The camp is one of five sites that have swollen with new arrivals since the recent upsurge in violence in the region.

North Kivu province has been the site of relentless fighting for over a decade. Since April, the beginning of the current crisis, an estimated 500,000 people have been displaced in the province. Many of these families had already been displaced and were living in sites for displaced persons or with host families, only to be displaced yet again.

Febe Bushu and her family have been displaced twice. In September, they fled their home in Pinga, some 80 km northeast of Walikale in North Kivu. “We left Pinga because of the war. Everyone was fleeing,” she says. Constantly pushed south by fighting, the family walked for a full two weeks before they reached Goma, where they found temporary refuge with a host family.

Two weeks ago, she and her family had to leave again because food was too scarce. “The family had nothing at all, so we felt it was best to leave,” says Ms. Bushu. Today, the family live at Bulengo.

Most of the displaced population have left their homes or places of refuge quickly, with few belongings. Many have been forced to sleep in makeshift shelters. The improvised shelters provide little protection from the frequent, seasonal rain, especially during the night.

“Many still lack proper shelter to keep themselves dry and warm,” says UNICEF Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Barbara Bentein. “When children get wet and cannot change their clothes, they become more at risk of falling sick and suffering from infectious diseases such as pneumonia.”

Bulengo is one of the sites where displaced persons have found refuge around Goma. According to humanitarian coordinator for Oxfam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tariq Riebl, the residents of the camp are a mix of people from different areas affected by various factions involved in the conflict. “The needs are intense because all of them have fled conflict, and all of them have suffered from the trauma of having to move, often several times,” he says.

Ms. Bushu collects her relief kit. The relief kits contain 10 essential items, including plastic sheeting, blankets, sleeping mats, clothing, a wash basin, a jerry can, a kitchen set and soap. “The tarp will help cover my tent,” she says. “I’ll be protected from the sun and I won’t have to hear all the noise outside. Cooking pans also mean I can cook by, and that’s really important.

The mass distribution of relief kits to assist families like Ms. Bushu’s is the largest operation to be carried out in North Kivu in recent years. UNICEF has coordinated the operation, which has involved 13 local and international NGOs, as well as other United Nations agencies, including AIDES, AVSI, Care, Caritas Goma, Concern Worldwide, Handicap International, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam Great Britain, Première Urgence, Save the Children, Solidarités International, OCHA, UNHCR and UNOPS. The distribution has been made possible with support from donors including the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) and the Governments of Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Sweden.

On the ground, more than 210 staff have been steadily working to ensure that the families receive their kits before the Christmas holiday.

“People arrived in Bulengo two to three weeks ago,” says UNICEF Emergency Officer in Goma Ulrich Wagner. “Insecurity delayed the distribution. Now, we aim to be as quick as possible to get these kits to the families, as long as the security allows it.”

A calm has prevailed over the Christmas period, which allowed UNICEF and its partners to intervene swiftly, undertaking a census and registration of families in preparation for the distributions. All told, over 1,000 tonnes of supplies have simultaneously been distributed in multiple sites to more than 20,000 displaced families over the course of four days.

“In most cases, people have left behind their homes, their fields and livestock, which are their sole source of food and income,” said the World Food Programme (WFP) Representative in DRC, Martin Ohlsen. “They are therefore – even if they just fled 20 kilometres away from their village – cut off from any sort of support for their families.”

An estimated 390,000 people have been internally displaced in eastern DRC and more than 60,000 Congolese have fled to neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda since fighting erupted in the North Kivu province in April between Government forces and the M23 rebel group.

The conflict is intensifying, WFP said in a news release, with militia groups fighting to extend their zones of influence. Human right violations, including murders, looting, rapes and abductions, have also led to massive population movement in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, North Katanga, Maniema and Province Orientale.

The new operation, which will target these five provinces, will provide people with high energy biscuits, followed by emergency food rations or, in areas where markets are functioning, cash or vouchers that allow them to purchase their own food.

To fund the emergency operation, the agency has also launched an appeal for $81 million. However, Ohlsen said that so far only 15 per cent of the total cost had been mobilized.

As part of the operation, WFP is boosting the use of innovative tools to increase the efficiency of its emergency assistance such as the distribution of cash and vouchers, which has proved to be cost effective and has helped some 77,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Kivu. The programme will be expanded to other provinces over the next few months, and is planned to cover 188,000 people.

Between January and August, WFP provided food assistance to about 730,000 people displaced in eastern DRC, living in camps, informal settlements or with host families.

In addition to emergency response operations, WFP said it will continue to provide support to the Congolese who face day-to-day struggles such as chronic food insecurity, malnutrition in children and pregnant or nursing women, and a high incidence of HIV and tuberculosis. An additional $84.6 million is required to continue to address these issues in the country, the agency said.

“It’s important not to forget that this crisis in the East is taking place in one of the poorest countries in the world, where 5.4 million people were already facing chronic hunger and malnutrition,” Ohlsen added.