Voices from DR Congo

Renewed violence has forced over 200,000 people to flee their homes in DR Congo. They join the ranks of over a million people currently displaced by conflict across the east of the country.

Many have been living in spontaneous settlements where access to clean water is limited and the risk of disease is high. Maombi, Fitina and Kuba are living in a settlement near Goma. They spoke to Oxfam staff about their experiences.

Maombi

I have three children, they are [aged] six, three, and one. My husband is here with us also. We have been here for two months now. We had to leave our home to escape from the conflict. It took us three days to get here on foot. We had to sleep outside along the way. It was a dangerous time for us.

In order to get by, we try and sell what we manage to collect, and this enables us to buy food. For water, we go to the lake nearby, as there are not many places we can get it and we have to pay to get clean water. I go alone during the day to collect my water from the lake but I get scared because there are bandits along the road and it is not safe.

Fitina Yallala

My husband is dead. I am here with my three grandchildren, aged ten, eight and seven, who live with me. I used to have ten grandchildren, but the others all got sick and died.

Look at what I am living in, look at my home now: it is awful. The four of us have to live in here. I am not strong enough to go and collect water and gather food, so my grandchildren have to do it for me, for us.

I hope that in the future we will be able to get the food and the water we need, and shelter from the rain. Most of all, I want peace.

Kuba Augustin

I have been here for three months now. I am here with my family: there are 12 of us. My youngest child is five and the eldest is 15. This is not the first time that we have been displaced. Most people in my community have had to move many times. I have had to move several times this year and last year. This situation is not new to us.

All our belongings - our mattresses, our means to get food – are at home. The government now needs to provide us with the things we lack. I am at a loss. I have children to protect and to look after, and I have nothing, our lives are at risk. My children need an education; they cannot to go to school in this situation. Where are they to go? Where are we to go? We need peace before we can go home.

Learn more about Oxfam's response to the conflict in the DRC