Gasigwa's Story

In October, Save the Children launched an appeal to help people in the DRC after the latest outbreak of fighting forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee. It’s estimated up to 300,000 people have already had to leave their homes. In the chaos, children are being separated from their families and put at risk of abduction and abuse from armed groups. Thousands of people are without food, shelter or healthcare.

A child alone

Ten-year-old Gasiwga fled from home, about 35km from Goma, with his father. Gaswiga is now alone since his mother, father and five siblings have died. He is being helped by another family staying in Goma.

“I am ten years old and have come from Rugari. My mother and father are dead so I came here by myself. I was sleeping in the camp in Kibati but when fighting started on Friday, I walked here to Goma to be safe. I haven’t had any help yet from anybody – no NGOs no, but there’s a family here who are trying to help me and are giving me food and letting me sleep with them on their plastic sheet. We don’t have any shelter since we came here so when it rains we all get wet. My mother was killed in the fighting about ten months ago and then my father died about five months ago – he was sick after she died. I had five brothers and sisters that I remember but they also died from sickness so now there is just me.

“I left Rugari because I was frightened by the clashes when the armed forces came. So I left the village when everyone else did – I left with my father at the time, because my mother had just been killed, and then my father died. From Rugari, I went to Kanyabyunga and then to Kibati and then I came here. It’s been nearly a year now since I went to school – I think I may have forgotten a lot of what I learnt but I hope not. My big hope is to be able to go back to Rugari and to go back to school. I also hope that maybe I can find my grandparents if I go back there – I have heard from people who have come recently that they are still there.

“My biggest fear is the fighting – especially bullets. My favourite things are food and clothes. I don’t have any clothes apart from these ones, and I don’t think they’re going to last very long because I’ve been wearing them for a long time now. I don’t have anything with me here – only these clothes and these two shoes, but they don’t match. The family I’m staying with try to make sure I get one meal a day – it’s normally manioc or beans. Sometimes we’re hungry but I’m used to that now.”

Background

War, hunger and disease have killed nearly 4 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the last seven years. One in every five children dies before reaching their fifth birthday. In the east, more than 1 million internally displaced people still need help to meet their basic needs. The fighting has destroyed the economy and infrastructure, as well as the social fabric of families and communities.

We started work here in 1994, helping children who had fled the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. Since then:

We’ve secured the release of 2,865 children involved with armed groups
We’re helping 26,661 children go to primary school
We’re reuniting 4,514 separated children with their families
We’re vaccinating 46,709 children
We’re providing food supplements for 1,500 malnourished children

Further information

Find out more about our response to Eastern DRC Conflict