"Life is tough here"
Jeanine left everything behind when she fled her village, but the emergency supplies provided by UNICEF help her protect her children from diseases.
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Armed conflicts in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have affected Jeanine, a mother living in the Nord-Kivu Province. Her husband lost his life in armed clashes and, after that, she was no longer able to send her children to school. "I had been growing some food at our house, but we had to flee just as the harvest was starting, I don't know when my children will return to school," says Jeanine, sad.
"I abandoned my house a month ago," explains the mother who has now taken refuge with her three children in a school in Rutshuru Territory. The family fled when shots were heard in their village. They walked to safety, leaving everything they had behind them. "We escaped just as we were about to start the harvest," says Jeanine, downcast.
In Rutshuru, the mother signed up to receive emergency items as part of a distribution programme organised by one of UNICEF's partners to help families cope with the immediate impact of their displacement. Like 4,700 other families, Jeanine received containers, buckets, cooking utensils, and hygiene items to cover her family's urgent needs.
"This is the first help we have received since we arrived here," says Jeanine as she carries the items she received from the distribution programme supported by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UNCERF), the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the governments of Japan, Germany, and Sweden as part of the UniRR rapid response mechanism.
These non-food items will help Jeanine improve her family's hygiene and protect it from infectious diseases such as cholera. "These items will help, but we still need food and shelter," explains the mother who still hopes to return home and pick up her old life one day. "If peace returns to my village, I'll go back to my farming, and my children will be able to return to school," she concludes.
UNICEF and its partners provide support in the fields of child protection, nutrition, vaccination, water, hygiene and sanitation, cholera prevention, supply of essential household items, and education.
