End of a site; start of restoration
One week ago, Help a Child Burundi, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs, provided temporary shelter and food aid to support the reintegration of 136 IDP families, formerly hosted at Winterekwa IDP location site. “This is the start of restoration for the families and the children that stayed here,” shares Help a Child Burundi Country Director Clément Nkubizi.
The site was allocated by the Catholic Church to host IDP families that were most affected by floods for three months. However, the needs of these IDP households increased as the already suffering families were unable to make ends meet after the loss of resources swept by floods and heavy rains. Most families went into debts and their children found themselves sidelined from school programs, due to lack of basic school supplies.
In the wake of another academic year, Help a Child intervened with financial support from the Dutch ‘Eekhoorn’ Foundation.
“We will use this opportunity to bring hope and restore the dignity of these people.”
“Being informed that there were at least 290 children in this site, we felt the strong need to support the parents to provide for their children,” says Nkubizi. “The rainy season is coming soon. Most of the temporary shelter tents are torn. We already faced the fact that some of the children living in the rehabilitation camp, died due to malnutrition. Leaving these families in the site would further expose them to diseases caused by poor hygiene conditions, violence and other risks, endangering children in the first place. Therefore, we will use this opportunity to bring hope and restore the dignity of these people. That is why this project is calld ‘HEMBURA: Restore.”
The main activities under ‘HEMURA’ are: offering families a three-month rent by cash-for-rent and food vouchers, establishment of self-help groups, entrepreneurial skilss training and provision of loans to start a business. These activities are aiming at building the resilience of parents and caregivers, so that they will be able to take care of themselves and their children.
Help a Child Burundi, in a same way, will give support to the closure of the Mubone IDP site soon.