voluntary returnees who had been staying at the Don Bosco Center in Goma. The mini-buses carried people needing more assistance: pregnant women, mothers of infants, people with disabilities and the elderly. The Lutheran World Federation works with partners in the ACT (Action by Churches Together) Alliance network to support dis- placed people who choose to return home or go to settlement centers. The LWF is planning to provide the returnees with three months of food assistance, seeds for planting and farm implements. At presstime, the LWF had temporarily suspended transportation efforts because of insecurity in some areas. Ms. Mapendo, a displaced woman who gave only her last name, said security was “not encouraging” for return- ees to areas north of Goma, including Kibumba, Rugare, Rumangabo, Kalengera and Kabaya. “Cases of women being raped have been reported,” she said. “Men and boys feel threatened as there are reports of young men being abducted by the rebels.”
Accessibility, resources For nearly 20 years, the LWF has supported displaced people in the DRC, beginning in 1994 with a massive influx of people fleeing the Rwandan genocide. Today the LWF works alongside the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo and ACT Alliance to provide food and other resources (including counseling and agri- cultural help) amid the humanitarian crisis. In the refugee camps around Goma, the LWF works with the World Food Program to distribute food to about 7,100 house- holds, and nonfood items to 4,900 households. But there are still shortages, said Emile Mpanya, LWF representa- tive in the DRC. Take farmer Banzira Wkizum Wani, who with his wife and six children found shelter at Neema Primary School in the Majengo area. “I used to grow enough food to feed my family,” he said. “Now we only share the little food
To help
The ELCA partners with the Lutheran World Federation and its work with refugees. At the end of January, the ELCA sent $100,000 to the LWF to help with water projects among Congolese refugees temporarily living in Uganda. To give, send checks to Lutheran Disaster Response, 39330 Treasury Center, Chicago, IL 60694-9300; or give by credit card at 800-638-3522 or
www.elca.org/disaster/donate.
June 2013 39
Lutheran World Federation team member Patrick Kalubi examines a list of beneficiary names at a food distribution center in Goma.
given to us by the humanitarian agencies. I really wish I could return to my farm.” LWF teams conduct routine checks at each site to determine how best to help given the scarcity of resources. They also try to main- tain peace and order and ensure that people displaced from their homes are served with dignity. Yvonne Doudou doesn’t hide her joy when she receives two
sacks of maize, beans and about a gallon of cooking oil at Goma’s Don Bosco Center. “I now have something to feed my family for the next 10 days or so,” she said. Mpanya hopes the rebels and government will reach a
peace agreement so more people can safely return home. But at presstime the road to Rutshuru was still marked by fights—this time between rival M23 rebel factions, he said.
While the reopening of Goma’s airport improved delivery of humanitarian aid, the presence of rebels con- tinues to be a concern for air traffic. Road transport has resumed, but some had to pay “taxes” when their vehicles went through rebel-controlled areas, he said. Causing further worry, the rebels oppose deployment of a neutral internal force in the region and are threatening to retake Goma, he said.
In the southwest region of Masisi, large numbers of residents were displaced in December 2012 by govern- ment troops, forcing them to take shelter at the Mugunga and Lac Vert camps for displaced people, neighboring vil- lages or with host families in Goma. At home in Rutshuru, families like Faustin’s “are determined to carry on [with farming]. … They have learned to live with the fear. ... In the end they will need [this] food,” Mpanya said. As long as security allows, the LWF will continue to support their efforts. “Our teams have also learned to live with the fear,” he said.
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