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Masisi, 08 February 2012 – In response to new massive population displacement in the last few weeks in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, the Jesuit Refugee Service has begun providing material assistance and emergency education to thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
"It may come as a surprise to many that education is being prioritised during an emergency. Displacement causes huge psychological harm to children, and we feel there is an urgent need to restore an element of normality to their lives, and school attendance does this", said JRS Great Lakes Advocacy Officer, Danilo Giannese.
This most recent in a long line of humanitarian crises in North Kivu has been caused by conflict between the Rwandan Hutu rebel FDLR group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and the local militia FDC (Congolese Defence Force).
In the absence of the Congolese army to guarantee security, fighting broke out in late November in the border district of Walikale, and has not yet ended.
Consequently, 4,000 families, nearly 20,000 people have been forced to seek safety in the nearby district of Masisi, where JRS currently manages two large education and emergency assistance projects.
"From one day to the next, these men, women and children have lost everything they possessed. They are scared and traumatised and forced to live in appalling circumstances. They sleep on the ground or in makeshift shelters. Women have to share very confined spaces with men they don’t know, and this increases the risk they will be subject to violence", added Mr Giannese.
Education for children
As the violence abruptly interrupted the school year for thousands of displaced children, JRS has begun building four temporary schools in the four villages of Mahanga, Lushali, Kaandja and Busoro. According to JRS field staff, teams are literally following the influx of displaced people trying to ensure teachers can start education activities wherever they find refuge.
"We have counted almost 2,000 families with around 6,000 children need of primary education in these four villages. It is obvious local schools don’t have the capacity to help all of them. Following meetings with local education authorities, school headmasters, teachers and parents, they accepted our proposal of establishing mobile schools", said JRS Great Lakes Programmes Officer, Ernesto Lorda.
With the support of the UN refugee agency, the UN children’s fund and the Norwegian Refugee Council, JRS has already begun the construction of six temporary classrooms in Mahanga and in Lushali, and plans to distribute furniture and school materials to the school children. In addition, JRS teams have started distributing plastic sheeting to IDPs in Kishondja makeshift camps, where the number of displaced has reached 1,200 families, a 300 percent increase in seven days.
"It may come as a surprise to many that education is being prioritised during an emergency. Displacement causes huge psychological harm to children, and we feel there is an urgent need to restore an element of normality to their lives, and school attendance does this", said JRS Great Lakes Advocacy Officer, Danilo Giannese.
This most recent in a long line of humanitarian crises in North Kivu has been caused by conflict between the Rwandan Hutu rebel FDLR group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and the local militia FDC (Congolese Defence Force).
In the absence of the Congolese army to guarantee security, fighting broke out in late November in the border district of Walikale, and has not yet ended.
Consequently, 4,000 families, nearly 20,000 people have been forced to seek safety in the nearby district of Masisi, where JRS currently manages two large education and emergency assistance projects.
"From one day to the next, these men, women and children have lost everything they possessed. They are scared and traumatised and forced to live in appalling circumstances. They sleep on the ground or in makeshift shelters. Women have to share very confined spaces with men they don’t know, and this increases the risk they will be subject to violence", added Mr Giannese.
Education for children
As the violence abruptly interrupted the school year for thousands of displaced children, JRS has begun building four temporary schools in the four villages of Mahanga, Lushali, Kaandja and Busoro. According to JRS field staff, teams are literally following the influx of displaced people trying to ensure teachers can start education activities wherever they find refuge.
"We have counted almost 2,000 families with around 6,000 children need of primary education in these four villages. It is obvious local schools don’t have the capacity to help all of them. Following meetings with local education authorities, school headmasters, teachers and parents, they accepted our proposal of establishing mobile schools", said JRS Great Lakes Programmes Officer, Ernesto Lorda.
With the support of the UN refugee agency, the UN children’s fund and the Norwegian Refugee Council, JRS has already begun the construction of six temporary classrooms in Mahanga and in Lushali, and plans to distribute furniture and school materials to the school children. In addition, JRS teams have started distributing plastic sheeting to IDPs in Kishondja makeshift camps, where the number of displaced has reached 1,200 families, a 300 percent increase in seven days.
