Mission to Tanganyika
From July 12 to 16, I went with part of the Goma office team to Kalemia, the capital of Tanganyika province, located along the lake of the same name and bordering Tanzania and Zambia. The objective of this mission was to maintain a link with the teams present on the spot, but also to better measure the humanitarian situation on the spot.
Upon landing, one cannot help but be struck by the beauty of Lake Tanganyika, which stretches so far into the distance that it could pass for a sea. The following days, the reality of the territory imposed itself on me, notably through two field visits to IDP camps located about ten kilometers from Kalemia. These two visits were for distributions of our household items (NFI) and WASH kits to recently displaced people (who arrived at the foster sites 2 to 3 weeks ago). These two distributions resulted in the distribution of these first aid kits to approximately 300 households, reaching approximately 2,100 people. All of these people have fled the conflicts that affect the north of the province. These conflicts are of two types, and often overlap: on the one hand, armed groups are expanding their hold on the gold regions of northern Tanganyika, attacking villages to loot them, and on the other hand, there is an inter-ethnic conflict between the Twa and the Bantu — the Twa, who traditionally live from hunting and gathering, are being forced by the regular army to leave the forest, to avoid being recruited by the rebel groups.
So how does a distribution go? It always begins with music, song, and dance, the idea being to take advantage of the distributions to pass on awareness messages to the whole community on various themes (malaria, COVID-19, gender-based violence, vaccination of children, etc.) while making this day an opportunity to rejoice for the displaced people whose daily life is more than difficult. Then, the various beneficiaries are called to present themselves (the list of beneficiaries was compiled during the previous days through door-to-door visits), and once their identity has been verified through the token that was given to them during the targeting, they are given the assistance kits. The final step is for the beneficiaries to verify the contents of the kit, and possibly file a complaint with a complaint office. One of the difficulties is to have a distribution that is both efficient and at the same time attentive to the needs of all the beneficiaries, especially the most vulnerable (pregnant and breastfeeding women, the elderly, etc.): the organization of the distribution attempts to protect the most vulnerable (by creating a shelter from the sun or rain for example) and to allow for an opening of the floor in case of violence or specific risks with the presence of specialized protection staff. However, in a context where the community is the keystone of society, the expression of violence by vulnerable people is often made difficult.
The question that is on my mind as I go to bed tonight is this: through our humanitarian action, we have of course brought comfort to these displaced persons, most often women with young children, but what future do we really allow them to hope for? What are the prospects for this woman and her one-month-old baby, who lost her husband when the Mai-Mai put fire to their hut during an attack?
