Yesterday we went to a brand new refugee camp that sprung up in Minova, right past Sake, about 10 KM away from Goma. We have a team of aid workers from Samaritan’s purse, namely surgeons and water treatment specialists. They were quick to respond to the vast needs here in North Kivu and invited Chelsie and I to help them set up a training session and distribution of water purifying materials. Cholera is quickly becoming a severe problem, and can kill many people simply because they cannot access clean water.
We bumped over the rain washed dirt roads that my body seems to never get used to. As we turned yet another hill next to beautiful forests and bright lakes, out in the middle of nowhere, we came upon the new Minova camp. This refugee camp houses 1,800 people, families from many different tribes, all shoved in in one faraway place out of reach of commerce and food. Their makeshift shelters lacked the UNICEF tarps, showing the camp’s newness, and how little help they had received since their recent flight.
Robinson, the Kenyan water technician, asked for the people to bring them the water that they usually drink. The men came back with a bucket full of muck. It is difficult for it to not seem like I am exaggerating, but truly, this water was dirtier than anything, like water you would be hesitant to wade in, like shallow, slightly stagnant sides of soft mud. The dirt particles, bacteria and mitochondria hung and waved lightly in the pail. We asked if they boiled the water before they drank it, at which they responded, “Rarely, because firewood is difficult to find, and it is rainy season right now. But this water does make our stomachs feel funny.” Samaritan’s Purse was happy to begin training some of the team leaders.
In the meantime, we roped off an area for working in, and the rest of us began separating pails in pairs, with stir sticks, a cloth to drain the clean water in, clothespins for securing them and PUR water purifying packets. Hundreds of people stared at us and then started laughing and joking with us as they realized we spoke Swahili. So many questions, so many proposals!
Out of nowhere, a misfortune for me: a random bug flew into my eye and stung my eyeball. I was told there is a bug that likes to sting people’s eyes and aims for them in their flight. And here I had been nervous about my feet and the huge spiders and bugs of all kinds crawling and hopping around in the bush! My eye has gotten quite swollen and red and constantly tears in pain; I’m also allergic to the bite, and the sting’s poison has spread out past my forehead and down past my nose. I’ve sneezed more times today than any other day of my life!
Back to the story. We finally set up 300 water purifying kits and people were being grouped in teams of six to share the kits, as it would give them enough clean water for 4 days. The results showed a sparkling clean glass of water after 20 minutes. We all tasted its refreshing coolness. Suddenly, it started raining. People got desperate and started pressing. The men guarding the twine barriers got nervous and began swinging sticks to warn people to stay away. We stood in the middle, trying to guard the kits as the mob began throbbing. Pressing in, pushed out. Tempers flared in a moment, rain came down faster and suddenly, they were all gone. The people ran for buckets and escaped as quickly as they could. Men with sticks chasing pregnant women. Children stealing stir sticks, having no idea how to use them. All this work, so close, and they will still have no clean water to drink. Desperation. How many children will die today because starving, thirsty refugees could not retain their anxiety, their fear that maybe they would be left out?
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