BULENGO BRIEFING, DAY 10
AGIR DRC facilitators raise awareness about gender-based violence in the Bulengo camp. Divided into two groups, the facilitators go around a dozen blocks with a pre-recorded message in the megaphone calling on the displaced (men and women) to help each other.
100,000 is the estimated number of displaced persons registered in the meeting of classters at the end of February. In common, they live the same pains, famine, disease, non-respect of rights etc. Coming from different communities with different habits, cultures, social constructions, customs, these displaced people are forced to live together.
On Thursday, March 2, the team of APS (Accompagnateurs Psycho-social) of AGR DRC made 7 visits and psychological follow-up. Among the 4 people listened to this day are malnourished children and a woman who was raped. This is in addition to the number of displaced women who are victims of harassment and sexual violence.
Another phenomenon in the Bulengo camp is gender discrimination. One of the heads of the blocks is a woman. She heads 60 households. She has difficulty in passing decisions, even though she is good, in meetings just because she is a woman. On the other hand, during distribution, the strong (men) have the privilege before the weak (women).
In view of these different phenomena, the facilitators go around the camp, megaphones in hand, inviting to the respect of rights in spite of the difference of sex. This message does not go unnoticed. In small groups of the gathered displaced, passing by places such as the tank where water is served, many men and women interact with this message.
This is a problem of custom, says Esperance Nabunyanzi. According to her, whether in the community, it is difficult to see a woman take a decision in place of the men or in the household, a man take a water can, cook for his wife or help her in your work. That's how we've been brought up. It's really hard to change.
BINDU ISAAC, a father of four, said the woman is an added helper to the man and vice versa. In the household, he said, if my wife is unable to work because she is sick, the man can hold a pot and make the dough. It all depends on how you were brought up in the family. He estimates.
After the sensitization, it was time for the session with the children. There were about fifty of them, gathered in a circle to play and sing. An unusual atmosphere that brings a smile to their lips. Jeannette, a young girl of 5, knows that one day the war will end and she will be able to return to Kichanga, her village of origin.
"We fled the war because the guns kept crackling. The day I go home, the only thing I will do is go to school, see my teacher and study. She confides.
May this hope never die and may her dream come true.