Dateline ACT

Goma 05/02

Bukavu - a place of refuge for thousands of people

Bukavu, February 5, 2002
By Rainer Lang

Bukavu, a town south of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), lies tucked into a bay on Lake Kivu. The town is a mix of pastoral and urban, rolling hills and banana plantations and masses of people thronging the roads and busy market places. This is the town tens of thousands of people fled to on January 17, when Mount Nyiragongo erupted.

About 25,000 people sought refuge in Bukavu from the lava flow, says the co-ordinator for relief and development with ACT member Eglise du Christi au Congo (ECC) Bilubi Meschac. The majority of these internally displaced people (IDPs) found shelter with families in the area. " This has made the situation very difficult. More so than before", Bilubi explains. Before Mount Nyiragongo erupted a few weeks ago, about 52,000 IDPs had sought refuge in this town of 300,000 inhabitants from the ongoing civil conflict in DRC. ECC staff members warn that it is not safe to travel in remote rural areas. The economy is strained and jobs are scarce.

In its initial response to the crisis caused by the volcanic eruption, ECC identified 4,732 people who were in urgent need of help. Of these people, ECC was able to assist only 1,400 immediately with food. ECC provided sugar, milk and biscuits for 200 children under five with funding provided by ACT Netherlands. Meanwhile, ACT member Christian Aid (CAID) is planning to assist about 1,000 families who fled the volcanic eruption to Bukavu.

A local natal clinic is now packed with IDPs who arrived in Bukavu by boat, having fled their homes, leaving everything behind. The terrifying ordeal is still very real to Boseme Nyumgu, who arrived here with her youngest child, a toddler aged one-and-a-half. Separated from her husband and four other children in the rush to escape, she is desperate to know what has become of them. She cannot go back to Goma, as her house lies buried somewhere under the lava. Boseme and 50 other families are still seeking shelter in the small health centre - up to nine people crammed into each of the small rooms. As with so many others, she has not been able to change her clothes since she arrived in Bukavu over two weeks ago.

"All our clothes were burnt in our homes", Julienne Yuma, a mother of three small children says. The 29-year old woman would like to join her husband who lives in Gisenyi, Rwanda, but she has no money to buy a ticket for the ferry. "The people here only have beans and rice to eat," says Jacques Mundyo, the manager of the centre. They do however have beds and mattresses. At a camp on the outskirts of Bukavu, more than 500 families who also fled the lava flow have been sleeping on the ground for the last two weeks. "We want to go back but don't know where to go", says Roger Bashige Mihigo.

But Bukavu is also home to people who fled a different kind of emergency. "We do not know when we can go back", says Angelique Mugirasin, a 17-year old pupil who lives with eight families in a house provided by ECC. All of them came from the Mulenge-area in the mountains, about 200 kilometers away from Goma in 1997. "We had to walk for nearly two weeks", Mari Heresi recalls. Their houses were burnt down when two warring factions clashed - as with so many thousand of other Congolese, they too have fallen prey to those fighting over DRC's vast resources - land, diamonds, gold and the mineral coltan. "There is no work for us here", the 38-year old mother of seven says. Their support comes from friends and relatives who fled to Bukavu earlier, and who had managed to find work - a tough environment and a situation that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, says ECC's Bilubi Meschac.