South Kivu: “Even when we work in emergencies, our interventions are sustainable.”

News

After two years of supporting displaced populations in Bwegera, South Kivu, we embarked upon a new emergency programme in Lemera at the end of 2023. This is a new town where our arrival was warmly welcomed by the population. Almost six months after starting our activities there, we checked in with Richard Maisha Barhabula, our humanitarian programmes manager based in Bukavu.

The career path of a female vet in the eastern DR Congo

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Dr Safi Ngomora’s daily life has changed considerably since she was selected to expand our veterinary network in Katana (South Kivu) in 2019. Just short of her 31st birthday, this young Congolese woman currently heads a network of 72 community animal health workers who care together for more than 3,500 people’s livestock in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. And she doesn’t intend to stop there! Meet a vet who is as inspiring as she is determined.

Supporting displaced populations: our mission in South Kivu

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Since April 2021, the village of Bwegera in South Kivu has been hosting displaced families from the highlands and uplands of Uvira territory. The inter-ethnic conflicts there are so violent that many residents have been forced to flee their homes, leaving everything behind. Since October 2021, we have been intervening on the ground to offer assistance to the displaced population and their hosts.

DR Congo: an unprecedented One Health project in the heart of an area at risk from new, emerging pandemics

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The Congolese people who live around the Kahuzi-Biega National Park share their homes with their livestock and go into the forest every day, where disease-carrying wild animals live. In doing so, they unwittingly expose themselves to zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, which is how pandemics such as Covid-19 begin. This observation has prompted the consortium composed of Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium, Médecins du Monde and Action pour le Développement des Milieux Ruraux to develop an unprecedented One Health project to the east of this nature reserve in South Kivu.

Flooding in South Kivu: our campaign to bring relief to the victims

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In the night of 4 to 5 May 2023, an unprecedented flood ravaged Kalehe Territory in South Kivu, claiming more than 400 victims and destroying thousands of people’s homes. Thanks to our generous donors, we have been able to provide food aid to almost 300 people. A look back at that terrible night through the stories of three people caught up in the disaster.

A network to protect animal health in South Kivu

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Charline Nabintu and Safi Ngomora live in South Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The two women have never met, but they have a lot in common. Despite the underlying insecurity, they have both chosen to devote their careers to animal health, serving livestock keepers in the region. Safi is a vet and Charline is a community animal health worker. This is a service of great benefit to society in a region where most of the population depend on livestock keeping for survival.