Speechless

May 17th, 2009

April 2009. For the past three weeks, the road has been safer for us and the other aid organisations. The mobile clinic team is back after being evacuated earlier and we are now trying to reach the health posts again. But every day we have to wait and see.

We haven’t been able to get to our three health posts near Kalembe since January. Thousands of people are out of reach thanks to two destroyed bridges and nearby fighting. They have been without medical care for weeks. The towns of Kashuga and Kalembe are tense as well and every week is a challenge. The people are what give me courage. The mothers that come to warn us, our own health care staff, who walk for kilometers to tell us that it is best if we don’t come today because it is not safe.

A new stream of displaced people starts to arrive. Once again, fathers, mothers and children have packed up all of their things and set off. Once again, they end up in a camp where they come up against the same problems of dirty water and no food. It keeps happening, time after time. The eyes of the world are no longer on them, but their suffering, pain and sorrow continue. Where do they get the courage from?

Every day we do our best to try and improve the situation in some way. In this, my Congolese colleagues give me hope. Again and again, they find the energy to keep trying, to start new activities once more: consultations, vaccinations, training sessions, digging latrines…

But they also can’t stop the pain. This morning, my nurse was waiting for me in tears. Last night, her little daughter died…

Once again, I embrace someone and try to find soothing words. But as often happens in Congo, I am speechless.

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