Inside a camp for Congolese refugee

Felicita Akanyana hitherto a primary school girl currently has three children; two boys and a girl at the age of nineteen.All her children are born to different fathers. She infrequently meets only one of them, the father to her third born daughter. “I only meet this child’s father rarely. Others left the camp immediately after impregnating me,” she says while carrying her third child heading towards a health centre in Kiziba refugee camp. Next to me, Akanyana’s two other children (boys) are carrying fire wood on the wooden bikes. They physically look young but God provided them with wisdom of making these artificial bikes. I am sure it leaves curiosity behind to those who have never seen them (wooden bikes). They are real bikes but made in wood. They have capacity to carry more than fifty kilograms of fire wood, five hundred meters from their home. This fire wood is provided by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Kiziba refugee camp is located in Rwankuba sector, Karongi District in Western Province. The Congolese refugee camp, was set up in early 1996, located fifteen kilometres from Kibuye town. It accommodates over 18,000 refugees, who fled the neighbouring DR Congo due to the constant political standoff and wars that have persisted- displacing many innocent civilians. Born to a family of ten, Akanyana had no intention of giving birth to three children at a minor age. But the situation in the camp forced her to do so untimely. During her primary four in 2005, she and her two brothers were forced by their parents to stay with their relatives. They were sent away because the house could no longer accommodate the entire family. “You can look at these small houses and immediately accept that they can’t accommodate a family of more than four,” she points out her father’s small house in the camp. Most of the houses normally have two rooms and moreover partitioned by the curtain. At this point, it becomes hard for parents to sleep along their adolescent children. Built close to each other, the camp is normally congested. At night, it is dominantly full of young generation movements. They are always in groups in which they end up cooperating through having affairs. Callixte Muhawenayo confirms that pregnancies increase during school holidays. This is when the camp is very busy, filled with students from different walks of life. They reach home and stay at their neighbours. This spontaneous way of living has made many girls go with unplanned pregnancies. Finally, most are forced to drop out of school. “If a young girl is staying at her cousin’s place then it will be easier for her to act independently and have untimely affairs with her fellow boys,” he says. Muhawenayo adds that this makes family planning a dream. It has become a legal practice for young girls to have children at minor ages. But the United Nations High Commission for Refugees operating in Kiziba has tried its best by finding most of these premature parents get sponsorship for further studies. Akanyana and her fellow troubled friends will soon fly to Finland where they will gain academic support from the International partners. Though the camp has a health centre, a lot of trainings have been delivered on the awareness of family planning among the refugees but all in vain. Innocent Nkurunziza, an employee working with the ‘American Refugee Committee (ARC)’ based in Kiziba camp, reveals that officials in charge of family planning have trained refugees several times on the dangers of producing many children but all in vain. Producing many to increase aid portion Apart from these girls producing prematurely, the practice has become a common phenomenon, with many believing that many children lead to increased aid portions. Nkurunziza continues that many parents opted to produce children to increase the family number in order to get more food aid. If you have a family of two, you will get two kilogrammes of maize flour but once you are ten the portion also increases. This family planning problem has persisted and mostly women and girls are more affected. Apart from Kiziba refugee camp where women are less affected by the refugee life situation, in other parts women and girls are disastrously affected by the life in refugee camps than men. They are the most victims of sexual violence. This happens when women are forced to leave camps in search of additional firewood, food and other income for their families. These daily struggles expose them to sexual violence. According to the International Rescue Committee officials in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, women take responsibility of these works because men will be killed or recruited if they leave the camp. Officials add that rape is also occurring while women are sleeping in camps where they have taken refuge. Rape has been used as a weapon of war throughout eastern Congo for years. Based on IRC’s experience in this region, women and girls are at much greater risk of violence and exploitation during times of heightened military conflict, displacement and in unstable and unprotected settings. After attacks occur, women have very limited access to medical and psychological services. Thanks to the government of Rwanda and development partners like UN and African Humanitarian Act (AHA) that provide full medical services and education to Kiziba Refugees. Ends