Many of you have been asking me what is going on in the Congo after seeing some of the news reports that have been showing for the last few weeks.
The above picture shows a girl in the Kibati refugee camp trying to sell potatoes.
UNICEF have commented that a wave of displacement due to recent fighting in North Kivu, eastern DRC has forced 100,000 people from their homes, 60 per cent of whom are children.
In the last two months, around 250,000 people have been displaced, bringing the total number of internally displaced to around 1 million – 20 per cent of the entire North Kivu population.
The situation of newly displaced children and women is desperate. Thousands have had very little to eat since fleeing their homes. Their access to clean water and health care has been minimal. Hundreds of children are presumed to have been separated from their families and up to 40 children have been recruited by armed groups. Right now children also face a real risk of disease outbreaks and malnutrition.
