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Last week, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) distributed food to more than 40,000 persons in Don Bosco IDP site in Bangui, Central African Republic – a country where almost 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes. DRC is planning to help more than 100,000 people in the coming months.
Increased fighting and violations of the civilian population keep on forcing people to flee their homes in the Central African Republic (CAR). During five days of distributing, DRC has been able to deliver food to more than 40,000 internally displaced persons in Don Bosco camp in the capital Bangui last week. The kits contained for instance rice, beans, oil, salt and special nutrition to children – and in total almost 400 tons of food has been delivered. Besides the distributions last week, DRC have been providing the displaced population with a range of other things – and are going to reach more than 100,000 IDPs in the time to come.
”In addition to the tons and tons of food we’ve distributed, we’ve also provided soap, blankets, jerrycans and mats to people who have been forced to leave their house. Most people don’t even have the most basic things with them when they leave their homes – and besides protection, this is something we can offer them,” says Thibaut Roux, Emergency Team Leader for DRC in the Central African Republic.
Hygiene is another area of intervention which calls for great priority. Water and sanitation becomes a focal area in the different camps for the internally displaced in Bangui. For instance by construction of emergency pit latrines and washing facilities. And even simple means can sometimes help makes a difference.
“A very simple thing as soap can be of highest importance. One has to imagine that thousands of people are being put together in a very limited space without water and sanitation. It is very likely that contagious diseases will spread very fast and hence it is pivotal that we improve these conditions,” Thibaut Roux says.
DRC has worked in CAR since 2007 upon request by UN, DRC works with protection of the many displaced persons. Additionally, DRC works to improve the living conditions of the population by supplying food, drinking water and proper sanitary installments. DRC also works on rehabilitating the educational system. Since the eruption of the latest crisis in the fall of 2013, DRC has heavily upscaled its emergency intervention in the crisis torn country.
