Refugees at Kagunga village getting on small boats and then to the waiting ship ready for departure to Kigoma. A temporary...
Refugees at Kagunga village getting on small boats and then to the waiting ship ready for departure to Kigoma. |
A temporary shelter that has been set up for supporting children in Lake Tanganyika Stadium. |
Desperate refugees awaiting the ship to ferry them from Kagunga village to Kigoma. |
Refugees at Lake Tanganyika Stadium waiting to be transferred to Nyarugusu. (Photos:Emannuel Kihaule) |
PRESS RELEASE
DATE: 23/05/2015
Plan International, UNICEF, IRC move to protect children refugees in
Kigoma
As Tanzania is struggling to cope with the
sudden influx of refugees to Kigoma from the neighboring country of Burundi,
Plan International has started working with other agencies to ensure safety and
provide psycho-social support to refugee children.
Being among the first organisations to send
field teams to Kagunga and Kigoma, Plan International is now working with the
International Rescue Committee and UNICEF to set up three safe spaces for
children to learn and play, as well as helping them receive support and
referrals for further care. The centres will be at Lake Tanganyika Stadium and
Nyarugusu Refugee Camp.
In the centres children are encouraged to take
part in group activities and to discuss the difficulties that they and their
families are facing. The social workers
will use these spaces to identify children that require more structured counseling or those that might be suffering from abuse or illness for
appropriate action.
Although Plan Internationals will be
responsible for the running of these centres activities will be closely
coordinated with UNICEF, IRC and any other agencies that form part of the Child
Protection Working Group.
About three weeks ago thousands of refugees started
fleeing instability in Burundi following attempts
by the current President, Pierre Nkuruzinza, to run for a third term in the
coming general elections. The refugees are now living in desperate, overcrowded
conditions, at risk of disease and without shelter especially at a tiny village
of Kagunga, found on shores of Lake Tanganyika.
By last week at least 50,000 had amassed at this village waiting for ship
trips to take them across Lake Tanganyika to refugee camps in Kigoma.
Fears are growing that the situation could deteriorate dramatically over
the coming days if the situation is not addressed.
“Refugees are piled together, squeezed between the hillside and the
coastal line. There is not even room for them to set up makeshift shelters,”
says Steve Williams, Plan International’s Emergencies Response Manager who has
been deployed from the UK. “Families just sit on top of each other, as they
wait and wait for the passage to the other side of the lake, where even worse
conditions await them,” he adds.
On arrival, they are processed at Kigoma Football Stadium, now a transit
camp, before being taken to the permanent Nyarugusu camps further inland, which
is already hugely overcrowded.
There is a cholera outbreak in all the refugees’ camps with over 3000
cases of serious diarrhea having been reported in the three locations. The total number of confirmed cholera deaths is so far 30 from all camps
with 7 more deaths attributed to other diseases including malaria.
Plan International through Red Cross Tanzania has also supported the
deployment of 20 health workers in Kigoma from the neighboring regions to help
in addressing the health challenges among the refugee population.
“It’s hard for authorities to keep pace with the new intake so families
are being kept here for days on end, with limited clean water and sanitation
facilities,” says Mr. Williams, from the football stadium. “There are many
unaccompanied children with others separated from their families during the
withdrawing exercise. The signs of severe malnutrition especially among
children are so viscid. So far there is no violence at Kagunga but one cannot
guarantee that the situation will remain the same for a long time due to the
desperate situation,” he said adding:
“The next few days are crucial. The international community is going to
have to pull together to get on top of this emergency in order to save lives.”
Burundi has been increasingly unstable since
President Pierre Nkurunziza was announced by his party that he would run for a
third term, sparking protest which culminated in a failed coup last week.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Who We
Are
Plan International is a
global child centered community development organization founded 70 years ago and
is currently operating in 71 countries throughout the world, including
Tanzania.
In Tanzania
Plan International
commenced its operations in Tanzania in 1991 supporting vulnerable children and
their families access health care, education, safe sanitation and water,
productive livelihoods and protection of their well being. It now operates in 11
regions– Dar es Salaam, Coast, Mwanza, Geita, Morogoro. Dodoma, Rukwa, Lindi and
Mtwara reaching over 2 million children and their communities in the country.
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