KIBUMBA REFUGEE CAMP IN RUGARI PARISH

When I first travelled to Rugari a few weeks ago I saw Kibumba refugee camp for the first time. This week I got to visit up close and personal with some of the visitors from Caritas Italy. We were able to arrive on a day of food distribution and though it was heartening to see people able to get some food, it was also very disheartening to visit the hospital present on the site, for they have malnutrition present in far too many of the population. They were standing in a line at the hospital also, waiting to receive supplements for the children who are malnourished. The hospital staff do a good job of teaching and visiting the homes of those diagnosed with malnutrition creating lines of communication, education, and follow up that help to address the issue of malnutrition. One of the reasons was evident very quickly as to why malnutrition is rampant here. The food received is of poor quality and the ability of residents to buy the needed vegetables, proteins, and fruits to supplement their diet is greatly reduced because of their situation. Following is a list of the foods they received today, thought you would want to try to live for one day on this food and see what you think of it. After you have given it try I would love to hear your comments let me know what you think, post your comments at the bottom of the blog in the link (comments). Some of those living here have been eating this food everyday for months or years. Some have been here for two years. Here is a photo of the foods ready to be distributed and beside the list of foods and quantities they receive. Split yellow peas – 18kg/month/family (family of 5 persons) (from USAID) Cornmeal – 60kg/month/family (from USAID) Palm oil – 4.5kg/month/family (from France Aid) Salt – .75kg/month/family (did not find out the source of this most important element)

These two pictures show some of the 29,000 residents in the camp and the huts they call home. They are just big enough for two adults to sleep in. They are constructed of palms or cornstalks and then covered with a tarp. They sleep on the ground. The three structures up close are not part of the camp. The next two pictures are of salt distribution. They are given two cups into a bag that they bring to hold this most precious cargo. Next are two pictures of persons holding their cards and their bags of salt. The card gives them entry into the system to be able to stand in line and receive the goods that are distributed here.

The card gains a refugee entry into the process and along the way their right forearm is marked to help the system function.

Here are four pictures showing the marking system. If you were a refugee your palm would be marked with a slash or check mark, then on your forearm would be written identity numbers from your card.

Finally the face of the woman who consented to let me take a photo of her hand and arm to show you the system. I feel bad, I cannot remember her name, but I thanked her profusely for the help she gave in providing these photos.

Keep her and all in your prayers for good food and for peace.

This photo is of two Congolese soldiers. I had asked some of the residents in the camp if the soldiers living here were good soldiers or bad soldiers and they reported to me that they were good. These two I congratulated on the good behaviour I had heard about and that we are happy to hear that they do not participate in the violence that some soldiers in Congo are committing. Many soldiers do not want photos taken, but these two agreed to have their photo taken.

The next photo, a child sleeping on the back of her mother as they wait in line, I pray she does not end up as one of so many others I saw in the line at the hospital with malnutrition. Now I want to pass on information that is from the heart, an important plea for this post. Today as I sat and discussed the Kibumba refugee camp with Roger, my colleague here at Caritas, he told me more about the problems of Kibumba refugee camp. Here are some of the statistics I gathered during my visit. In the hospital as I said malnutrition rules and this adds to the problems of disease. Living in such conditions as these where they are beyond the needed capacity for water and sewage they are in constant risk of outbreak of significant epidemics beyond malnutrition.

For now they report that they have at least one birth every day at the hospital and that does not include the first time mothers who they transport into Goma for delivery at a better-equipped hospital. The manager of the health center reported they see more than 100 patients a day in the two consultation rooms they manage and this means they work from first light in the morning and into the night every day. Roger reports that not only are they working long hours, they also are working without pay because there is not money to be found to pay them. The good news of the health center is that they are managing to have good outcomes in spite of a severe workload and such precarious work conditions; the death rate is only 1 death per two weeks. Now the request I spoke of…Roger told me that right now today there is enough medicine for the health center at Kibumba for one more week. He says that on this day next week they will enter a most difficult period for them here at Caritas and those living at Kibumba, they will have no medicine to dispense for patients at the camp. This is because they have been unable to find the money needed to buy the necessary medicines. For one month it takes $1670 to purchase medicines for the IDP’S of Kibumba refugee camp. Surely if we are able to pay for one month then the question comes, "What will happen at the end of one month?" That is a question that will need to be addressed, but at least we will have a month to look at other avenues of funding that can continue the work here. This camp is in our parish, Kibumba refugee camp belongs to Rugari parish and many who live inside this camp are our brothers and sisters with whom we have made this commitment of relationship. Do we have the ability to help them find medicine for one month?

The last photo, another look at Kibumba Refugee Camp from a distance. The place where 29,000 internally displaced persons (IDP'S) now live as refugee's within their own country.

As we celebrate the Resurrection of Easter we wait here in Kibumba for the return of lasting peace.