Home |  Elder Rights |  Health |  Pension Watch |  Rural Aging |  Armed Conflict |  Aging Watch at the UN  

Mission  |  Contact Us  |  Internships  |  Donate Now!  

Road to Recovery in the DR Congo?

HelpAge International, September 29, 2003

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo , older people and their families are trying to rebuild their lives. A new government is being formed after almost five years of war in which human rights agencies estimate more than three million people died.

In the east and north of the country the situation still remains dangerous and precarious. North Kivu province, including the city of Goma , has the highest number of displaced people -- over 900,000, according to the UN.

Surviving in the forest

Sofina Ndoule, 70, and her six grandchildren live in a decrepit house on the outskirts of a town near Goma. They spent years on the run after fighting in their home area, Masisi, forced them to abandon their house, banana plantation, and livestock.

"We were just living off our wits in the forest. We were always scared. We were continually moving - in total we must have moved over a hundred times. We didn't go into villages for fear of soldiers so we just lived under temporary shelters made out of leaves. Finding food in the forest was a problem. We used to cultivate lots of small plots of vegetables hidden in the bush."

Now Sofina's eldest daughter Victorina, 56, who lives nearby helps to provide for the children. To earn money, she carries bundles of bananas down to Lake Kivu for traders to collect by boat.

Sofina has no hope of returning to her home. "Even if the area becomes secure I am now too old and weak to work my land." At least the children are now safe. Barbabus, 10, says "The best thing about living here is that I can now sleep properly."

After the lava flow

Goma is still recovering from an additional disaster. In January 2002 a vast lava flow from Mount Nyiragongo engulfed parts of the city, destroying the homes and livelihoods of some 60,000 people. Older people, who have little earning power, are among those who have found it hardest to recover from the destruction caused.

Until the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo , Kambere Musai, 75, lived with his wife on a small plot of land on the outskirts of Goma.

"We grew beans and potatoes and we had enough to live on. Then the volcano came and burnt my house and covered my fields. Since then I have been suffering here with no means to make a living."

Now the couple live in a house made of plastic sheeting in their son's garden, among the lava rocks of a previous eruption. Kambere's son works as a builder earning a meagre US$1-$2 a day. Work is sporadic and he has seven children as well as his parents to support.

A loan makes a difference

In May this year, Kambere received a micro-credit loan from APIBA, a local NGO working in partnership with HelpAge International. The loan, designed to help older people rebuild their lives after the volcano, comes with an interest rate of only one per cent.

"Life is a little better..."

Kambere decided to give the money to his daughter-in-law, Francoise, to invest in a small business, which could generate income for the whole family. Francoise bought a bale of second-hand clothes, which she now sells in the market place. Whilst business is not easy, Francoise has now bought a second bale and is making a few dollars a week from it. She is paying back the loan on schedule.

"Life is a little better than before," says Kambere. "Now I can eat twice a day as opposed to once, as I did before."