World Vision is assessing the relief needs of tens of thousands of people displaced by the most recent outbreak of fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and has begun distributing some emergency supplies.

The current fighting is affecting more than 250,000 people. Up to 50,000 people have been displaced in the past week, adding to more than one million who were already displaced by the decade-long conflict in the region.

World Vision in DRC
Sponsored children in DRC, who live in the south and the west of the country, are not directly affected by the fighting. Canadian donors support 21,625 children in DRC, out of 73,714 children supported by World Vision sponsors worldwide.

The relief situation for people displaced in the eastern part of the country is complicated, with tens of thousands of people moving between various camps and their homes. Keeping track of so many people—who were already living in temporary shelter before the outbreak of fighting—is proving difficult.

“World Vision is evaluating the numbers and whereabouts of affected people and their needs," said World Vision aid worker Michelle Rice in Goma. “World Vision is also determining suitable temporary settlement sites for people in urgent need of food and non-food items, shelter, water and sanitation.”

Teams on the Ground
World Vision's Africa Regional Office is dispatching additional relief and security personnel to assist the team in Goma. World Vision has family relief kits of non-food items for 10,500 families en-route to Goma.

“Our greatest need right now is food to keep us alive. Of course, other basic necessities are essential, too,” Tantina Wamwasi, a young mother whose husband was recently killed, told World Vision aid workers at Bulengo camp for internally displaced people (IDPs).

At the camp in Shasha, some 38 kms southwest of Goma, World Vision aid workers saw makeshift shelters made from dry banana leaves—not suitable to keep people dry during the current rainy season. Occasional gunfire exchange was heard from government military forces and various rebel groups surround the areas neighbouring the Shasha IDP camp.

Women and children are particularly at risk. Women who venture into hills to look for firewood are often raped. World Vision aid workers heard of one situation where armed men raped an elderly grandmother, her daughter and grandchildren.

"If the security situation remains stable, we expect to begin food distributions soon," said Rice. "The current ceasefire must be held by all sides if we are to respond to the humanitarian crisis here. Without some semblance of stability, relief efforts are extremely difficult."

Programs in Eastern DRC
Prior to suspension of operations in eastern DRC, World Vision was working with relief and recovery-focused programs covering protection (including child protection), water and sanitation, nutrition and supplementary feeding, food security, agriculture, HIV and AIDS and school rehabilitation.

World Vision started working in eastern DRC in 1993. Its 91 staff members in the area have experience in managing an advocacy, protection and a rights-based approach to relief and development projects and programs.

What You Can Do
You can make a donation to help desperate children and families in DRC.

To learn more about the crisis of sexual violence in DRC, you can listen to World Vision’s Jennifer Harold’s discussion or read “An Epidemic of Rape.”