Thousands Besieged in Eastern Congo

Mercy Corps is delivering about 400,000 liters of water a day to camps in and around Goma. Photo: Phil Oldham/Mercy Corps

Amid the uncertainties of peace negotiations on the heels of ferocious fighting in eastern Congo, Mercy Corps is supplying more than 100,000 displaced people with the most critical resource of all: clean, fresh water.

Your support can help us ensure that supplies and basic services continue to reach families caught somewhere in between overflowing displacement camps and the home villages they had to flee in the face of violence.

Mercy Corps is playing a key role in emergency response efforts by providing lifesaving water, sanitation and other services to those forced from their villages and homes.

We've been providing more than 400,000 liters of potable water per day to people living in displacement camps in and around the city of Goma. In addition, we're building latrines and working with camp residents to prevent cholera.

Mercy Corps' Luke King speaks to a family at a displacement camp outside of Goma. Photo: Phil Oldham/Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps has also been working to minimize the environmental strain of the displaced by distributing thousands of fuel-efficient stoves and firewood. The stoves use less than one-half of the firewood that conventional open-flame cooking methods require. As a result, deforestation normally associated with large displacement camps is significantly lessened. In addition, security is improved because women do not have to collect wood as frequently, a process that often exposes them to risk of assault.

Even with current negotiations between rebel forces, the government of Congo and the international community, thousands of families are unsure of where to go and what to do. This situation is complicating the already-difficult task of providing for the needs of one million displaced people.

"In my three-and-a-half years in Congo, I've never seen circumstances so dire," says Luke King, Mercy Corps' Country Director in Congo. "The population here had already reached its coping capacity before recent events, and now they are in dire need of support from the international community. Without resources for continued services, we expect a steep increase in malnutrition and diarrhoea-related diseases. Nevertheless, we'll continue to make strong efforts to respond to the needs of the population."

Families in this part of Congo, who have endured the deadliest conflict since World War II, have already lost homes and loved ones. They are now trapped in communities and camps with no idea if — or when — the violence will resume. Please help us speed water and other critical supplies to them in their time of greatest need.

Your donations are needed to save lives, prevent worsening disease and build hope in a devastated environment.