18 07 13 UNHCR helps traumatized children who fled DR Congo alone
The special shelter for
unaccompanied children is part of the transit centre at Bundibugyo, opened on
Sunday to provide protection and assistance for a massive influx of civilians
fleeing fighting between the Congolese armed forces and the Allied Democratic
Forces (ADF) – a Ugandan rebel group – in and around the eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Kamango.
Since last Thursday, more
than 66,000 people have sought shelter in Uganda
from DRC's North Kivu province and some 5,000
of them had been transported to the camp as of Tuesday. The new arrivals
urgently need assistance.
The biggest influx here
in years has put a tremendous strain on the town of Bundibugyo (an estimated 21,600 people) and
the district (240,000), where a significant proportion of the population is now
made up of refugees.
Jean, whose parents died
of illness when he was only nine years old, was one of those forced to flee. He
ran in the early hours of Saturday from his village near Kamango after one of his
neighbours was captured by armed men, tortured and then shot in front of him.
The teenager was living with his 18-year-old brother, but they were separated
in the confusion.
The boy found his way
alone to the Ugandan border by following others, who were carrying their
belongings and trying to evade the fighting. When Jean arrived in Uganda, he was forced to stay in a school
building in the hilly border region before UNHCR and Uganda's Office for the Prime
Minister opened the transit centre in Bundibugyo on Sunday, accepting a first
group of 300 people.
"It had
rained," he recalled. "There were so many people in the school we all
had to stand and I couldn't sleep," added Jean, who is one of 20
unaccompanied children in the centre. They receive special assistance in
getting food and are housed in the separate, safe, shelter.
The Bundibugyo transit
centre is located 28
kilometres from the border and has a maximum capacity of
20,000. UNHCR and its partners, including the Uganda Red Cross, are encouraging
people to move to the centre where it is easier to provide protection and
assistance, especially for the most vulnerable.
Most of the refugees
prefer to stay by the border, criss-crossing during the day and hoping to
return home soon. But those who ask to be transported to Bundibugyo receive hot
meals, shelter, blankets and mats. UNHCR or its partners are also constructing
latrines and organizing water supplies. There are currently more than 5,000
refugees staying in the centre with more arriving almost hourly.
"This is by far the
biggest influx I have ever seen," said UNHCR Field Assistant Andrew
Lubwama. "Our main worry at the moment is sanitation and hygiene
facilities for the refugees … although if the rains come early, then we may
also have problems with disease outbreaks," he noted.
Jean and his new
companions will be safer in Bundibugyo than up in the hills, but many are
traumatized by the ordeal of flight and they worry about relatives. Jean
worries about his brother, while another boy in his tent, Jackson,* thinks constantly of his blind
mother.
The traumatized
11-year-old stands in ripped blue shorts and tells UNHCR that he lived with his
brother and mother across the border in North Kivu.
When the ADF attacked, he and his brother Fred,* aged 13, made the
heart-breaking decision to flee, leaving their mother behind because she did
not think she could survive the journey. The brothers do not know what happened
to her.
Although the ordeal of
flight is over for boys like Jean and Jackson, they face many new challenges.
These include tracing lost relatives and making the decision whether to return
home or volunteer to move to one of the refugee settlements in Uganda. For the
moment they're just happy to be safe and have a roof over their heads…