Since February 7, almost 300,000 people have fled to the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and its surroundings. Violent clashes are causing an escalating humanitarian crisis that has already displaced an estimated 7.2 million people in the country. FHI 360 works with local partners in North Kivu province to provide education to children in camps for people who have been displaced.
Jean-Pierre Sangwa, FHI 360’s country director for DRC, says:
“In the past three months the number of children in displacement camps around Goma has doubled. Many children don’t have desks; they don’t have books or classrooms. Many don’t have enough to eat and come to school too hungry to concentrate on their schoolwork. Teachers have been displaced and have no way to support themselves. The right to education of millions of children and youth in the DRC is thus violated without hope of imminent change.
“Many children who should be in third grade are in first grade. They have lost two or three years of their education. Their social and emotional skills are down. We want to support these kids, but if there isn’t an end to the fighting, if we can’t get them back to a normal situation, they may never have a way to recuperate.
“We don’t know what will happen in the next years because these risks are creating a cycle, a syndrome of violence. Young people who are in that situation, who are angry, without prospects, can become attracted by the militia groups. It’s a generational problem.”