Democratic Republic of Congo

In 2017 I moved to Kinshasa in DRC and I’ve reported extensively with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), mainly on humanitarian response to epidemics, natural disasters, and human crises due to violent internal conflict within Congo.

No water, no space – dire living conditions in Kalémie

Around Kalémie, thousands of people are living in makeshift camps or in schoolyards. Kalémie is a town in Tanganyika Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Intercommunal violence forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes a year ago, and in July 2017 people living in settlements around Kalémie were forced to move once again when fighting broke out.

Democratic Republic of Congo: No water, no space – dire living conditions in Kalémie
Des conditions sanitaires inacceptables pour les déplacés du Tanganyika

There is no health without mental health

MSF staff in Democratic Republic of Congo are living through the same trauma as their patients. Check out the WORLD MENTAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN

Harsh conditions persist for Masisi 24 years after conflict

MSF activities in Masisi — Operating theatre staff prepare a 20-year-old man for surgery, at the MSF supported hospital in Masisi, North Kivu, DRC. The man had been wounded by gunfire during intense fighting in Nyabiondo, a town in the Masisi area where MSF is supporting the health center.

MSF began activities in Masisi in 2007, in a context that had been affected by conflict for two decades and caused massive population displacement. With ongoing needs in the region due to sporadic fighting and a lack of health facilities, MSF’s project supports Masisi General Hospital and Masisi and Nyabiondo health centres. In late June 2017, two children, aged four and two, were admitted to the emergency room of Masisi general referral hospital with gunshot wounds. The older child had been shot in the back, the younger child in the neck. Their story can be read here

Children and adolescents victims of urban violence

Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been at the centre of fighting that has ravaged the region since 1998. Conflict has brought widespread poverty to North Kivu, making it hard for parents to support their children, and eroding the role that extended family have traditionally played in bringing up orphans. Since March 2017, MSF has run a project for children and teenagers living on the streets of Goma, providing medical and psychosocial care to street children who are exposed to violence, sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. MSF is also supporting social reintegration through referrals to local child protection structures or family reunification processes.

Children and teenagers living on the streets of Goma and the local artist Wanny s-king have produced with the support of MSF the song Shusha Ma Flow.

In Goma, I have collected more visual material and testimonies on children and teenagers. All the material have been published here

HIV in DRC: How we made a viral music video to fight HIV in Kinshasa

Ahead of World Aids Day 2017, MSF in collaboration with Congolese HIV/AIDS activists has launched “Zwa Nga Bien – (Look at me well)“, a multimedia awareness campaign to fight stigma surrounding HIV. Two popular artists from the Congolese music scene, Lexxus Legal and Sista Becky, have pledged alongside young people living with HIV from the Jeunesse Espoire (Youth Hope) association and MSF to fight the stigma affecting people living with HIV in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The song Zwa Nga Bien, which forms the centre of the campaign, was inspired by the testimonies of HIV activists from Jeunesse Espoire. To know more about the campaign check out this article: “Look at me well” – How we made a viral music video to fight HIV in Kinshasa