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I just got back from North Kivu in eastern D.R. Congo and it was amazing to observe that the biggest and most efficient organization taking care of more than 500,000 displaced people were Congolese families themselves. Families who have not been displaced by the years of violence in the eastern Congo have opened up their homes to assist uprooted Congolese with nowhere else to go. However, despite their efforts, these host families are not sufficiently supported. Minova, currently hosting more than 3,000 internally displaced people, is a city bordering beautiful Lake Kivu. I met with displaced families who lived in small huts that had been built in the garden of the local authority’s headquarters. I also met with displaced families who were supported by local families instead. One pregnant woman was hosted by another family in their home, because they did not want her to give birth in her small hut that was inhabited by seven people - including five children and her husband. An elderly woman lived with a female resident of Minova who said that she will host her until it is safe for the older woman to return to her permanent home. This sense of solidarity will not last forever. In camps around nearby Kiwandja, there were women and children who had recently left their host families and returned to the camps. “We spent three months with them but they were tired of having us with them,” the women told me. This indicates that host families have reached the limit of their efforts to assist displaced people. Aid agencies, whose assistance has mainly targeted displaced people in camps, acknowledge the fact that host families have not received enough support. They say that it is a big challenge for them to identify displaced families within local communities and efficiently provide them with assistance. A way to get around this difficulty is to talk directly with the local population to assess their needs and to get their suggestions on how to deliver assistance that will reinforce their efforts. This will prevent the humanitarian situation from deteriorating further. Some local civil society organizations, whose members are mainly small pastoralists and farmers, have ideas on how to reinforce the production capacity of host communities who are currently assisting displaced people. For instance, while distributing food to the displaced people, some should also be given to host families. Additionally, seeds and tools could be distributed to host families and the displaced people until both are able to produce from land. Distributing chickens or rabbits is another option as they take only 2 or 3 months to reproduce and they are easy to carry if people must flee from attacks. While such distribution may take some time, displaced people will be able to continue living with host families where they retain their dignity. In camps, many of the displaced said that they are cut off from social networks and feel more powerless and dependent. As a Congolese pointed out to us, “We do live here, we have always lived here. We know how to survive in this unsecure environment. The international actors cannot provide everything for people’s livelihood without the participation of the people themselves. And they should not forget that at some point they will leave and most of what they have started doing during all these years without involving us will fall apart.” People are looking forward to returning home as soon as the current peace process reduces the violence in their towns. In the meantime, Congolese in this region want to move on with their lives. Despite the insecurity, they carry on their livelihood activities – they farm small plots of land, they do petty trade, organize cultural events in their villages and many others. Aid has to build on the mechanisms used by Congolese to survive. --Mpako Foaleng

Labels: Democratic Republic of Congo