Joséphine Mumukunde, Head of communications, Rwandan Red Cross
Agatha Kampirwa’s life will never be the same again.
You can hear the distress in her voice when she tells of her hasty departure from Tanzania where she grew up. Arriving last May at the Kirehe Transit Camp, not far from the border between Rwanda and Tanzania, the young woman was among the first group of people expelled from Tanzania, all still shaken by the violent nature of their forced exile.
Since then, she has been able to survive on aid from the Rwandan government, the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations. After a three-month stay at the Kirehe transit camp, she is living at the resettlement in Bukora, approximately 5 km from Kirehe.
“I have to start all over again,” she says sadly when we meet her, jerry can in hand, near the only water point set up by the Red Cross in the middle of the village. “And it’s not easy,” she adds, “when one has three small children, no news from one’s husband, no cattle and no parents in the country”.
The conversation was spontaneously struck up between her and the Red Cross team visiting the site at the end of September to evaluate the needs in the field, a team composed of representatives of the Rwandan Red Cross, the International Federation’s regional delegation in Nairobi and the German, Spanish and Belgian Red Cross societies.
Agatha’s words convey the reality of her situation. Like her neighbours and friends of misfortune, she leads a precarious life. She owns a few pieces of clothing, a straw mat, two blankets, some kitchen utensils and three months worth of food. And just by seeing the shelter covered in branches and sheeting, one understands the urgency of her needs.
“I need more containers to keep water in, more blankets to keep my children warm at night and more food. I’d like to be helped in finding a new place to stay,” she says.
As she talks, more people are drawn closer. The worried adult faces contrast those of the unconcerned children that come running up, wanting to have their picture taken. Those of school age have gone to school. “Despite not having school supplies or uniforms, they were taken in to the local school,” explains Sebusogo Jean Paul, Principal of Bukora’s primary school.
They had to build a house out of adobe bricks as soon as possible on the small 20 x 30m plot that the district authorities allocated to each family. The volunteers and Red Cross staff encouraged everyone to make these bricks, with the promise of helping them to buy stones for the foundations, metal sheet for the roofs, doors and windows. But many “don’t have the energy or don’t know how to make them,” says the representative of the 412 people (120 families) settled at the site.
“We must quickly identify the most vulnerable, those who need special care,” suggests Eric Ndiwami, President of the Volunteers of Rwandan Red Cross and co-ordinator of the humanitarian activities at Kirehe transit camp and the resettlement in Bukora. With more than ten years of experience in camp management, Eric knows what he is talking about. “The best way of helping people to get sorted out here is to give them the essentials, otherwise we are very likely to see them coming back to the transit camp,” he insists.
In reality, everyone agrees with him, especially after visiting Kirehe camp, impressive in its organisation and cleanliness, despite slender means.
Kirehe camp has taken in over 5,500 people in the space of four months, with in-take peaking in August. In order to alleviate the suffering of those chased mercilessly out of their homes, the volunteers of the local branch have made, and are still making, a remarkable difference.
With the help of the National Refugee Commission, they ensure the registering of new-comers and those that leave the camp, placement, hygiene and sanitation, and the management of provisions given by government or other humanitarian organizations. The camp has a nurse made available by the district sanitation authorities, seconded by Rwanda Red Cross volunteer social worker.
According to the joint commission set up by Rwanda and Tanzania, 75,000 people have been expelled from Tanzania this year. How much time will this operation take and under what circumstances will they return to Rwanda? Nobody knows exactly, even if there is talk of twelve months. What is certain is that to take in all the people under good conditions, and to help them to reintegrate, much more financial and material means will be needed that the government, the Red Cross or the other humanitarian organisations do not have at the moment.
In preparation for the possibility of a large influx, construction work on a new transit camp – a stone’s throw away from the first camp - is underway with the help of the German Red Cross. The new camp will have a 2,000-person holding capacity, so that the total capacity of the two camps will be able to hold 3,500 people at a time. So far, only the ground of a five hectare terrain has been completed.
Government authorities have called on all districts to establish new resettlement camps. Five districts have already responded – Kayonza, Nyagatare, Gatsibo and Bugesera in the Eastern province and Karongi district in the Western province. It’s only a few small steps in the right direction and many more need to follow in order to rebuild the lives of all those being expelled from Tanzania. For many long more months, the in-take and assistance of those expelled from Tanzania will be daily work for the Red Cross Movement in Rwanda.
As the Red Cross team left that day, night was falling on Kirehe when 53 new refugees arrived at the transit camp. At the same time, fifty kilometres away, a hundred families heading towards the resettlement in Kageyo were getting ready to spend their first night on an empty plot of land, where everything still needs to be done.
On October 17, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cerscent Societies issued an emergency appeal for 1.5 million Swiss francs to assist the Rwandan Red Cross in meeting the needs of those returnees.