A pregnant mother walks a distance of over 300 kilometers for four days. Her final destiny is unclear in her mind; the idea of delivering in fraught settings is disturbing. After an exhaustive 90 hour journey, she ends up at reception centre and finally in a refugee camp. That’s the plight of some Burundian women at Mahama refugee camp in Kirehe District.

Home to 26,626 out of the 31,795 registered Burundian refugees, Mahama camp was opened on April 23, 2015.It is the largest of the four refugee camps in Rwanda so far.

Donation to new mothers

There are 7,724 women at Mahama camp. Over 800 of them are pregnant and 80 have already given birth in a period of just two months. On average, that means there’s a new baby born after every 31 hours.

In a gesture of goodwill, Grace Ubaruta from Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) led a group of over 20 youths from Kigali to the camp on Friday.

The youths donated 300 basins, ten boxes of soap, body lotions, and six bales of clothes. "We came up with this initiative because we felt concerned… we felt we had an obligation to share the little we have with our sisters,” says Ubaruta.

The youths were from the Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT), the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR), the Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) and Office of the Government Spokesperson (OGS).

Caring for expecting, breastfeeding mothers

Addressing the issue of pregnant women and new mothers, the assistant camp manager, Marc Mazimpaka, says that there is a special team that follows up on these women every day.

"We provide them with nutritious flour for porridge and check if they have any developing problem,” he says.

The camp has a dispensary, a maternity centre complete with midwives, ambulances and a doctor.

"But severe cases are always referred to Kirehe Hospital or even Kigali,” explains Mazimpaka.

The commonest disease is malaria because of the extreme heat, and pneumonia among kids. Kids with high temperatures and pregnant women are given first priority at the dispensary.

Unaccompanied minors

Over half of the population at Mahama are children below 18 years. At least 975 of these came without parents or guardians. Though the majority range from the ages of 8 to 17, some are as young as three years.

Most left their parents in Burundi and came with their siblings who are also underage. PLAN is the NGO dealing with these kids. Its official, Deo Kimenyi, says that these kids first sleep alone before they are given mentors.

He explains that there has to be a mutual agreement between the child and the person going to take the child in.

"On arrival, some find that they actually have relatives here. However, there are some kids who say that they don’t want to stay with their relatives.” If either party is not willing to stay with the other, then an alternative is sought.

The New Times talked to Jeff Drumtra - an External Relations Officer with UN refugee agency, UNCHR - about the issue of unaccompanied minors, especially teenage girls.

"We are very concerned about their safety,” he says.

"Their vulnerability is something that we discuss all the time. Police have so far arrested some individuals who haven’t been treating the young girls correctly.”

He adds that, together with Plan Rwanda, they will soon start a progamme targetting unaccompanied minors.

According Drumtra, 35 per cent of the 14,119 children in the camp arrive while malnourished. "We provide supplement feeding and to those who are severely malnourished, we do therapeutic.Malnourishment has been reduced to 15-20 per cent but we would love to reduce it further,” he told The New Times.

Hope for the youth

Addressing the youth refugees, MIDIMAR’s communication specialist Frederic Ntawukuriryayo encouraged them, saying the future is bright, regardless of a grim today.

"A big number of our leaders lived the life you are living today. But they never despaired, so you shouldn’t. You too could be Burundi’s leaders tomorrow,” he told a half cheery crowd.

In January next year, school-going youths in the camp will be enrolled in nearby schools to resume their education.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw