IN ONE FLASH, CONGOLESE LOSE THE GOOD OLD LIFE

BY RACHEAL NINSIIMA

When Margaret Tibasi, 21, heard sharp shrills of fleeing neighbours, she joined the flight to exile. She handed her three-year-old daughter to a friend, knelt on the dusty floor of their hut, strapped her father’s legs around her and carried him.

This happened on the night of July 11, when the DR Congo army, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), allegedly clashed with the ADF rebels in Kamango town, in North Kivu.

Off they went, daughter and father, crossing streams, wading through irritating grass and stones, ravaged homesteads and finally entered Uganda through Busunga. They settled at Butogo primary school, about three kilometres off the Uganda-Congo border.

For a week now, they have slept in the open, using some of the fabric they managed to escape with as beddings. Access to food has been difficult.

“I have been forced to run back into Congo to get food because we hardly get what to eat here as we wait for the trucks to take us where the food is,” Tibasi lamented.

A refugee at Bubukwanga breastfeeds her twins

Three police trucks and two from the district, which can carry 300 people each, are being used to transport the refugees to Bubukwanga sub county, where a temporary settlement has been arranged. Dennis Namuwoza, Bundibugyo’s district police commander, said they were in the process of rescuing some of the displaced people as far as 35km inside Congo.

Some of the refugees get ready to board a truck to Bubukwanga where government has secured for them settlement

Bubukwanga, five kilometres outside Bundibugyo town, towards Fort Portal, can hold about 20,000 families. According to statistics from the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), 65,000 refugees had been registered by press time. URCS has already established 13 community tents and over 500 family tents.

Looking across the windswept dusty land, mothers donned in threadbare clothes carrying suckling infants queue in the scorching sun to have their children immunised. At the other end, refugees struggle for water in three bowls, while at another, businessmen sell small fish, doughnuts and plastic sandals.

ONLY MEMORIES

Although majority of the refugees did not attend school while growing up, they say they are rich back home. Families had milk, fresh food to eat and choice clothes to wear. Many women talk of taking care of their children and helping their husbands till the fields from which they earn money. In fact, for their daughters not being able to wear powder, is a real setback because it is this what lures men to marry them.

By rural Congo standards, Thomas Musubawo is a rich man. He rears sheep, goats and chicken. However, he managed to escape with only five out of his 11 goats and only a handful of hens.

A man holds onto his only remaining wealth at Butogo Border

“I have been left with too little to do business and since I arrived in Uganda on July 11, I have been feeling sickly because I often think of how I am going to care for my wife and three children,” he said.

For the refugees settled at Bubukwanga, living the good life seems to include the means to do business, clothe themselves in the traditional bitenges and buy necessities for their families. Now with some going without a meal a day and complaining of chronic lack of basic necessities, their good old life is only a memory.

FEARING THE FUTURE;

Pascal Machurani bemoans the insurgences in Congo that have forced him to be a refugee in Uganda for the second time now. He scarcely recalls that in 1990 when he was a child, he and his family were forced to flee because of internal conflicts, only to return in 1997. Now 34, he has been forced to flee again. This life of fleeing violence has left him with little hope of ever living peacefully in his homeland.

“I worry about what will happen to me and my family in the future and the hardest part is starting a new life without the necessary resources because a lot of otherwise productive time is lost while in the camp,” he says.

Machurani, a resident of Mulopya village however vowed not to leave the border area because he wants to return as soon as possible.

For Patrika Mercia, 23, losing her family of 25 has left her hopeless. On the night of the attack, she was awoken by the sound of racing footsteps. In the nick of time, she hastily grabbed her clutch and three year old son, raised an alarm and off she fled.

Now, lying down in a flimsy makeshift tent covered with mosquito nets and the newly donated blankets, she is oblivious of where the rest of her family is. 

Shelter for survival

A perfect shade for us. Refugees relax after arriving at Bubukwanga

“When I think of my future, I am left quiet because I foresee a tough life ahead. I am just trying to be strong for my son,” she says.

BUNDIBUGYO UNDER STRAIN

Bundibugyo district has taken in refugees since the beginning of the uprising on July 11. Kamango town, where the ADF rebels and the Congolese army first clashed is barely eight kilometres from the Uganda-Congo border and shares familial tribal links with the Bagwisi, Bamba and Bakonjo of Bundibugyo district.  

The refugees come mainly from Mulopya village, seeking refuge with their extended families but as more keep flocking in everyday, their relatives here are struggling to cope with the numbers. 

A refugee in transit at Butogo border

Moses Magezi, a resident of Butogo town has already hosted about 30 of them. His one-roomed mud and wattle house has been turned into a property store. For lodging, Magezi, a father of four, erected a simple open hut beside his house where he and the refugees sleep.

“The spare rice and beans I have been keeping is all over because I have been feeding them and once, I had to rush one of the refugee children to hospital because it was seriously sick,” Magezi says.

Like Magezi, Bundibugyo district is struggling to cope. Six primary schools of Bubandi, Karela, Kisaru, Isonga, Busuru and Butogo were forced to close in order to accommodate the burgeoning number of refugees. Butogo primary school, once vibrant with 450 pupils is now desolate, littered with empty tot packs of Winners Vodka, empty bottles and plastic paper bags. John Barukuraha, the deputy head teacher of one of the schools fears that the school may not open today (Monday July 22) as earlier planned because three quarters of the school furniture was vandalised and whereas the three latrines stances are all full. This is the situation in most of the affected schools.

At Bubukwanga Health Centre III, patients sit anxiously, waiting to be attended to; some, especially children, can be seen sleeping on the floor. The maternity ward has only one bed and the drugs cabins are three quarters empty. Although two doctors from the Medical Teams International (MTI) are trying to make ends meet, the population is overwhelming. By press time, 1,180 children aged zero to five years had been vaccinated against polio.

Waiting for a doctor at Bubukwanga Health Centre III

Refugees walk away with relief items from URCS

“I urge government to establish a budget for emergencies so that whenever we are faced with such, there is proper contingency planning,” said Jolly Tibemanya, the Bundibugyo LC 5 chairman.

But so far, the Bundibugyo residents remain sympathetic to their ‘brothers and sisters.’

CONCERTED EFFORTS

Technical teams from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), URCS, World Food Program (WFP), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF among others started interventions within 24 hours of onset of the influx and are on ground working with the district authorities.

“We have managed to transport the refugees from five arrival sites and taken them to Bubukwanga where they are being provided with water, food and non food items such as blankets, cups and plates,” said Lucy Beck, the associate external relations officer for UNHCR. 

Refugees walk away with relief items from URCS

Efforts of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces in erecting tents have been solicited and WFP is actively engaged in providing food for the refugees.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reunited 28 children who were separated from their families and installed over 70 latrine stances.

New solutions of beefing up security, supporting health centres and establishment of additional temporary latrines are being sought to take the pressure off the districts resources.

“All stakeholders should mobilise the populace to make use of the latrines to prevent disease outbreaks and should also identify ways of screening refugees’ luggage to ensure that no one of ill intention is going to cause havoc,” Musa Echweru, the state minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness, said while touring the camp last Thursday.

The refugee population will have to be moved to Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Hoima district within three weeks if the situation has not normalised.