During the celebration of the World Refugee Day in Kavumu Refugee camp in Cankuzo province this June 2018, refugees have called on humanitarians to increase their food assistance saying it is not sufficient.
Kavumu Refugee Camp
“It is difficult to live with less than four kg of beans and 10 kg of corn flour per month. Refugees are forced to sell part of it to buy other basic items they need,” says a father of two met in Kavumu refugee camp.
He demands that the assistance given to them be increased arguing that the quantity is very small.
Makina Julitaa, a mother of eight, met in Kavumu refugee camp, says the food they are given has never exceeded three weeks. “I do some small business to buy sweet potatoes so as to complete the remaining week but it sometimes does not work as I have to borrow some money so my family could survive”.
Chance, another mother, says even a sum of BIF 4000 that they used to be given so they could buy some basic needs is no longer given. “Since April 2018, we do not receive the small amount of money we used to be given. This means that if one wants to buy something, they have to sell part of the food that they receive,” she says adding that this worsens their already poor living conditions.
Although those refugees believe that their food assistance would be reduced by those who distribute them, the UNHCR representative in Burundi says there is a problem of financial resources. Gogo Hukportie says donors often focus on emergency cases.
Kavumu Refugee camp is one of the four refugee camps that shelter Congolese refugees and is located in Cankuzo province in the Eastern part of Burundi. It accommodates 16,982 refugees composed of women (61, 6%) and men (48, 4%) since 2013.
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