Rwamwanja camp, where food can earn a man a wife

By Caroline Ariba

A man clad in an oversize jacket paced up and down in confusion outside the Office of the Prime Minister at the Rwamwanja Congolese Refugee camp in Kamwenge district. By his side was a little boy, who seemed weary with an obviously shattered spirit.

See, word had gone around that the UNFP, UNICEF and UNHCR had organised a dialogue for the refugees to speak of what troubled them, in commemoration of the day of the girl-child on October 22.

And just like many, this man had a lot to say: “Mama, ni saidie,” he said to me in Kiswahili, “Saidia mtoto wangu!” he went on, meaning that I should help his son.

He then quickly pulled out an old piece of paper. On it was a signature and number, which I later gathered was some sort of identification document in the camp.

In broken Kiswahili, he said he needed a similar chit for his son so that his family of six could get a fair portion of food.

“My son recently joined us thanks to the UN and your Government, but I have failed to get him into the system, and every day when I come, they tell me to wait,” he lamented.

At that point, an official at the camp passed by and I asked if he could help settle the man’s complaints. He said there were procedures to follow before those chits are issued and in a firm voice advises that in the meantime, the man had to devise ways of taking care of his family.

At the mention of this, the man’s face dropped and you could tell that all his hopes had been dashed. He probably could not think of the next move.

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Refugees line up to get their babies immunised in Rwamwanja

On a brighter note though, right ahead of the restless man was a group of mothers lining up to get their babies The big read immunized. “I am glad that my child is being immunized, I was worried that maybe because we are refugees, they might just abandon us and our children,” she said as her fellow mothers nodded in approval.

In Kyempango camp, within Rwamwanja, the actual dialogue had started under a tree, with Bundibugyo Woman MP Harriet Ntabazi encouraging the camp dwellers to speak out.

“We are here to listen to you, please speak to us,” she advised the women.

With the right words, the group started to open up, while some mumbled amongst themselves. Daudi, a father of four, then stood up. He thanked the caretakers, but added that as much as they were grateful, the bureaucracy was taking a toll on them and as a result some people had resorted to stealing in the villages.

Benita, a mother of three, added that it was not safe to move around the camps after 6:00pm as these frustrated people scavenged through the village for survival.

She also said some parents had resorted to marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder.

“Maybe for a goat or just a little something or a plate of food to keep the family going,” she said.

Then another mother said some girls did not even wait for their parents to marry them off; they got the men themselves.

“In Congo virginity is highly valued and so it is better to get married early when one is still a virgin,” she said.

Another refugee blamed this trend on the inadequate accommodation, where families shared huts, with parents sleeping in the same room with the children.

“When the parents are having sex, the children are listening and then they also want to practise what they hear!” she lamented, maintaining that the authorities should consider establishing adequate housing units to save their children from such things.

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Girls at Rwamwanja

According to the, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 84% of the population in the camp are children below 18 years.

Rwamwanja camp is home to 45,755 Congolese refugees, who fled the gruesome attacks by M23 rebels in North and South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo early last year.

They were settled in three camps, Kyempango, Mahani and Nkoma all within Rwamwanja. With the biggest part of the refugees comprising teenagers, Peninah Kyoyagala, the UNFPA national programme officer, said such a dialogue was long overdue.

Many of the teenagers at the camp either had a child or were planning to get married. Sadly for some, it might have been as a result of rape during the insurgency, but many of the pregnancies were from relationships within the camp.

Poverty, cultural beliefs, ignorance and trauma, she said, were to blame for many of these issues and as such they were trying to find a solution.

“To prevent early pregnancies and marriages, we have introduced youth corners, where the youth open up and talk about the issues that affect them,” Kyoyagala said.

The associate community service officer, UNHCR, Clarisse Ntampaka, said these and many more issues would be dealt with one at a time.

“Right now our emphasis is on the girl-child, to ensure that she is left to grow. But to achieve this, we have to bring more on the table!” she said.

For now, it was agreed that there was need to impart skills to ensure that the people can engage in income-generating activities so that they do not have to be completely dependent on handouts.