Assistance with non-food products for displaced households in the Rona health area, Mahagi
In a laudable gesture of solidarity and humanity, the NGO Primary Health Care Promotion Program (PPSSP) recently provided assistance to more than two thousand displaced households affected by armed conflicts in the health area of Rona, located in the territory of Mahagi in Ituri.
This project, funded by UNICEF, aims to improve the living conditions of beneficiaries who have lost shelter and means of subsistence due to the violence plaguing the region. Thanks to the intervention of the NGO PPSSP, these families received essential household items such as tarpaulins for setting up emergency shelters, kitchen utensils, loincloths and mosquito nets for breastfeeding women.
The living conditions in which these displaced people find themselves are disastrous. Bienvenu Akenda, head of the Rona group, testifies to the distress of these populations: “We are very happy that UNICEF and PPSSP came to help these people who came from Shari, Panduru and Katanga. We welcomed them all here at home. They lived in bad conditions. It’s a good thing that they received household items and tarpaulins. Now they will build shelters and they will be able to live there in acceptable conditions.”
For Adigeth’o Berocan, who had to hastily flee his village following an attack carried out by militiamen, this assistance is a real relief: “I fled the attack carried out in Zoo by CODECO militiamen, who had arrived at night. We had left our village in disarray without recovering much from our houses. I am very happy with this assistance, because I will be able to settle down well with these goods received.
In total, 2,191 displaced families from 9 villages in the Rona group of Panduru chiefdom benefited for the first time from humanitarian assistance since their arrival in this entity. This is an important step to improve their precarious situation and offer them a semblance of comfort and dignity.
This initiative by the NGO PPSSP and UNICEF once again demonstrates the importance of solidarity and cooperation to help vulnerable populations cope with the challenges they face. Let us hope that such actions increase in order to provide concrete and lasting support to those who need it most.