3:33pm
According to aid workers in the eastern province of North Kivu, hundreds of children are living on their own. The children have been separated from their families in fighting between the army and rebels. Heavy fighting between belligerent armed groups in North Kivu is the reason for more than 100,000 people fleeing their homes last week. At least 60% of those 100,000 people were children. The random outburst of fighting causes children to be displaced and disrupts their schooling. It seems as if as soon as they are displaced, there is another outbreak between the army and the rebel Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP). Fleeing from place to place takes a great toll on the children. They have limited access to food, water, and health care. The rare times when they do get it, they are forced to flee, leaving it behind. Without a secure environment people will be forced to live an “on-the-move” type of life, where nothing is stable. Even though there are people doing as much as they to help aid the ones in need, there is still a desperate need for food, water, healthcare and other basic necessities. Efforts are being made to better this issue. Médecins sans Frontières is doing its best to improve the conditions. They’ve set sent out mobile clinics to aid the children with health issues.
I can’t imagine having to constantly move from one place to another. It was hard for me to move from home to college, where I got to take all the things I need. The children in Kivu were forced to move because their life depended on it, while leaving everything behind, so I know that was a million times harder.
2 comments:
It is amazing how we in the United States take things for grant such as food and shelter. The displacement of the children from their families and school is horrible. It is even worst that these children do not have access to food and necessary health care. The things these children are experiencing are the lives that some adults experience it is nothing that a child should have to encounter. Hopefully things will change soon in Kivu.
Something more should be done to raise awareness of the things that are happening in Nord-Kivu. What's happening is nothing new, the conflicts have been going on for years and being displaced from their homes is not the worst thing that happens to the Congolese by far..
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