LRA Displaced

A young boy stands with a panga, used for chopping small trees for firewood and making homes, in the Nanzawa camp for internally displaced persons on the outskirts of Dungu in D. R. Congo’s Orientale Province.

Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, led by Joseph Kony, have been attacking civilian populations in Haut and Bas Uélé districts since 2008, resulting in the displacement of over 300,000 people, according to an international NGO working in the region.

Water

Only a third of the city of Goma has access to running water. The remaining two-thirds of the city rely on private water trucks selling water, or, for the majority, walking to the shores of Lake Kivu to fill jerry-cans. Right next to where these people collect their water, cars and motorcycles are washed in the lake water, the oily run-off draining back into the lake. Not far from here, the boats chug in and out of the port, leaving residue in the water.

In the cross-fire

In the cross-fire

Elizabeth* sits next to her two year old daughter in the Bethesda hospital in Goma. Elizabeth was collecting firewood in the forest surrounding her home last April, when she was caught between two armed groups; a stray bullet hit her in the leg. She scrambled through the forest to the place where she had left her one-month old baby. For the past eight months, Elizabeth has been in this hospital, while her leg heals. She will never be able to walk properly again, and worries about the future of her children.

* Name changed

Children Formally Associated With Armed Groups

At a transit centre in Goma, children formally associated with armed groups play football during recreation time.

Children arrive here following demobilisation from armed groups, giving them basic schooling until they can either rejoin their families or be placed with host families in Goma. The International Committee of the Red Cross help these children trace their family, acting as mediators to try and negotiate their return home.

Ex-Child Soldiers Arrive in Goma

An ex-child soldier arrives at Goma airport on an International Committee of the Red Cross aeroplane following his demobilisation.