**The Difficult Conditions of Displaced Elderly: An Urgent Call for Help**
At the heart of the human tragedy unfolding at the Don Bosco IDP camp in Goma, North Kivu, lie heartbreaking stories of lives lost. Every week, camp officials report a new death among the displaced elderly, testifying to the terrible conditions in which these vulnerable individuals are trying to survive.
Justin Kamana, the president of the displaced, spoke movingly of the steady loss of members of the third generation who have fled the horrors of the fighting in their villages. Unable to adapt to the harsh realities of the camp, these elderly survivors succumb to basic deprivations such as lack of food, the precarious shelter under torn tarpaulins that let in rainwater, and the many other challenges they face.
The cry of distress from camp officials resonates like an urgent call for help. They are calling for an urgent return to peace in order to preserve the lives of the thousands of displaced people living around Goma, especially those who are elderly and frail. Each death is an avoidable tragedy, a poignant reminder of the urgent need to act to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable in our society.
The Don Bosco camp, which today houses more than 26,750 people, 3% of whom are elderly, must become a symbol of unwavering collective solidarity. There can be no lasting peace as long as the poorest continue to pay the heaviest price of conflict and forced displacement.
It is time to mobilize, to reach out to those who have lost everything, to rebuild together a more dignified and humane future for all. Let us not let the suffering of displaced elderly people remain invisible, let us not reduce their fate to a weekly mortality statistic. Their lives, their dignity, their hope deserve much more than that. Let us act now, let us act together, for a world where every human being, regardless of age or status, will find safe refuge and unwavering support.