DR Congo: Displaced people in camps celebrate Easter

Singing and praying, dozens of displaced people attend a mass at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to celebrate Easter.

They gathered to forget for a moment the difficulties they face every day.

“Today God gave us the grace and strength to celebrate Easter, because we are healthy, we have forgotten the suffering we are going through here” said Ebeni Jeannette, who is displaced from Kibumba and living now in the camp.

Almost one million people fled violence caused by rebel groups in different cities and towns in Eastern Congo in the last year, and have been living in precarious conditions with limited access to water and inadequate hygiene conditions in camps and shelters in Goma and around.

Tens of thousands fled in the last months from the attacks of the M23 rebel group that seized control of several villages not far from Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

"Our wish is that the next feast that is coming, Pentecost, we can celebrate it at home” said Pastor Michel Mihaho Ntawibuzinka who led the celebration of the Easter mass.

Also in the camp was Clementine Burano , a mother of five, who was preparing cabbage to give to her children to celebrate Easter.

She left Rutshuru with her children when the M23 group arrived and has been living in a tent at the camps for months.

"I am preparing the cabbage for the children to celebrate Easter. This is all that God has given to us and we thank him” Burano said. “When we were at home we ate meat, we also took wine and the children were happy very happy but as we are in a camp of displaced people, it is very difficult.”

The poor living conditions in the region and in the different camps have led to a cholera outbreak in North Kivu province, killing more than 6 thousand people since January, the United Nations said.