived early October the church members hosted 95 families, however when the second wave came in November they could not host anymore so they opened their church and now 125 families are living in a half completed church building. They share one toilet and have no washing facilities. They sleep on the floor which is made of lava rocks from the volcano. They have very little and besides the church-members the only people who have provided any assistance are the local Muslim community which gave all the women mattresses to sleep on.
I met a schoolteacher, Eugene Kighoma, from Kiwange north of Goma, who had fled fighting 4 weeks earlier. In the confusion he had got separated from his wife, but he managed to keep his two children, 5 and 8 yrs, with him. He has not heard from his wife and does not know if she is alive. He hopes and prays she made it to safety.
We visited a number of sites like this, where the displaced have arrived at churches or schools, too afraid to stay in the displaced camps which are often raided by the various armed groups. They are all deeply traumatised and have been displaced several times and so have nothing with them. Almost all we spoke to had, like Eugene, been separated from their loved ones. But at Shirika the church has provided a shelter and they have shared what little they have. Truly God is present when the church becomes the compassionate hands of God.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
"We need peace above all"
Saturday 22 November
This afternoon we went to visit churches where displaced people are now living. Around 70 % of the people who’ve been displaced are in camps. 20% are in schools and churches and the remaining 10% have been hosted by the local population.
We went with Ndungo, the HEAL Africa staff member we are working with, and a pastor, Revd Baleesha. Revd Baleesha is the head of a group of around 300 urban pastors around Goma.
The first church really took us by surprise – we arrived to find a mini camp all around the church. We’d been expecting to see IDPs living in the church, but the scale of what we saw was greater than what we’d imagined. There were about 10 thousand people living around the church. The IDPs have so far received nothing so they’ve made makeshift shelters out of wood and leaves. Whereas in the camps they would have had plastic sheeting, here they have just had to find whatever they could.
Gary went and walked around the camp – he had the questionable delights of viewing the overfull latrines – while I sat with a lady called Suzanne Batsema inside her shelter. Suzanne has been living there for 2 months and fled her village in Masisi because of the fighting. Everyone in her village has left now, and where they used to live, Laurent Nkunde’s troops have moved in. As we sat there, I noticed that Suzanne was wearing very thin plastic flip flops. She walked for the whole day wearing them, and the clothes she had on her. When it was getting dark and she and her family reached Goma, they saw some open ground by a church, thought they would be safe there, so stopped. That’s where they are still now. The shelter they’ve built is more or less like the shape of an igloo; the structure is of branches bent into a semi circle, covered with leaves. I bent down to enter (and I’m not exactly tall!) and was invited to sit down on something – I’m actually not really sure what it was. Suzanne was in there with her son and another lady. With the HEAL Africa staff member and me too, it was fairly crowded. It felt quite damp – it rains most days here and there is nothing to stop the rain coming in. An old cement sack hanging from the ceiling divided the shelter into 2. Behind the sack was a bed. It was probably a bit bigger than a standard single bed we would have in the UK. Suzanne, her husband and 5 children aged 20, 12, 11, 10 and 8, all sleep in the one bed. So far they have received no distributions of anything – food, blankets, pots and pans, plastic sheeting etc. HEAL Africa partner with the church on whose ground they’re staying in, and are planning the support that they can give. This was the first we had seen for ourselves anything of the situation on the ground. It was truly shocking and backs up all that we have seen and heard in meetings and on the news.
We later met with a pastor. He urged us – “if you get the chance to talk to people in the outside world, ask them to pray for peace. We need peace above all, and the IDPs want to go home”. Please do pray for peace, pray for the IDPs and also for the many families who are hosting those who aren’t in camps. The burden on them is also heavy.
Thank you
This afternoon we went to visit churches where displaced people are now living. Around 70 % of the people who’ve been displaced are in camps. 20% are in schools and churches and the remaining 10% have been hosted by the local population.
We went with Ndungo, the HEAL Africa staff member we are working with, and a pastor, Revd Baleesha. Revd Baleesha is the head of a group of around 300 urban pastors around Goma.
The first church really took us by surprise – we arrived to find a mini camp all around the church. We’d been expecting to see IDPs living in the church, but the scale of what we saw was greater than what we’d imagined. There were about 10 thousand people living around the church. The IDPs have so far received nothing so they’ve made makeshift shelters out of wood and leaves. Whereas in the camps they would have had plastic sheeting, here they have just had to find whatever they could.
Gary went and walked around the camp – he had the questionable delights of viewing the overfull latrines – while I sat with a lady called Suzanne Batsema inside her shelter. Suzanne has been living there for 2 months and fled her village in Masisi because of the fighting. Everyone in her village has left now, and where they used to live, Laurent Nkunde’s troops have moved in. As we sat there, I noticed that Suzanne was wearing very thin plastic flip flops. She walked for the whole day wearing them, and the clothes she had on her. When it was getting dark and she and her family reached Goma, they saw some open ground by a church, thought they would be safe there, so stopped. That’s where they are still now. The shelter they’ve built is more or less like the shape of an igloo; the structure is of branches bent into a semi circle, covered with leaves. I bent down to enter (and I’m not exactly tall!) and was invited to sit down on something – I’m actually not really sure what it was. Suzanne was in there with her son and another lady. With the HEAL Africa staff member and me too, it was fairly crowded. It felt quite damp – it rains most days here and there is nothing to stop the rain coming in. An old cement sack hanging from the ceiling divided the shelter into 2. Behind the sack was a bed. It was probably a bit bigger than a standard single bed we would have in the UK. Suzanne, her husband and 5 children aged 20, 12, 11, 10 and 8, all sleep in the one bed. So far they have received no distributions of anything – food, blankets, pots and pans, plastic sheeting etc. HEAL Africa partner with the church on whose ground they’re staying in, and are planning the support that they can give. This was the first we had seen for ourselves anything of the situation on the ground. It was truly shocking and backs up all that we have seen and heard in meetings and on the news.
We later met with a pastor. He urged us – “if you get the chance to talk to people in the outside world, ask them to pray for peace. We need peace above all, and the IDPs want to go home”. Please do pray for peace, pray for the IDPs and also for the many families who are hosting those who aren’t in camps. The burden on them is also heavy.
Thank you
Monday, November 24, 2008
Arriving in Goma
Thursday 20th November 2008
Hi all,
We arrived in Goma this morning after a long trip via Kigali and Bukavu. The 6 hour car ride, with a taxi driver called ‘Chance’ was beautiful, although very long and bumpy. The Rwandans are currently protesting across the country to the detaining of some Rwandan diplomats suspected of involvement in the Rwandan genocide, so we came across several demonstrations- we were pleased we were not French or German (not for the first time)!
After a very difficult border crossing, we crossed over to Bukavu where we met with the DMT staff. After a security and assignment briefing, we took a 2 hour boat ride on Lake Kivu to Goma accompanied by the Country representative, Sadiki.
The day in Goma has consisted primarily been getting introduced and briefed by partners. One of our partners HEAL Africa have just got back from distributing aid to pregnant women and babies behind the rebel lines north of Goma, and they had some great stories and pictures which we were able to send to the DEC media team. Despite it still being very volatile and uncertain, it seems there is access to behind the rebel lines and both our partners (PPSSP and HEAL Africa) are doing a great job responding with the funds we have given them. Gary had an interview with SABC at 6pm, and we may possibly have to do some media on Sunday for BBC 4.
There is a lot of diplomatic activity here with the UK Defence in Goma yesterday and Spanish foreign minister today. We hope this will result in a peaceful resolution to what has been an awful ordeal for the thousands and thousands of re-displaced population, especially the women and children who have suffered terrible crimes over the past few weeks and months.
Please pray for peace in DRC, especially the talks currently being brokered by the UN. Also please pray that the military on both sides of the conflict will be disciplined to hold to the ceasefire and stop looting and raping the local population. Please pray for our partners that they will really hear from God what they need to be doing at this time.
Hi all,
We arrived in Goma this morning after a long trip via Kigali and Bukavu. The 6 hour car ride, with a taxi driver called ‘Chance’ was beautiful, although very long and bumpy. The Rwandans are currently protesting across the country to the detaining of some Rwandan diplomats suspected of involvement in the Rwandan genocide, so we came across several demonstrations- we were pleased we were not French or German (not for the first time)!
After a very difficult border crossing, we crossed over to Bukavu where we met with the DMT staff. After a security and assignment briefing, we took a 2 hour boat ride on Lake Kivu to Goma accompanied by the Country representative, Sadiki.
The day in Goma has consisted primarily been getting introduced and briefed by partners. One of our partners HEAL Africa have just got back from distributing aid to pregnant women and babies behind the rebel lines north of Goma, and they had some great stories and pictures which we were able to send to the DEC media team. Despite it still being very volatile and uncertain, it seems there is access to behind the rebel lines and both our partners (PPSSP and HEAL Africa) are doing a great job responding with the funds we have given them. Gary had an interview with SABC at 6pm, and we may possibly have to do some media on Sunday for BBC 4.
There is a lot of diplomatic activity here with the UK Defence in Goma yesterday and Spanish foreign minister today. We hope this will result in a peaceful resolution to what has been an awful ordeal for the thousands and thousands of re-displaced population, especially the women and children who have suffered terrible crimes over the past few weeks and months.
Please pray for peace in DRC, especially the talks currently being brokered by the UN. Also please pray that the military on both sides of the conflict will be disciplined to hold to the ceasefire and stop looting and raping the local population. Please pray for our partners that they will really hear from God what they need to be doing at this time.
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