Report on our compassion and solidarity visit to war survivors in Kikongo Camp North Kalemie, the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday July 2nd, 2025.

DRC war survivors due to the lack of relief aid, especially when the United States of America closed the USAID. More than 75% of humanitarian interventions in DRC depended on financial support from the USAID. Both local organizations and international organizations operated on fully funded budgets from USAID, most of these organizations are closing now, leaving the people they served suffering on their own and dying silently.

On Wednesday July 2nd, 2025 our team visited Kikongo Camp which hosts war survivors from Kivu, it is located in Katanika II village in northern Kalemie the main city of Tanganyika Province. The Camp is the main one along two others who host war victims from Kivu mainly Eliya Camp and Lukwangulo Camp.

Towards the end of June 2025 we were alerted that the Kikongo Camp got fire which destroyed 1935 household among the 2,425 household and this represented almost 78% of the household affected. A total number of 11,579 people reside in this camp among them women and children represent 80% of the entire population. The camp was set up by people themselves because the Province authorities did not have plans in place to handle people who are running away from war, and the land was generously given by the cultural leader who opted to help people who did not have where to stay.

During the fire breakout people again lost whatever they had managed to get in order to rebuild their lives, clothes, home things and especially women who had started resilient income generating activities. In our previous report we indicated how this camp is too vulnerable to fire during this dry season. The fire came from the shelter of a woman who was cooking food and then left the saucepan on fire and when to collect water. These kind of incidents are likely to happen more and more until October when we enter into the rain season. These shelters built on grasses cannot favor the security of people, and currently the place is windy, hot and sometimes too cold at night.

The victims have nowhere to stay

Good enough the fire did not kill a person, currently some victims went to nearby villages where they sleeping in churches and schools, others where welcomed by some IDPs whose shelters remained, and other victims are just there outside with nothing, sleeping outside in windy sand, hot sunshine during the day and too cold during the night.

Lack of water

People dug their own places where they can collect water from but now during this dry season most of these places have no water at all anymore. People now to use water from the rivers which they have to get at a distance.

Lack of health center

Despite their presence in this camp since February 2025 up to now they do not have access to a health center. People are affected with hydric diseases such as Cholera outbreak, infections for women, pregnancies which are moving out, Malaria, headache and stomach pain are the common ones.

Climate

War survivors in this camp like in others came from Kivu which is generally cold and which does not have all these diseases, but Kalemie is hot and windy as we said. The host communities are also complaining of the climate change, before the dry season used to start towards the end of June, but this time it started in May, much as there was a wind in the month of July but it was hot, currently the wind is too cold.

Lack of food

The hunger situation is increasing now because everything is drying up, before these people were collecting some food in gardens and farming places but now there is nothing, this has caused children to suffer from malnutrition now which is visible in the camp.

Actions of solidarity and compassion

These war victims have greatly enjoyed the support from the host communities in Katanika but this hospitality has not yet been amplified in the city of Kalemie where the authorities are totally silent. In May the DRC Central Government sent a delegation with relief aid to help the victims of flooding not much was said about war victims, and generally there are serious allegations that the relief aid was misused.

Urgent actions that are needed

We should act quickly to help those who are mostly affected especially those who lost their shelters with relief aid,

We should quickly improve their access to clean water, have in place public toilets and bath rooms,

We should quickly build a health center with medicines and qualified personnel,

We should quickly engage on advocacy to bring the Government on Board and other partners including international organizations,

We should capacitate the Camp Community in advocacy and the management of the camp,

 Engage people in livelihood activities so that they can survive on their own,

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