UNICEF: Humanitarian crisis continues as fragile peace sets in for the DRC
Displaced and destitute. Recent fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left a humanitarian crisis.
Thousands have been helped already – families have been registered, children vaccinated against deadly diseases
and cooking utensils, food and basic shelter have been provided; latrines and clean running water have kept illness
down to a minimum.
But the flood of humanity fleeing conflict has meant aid agencies and government authorities are not been able to
keep up. Many walked for days to get to these safe camps outside Goma, shaping bush and branches into makeshift
homes.
16 year old Pascaline was heavily pregnant when she and her family were forced to flee. She went into labour on the
road, found shelter from the pouring rain and gave birth to a healthy girl. Seeing the new born baby and young
mother, Josephine took pity on the family and opened her home to them. 17 people live here now.
Josephine Ndalemwa, Head of host family:
"I saw this family and the young mother and her tiny baby were completely soaked from the rain and I felt really sorry
for them and took them in."
The main victims of the renewed fighting are children. This young boy was shot leaving his home. Brought here by an
NGO worker, his leg was saved. The main goal of UNICEF's partner Heal Africa is to help rape survivors. A mobile
clinic is loaded up with medicines and heads out to volatile areas where women are most vulnerable.
Young boys are particularly at risk. Once fighting was their thing, now it's football. At this transit centre for children
recruited by armed forces, they get their playfulness back, caring for rabbits and being cared for themselves.
Celestin too was shot and had just been brought in MONUC, the UN forces here.
"Celestin", 13-year-old:
Fears of re-recruitment mean these children won't be united until peace holds.
Villages have emptied out in the fighting. For now MONUC and Congolese government forces are in control of the
town of Sake. But ongoing insecurity threatens children most.
Colonel Chand Saroha, Commanding Officer MONUC:
"Nkunda's forces, Mayi mayi and FDLR also, we have seen children in all these three groups, all these commanders,
they generally try to lure children to pick up arms."
For now a tenuous peace is holding but the crisis in eastern DR Congo remains on the edge.
Embed code for Blogs
Simply copy and paste the following HTML code below into your blog, website, or MySpace profile.
Copy to Clipboard
Share this video:
Simply click the button below and select your social bookmarking site.
Tag Cloud
Category: Human Services
Living life behind bars. Pascal is just one of 85 juvenile inmates doing time in Douala’s Newbell prison. Here they live
on top of each other. They sleep, eat and wash in an area meant for only 30 prisoners. An open sewer runs...
Views: 57305
Category: Human Services
Junior Goodwill Ambassador ‘Name Six’ visited child victims of the recent natural disaster, in ‘child friendly spaces’
set up by UNICEF in or next to camps for those displaced by the cyclones and related flooding.
Cyclone...
Tags:
child victims, natural disaster, sanitation and hygiene, working, Child friendly spaces, health, nutrition, education, protection, human rights, protecting
Views: 79708
Category: Human Services
21-year-old Bintou Sabaly has given birth to three healthy children in her remote Senegalese village of Mounting
Hamady.
Nobody here has running water or electricity. Most people survive by growing crops and raising a few animals....
Tags:
health, nurse, medicine, child survival, women, West Africa, senegal, malnutrition, mother and child,
Views: 34770
Category: Human Services
Youth journalists from around the Caribbean are scouting the streets of Georgetown Guyana looking for stories on
issues that concerns their generation. While asking challenging questions, they get unexpected answers.
SOUNDBITE...
Views: 19269
Category: Health & Care
Weeks old and already at risk. Born to mothers living with HIV … these are the youngest faces of Russia’s AIDS
epidemic. But in this paediatric ward in Chelyabinsk - their needs are well anticipated.
SB (Russian) Irina Kastyan,...
Views: 32313
Category: Human Services
That children are no longer the invisible face of HIV AIDS.
Baby Mohammed is only a few hours old but his mother is HIV positive and so he’s about to begin a course of
prophylactic drugs.
Prevention of mother to child...
Tags:
hiv, prevention, aids campaign, pregnant women, .treatment, Unite for
Children, AIDS programme
Views: 33420
Category: Public Benefit
Currently, there are 514,000 children in the U.S. foster care system and 115,000 of these
children are waiting for families to adopt them. The majority of waiting children are of
color with older African American boys waiting the...
Views: 28418
Category: Health & Care
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in America. Someone suffers a stroke every
45 seconds and there are 700,000 new or recurrent strokes annually. Stroke is also a
leading cause of severe, long-term disability as it can...
Views: 29582
Category: Health & Care
Mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are widespread.
In 2005 there were an estimated 24.6 million adults age 18 or older who experienced
serious psychological distress (SPD), which is highly...
Views: 24670
Category: Health & Care
Mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are widespread.
In 2005 there were an estimated 24.6 million adults age 18 or older who experienced
serious psychological distress (SPD), which is highly...
Views: 15267
Category: Health & Care
Each year, nearly five million people in the U.S. need a life saving blood transfusion and 38,000 units of blood are needed daily in this country, according to the National Blood Data Resource Center. Approximately 60 percent of the...
Views: 18494
Category: Health & Care
Mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are widespread. In 2005 there were an estimated 24.6 million adults age 18 or older who experienced serious psychological distress (SPD), which is highly correlated...
Views: 13897
























European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition 2008
New Tech Helps Trailers From Losing Control
Emergency Preparedness
Nokia NFC - Parallel Lives
Ford Models 360 - Spring Fashions
After School Scene: Sock Friend
UNICEF: Gender Equality - Coco's Story
U.S. Department of Transportation: House Party
Ethanol vs Gasoline
Lufthansa 80 years in China
Yahoo: Lawrence Bender, Producer of "An Inconvenient Truth"
Volvo: Multilock Technology
Project Aware: Ed Harris
Human Rights Watch Director Middles East-N. Africa Sarah Leah Whitson on unexploded weapons
Lights to improve automotive safety and design
UNICEF State of the Worlds Children 2008 improving health care delivery to farming communities in Egypt
UNICEF A call for aid to help Somalia's undernourished children
Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns on India II