Listen to John Dallmann's report from Goma, where Samaritan’s Purse is helping thousands with emergency aid and medical care.
Samaritan’s Purse is providing emergency relief to thousands of people who have been driven from their homes by escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Clashes between the Congolese Army and rival militias have displaced more than 250,000 people in recent weeks. Many have sought refuge in and around Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. Makeshift camps around the city continue to expand as hundreds of new refugees arrive daily.

“It’s a very difficult situation in and around Goma,” said John Dallmann, a water and sanitation adviser on the Samaritan’s Purse team. “I think people will be in these camps until the militias are disarmed and peace is brought again to the eastern Congo.”

Working through local churches in Goma, Samaritan’s Purse has distributed 197 metric tons of food to more than 43,000 people who have been living under tarps in church compounds, or in schools and other facilities. Kitchen kits and blankets were also distributed.

Outside Goma, food, clean water, and latrines are being provided for more than 7,000 people living in a refugee camp called Bugunga. The camp developed in an area near a river, where people scrounged small tree limbs and banana leaves to build crude shelters.

Clean water and adequate sanitation are critical in the camps to help ward off the spread of deadly diseases like cholera.

“We continue to have a team of engineers and water technicians looking for ways we can help prevent the spread of cholera,” Dallman said. “Clean water, sanitation, hand-washing stations, and hygiene are very important components of making sure that diseases are kept in check among the refugees that are scattered around the Goma area.”

Two clean water filtration and delivery systems have been set up in Bugunga, along with banks of latrines, showers, and hand-washing stations.

Several physicians, including Dr. Warren Cooper, also have joined the Samaritan’s Purse team to assess medical needs and help surgeons in local hospitals cope with an increase in war-related injuries, including gunshot and shrapnel wounds. One of many patients Dr. Cooper cared for was a 6-year-old boy named Jean-Paul who was shot in the neck by a stray bullet.

“I operated on him to explore the wound and make sure that nothing critical was injured,” Dr. Cooper said. “He survived the operation and is now doing very well.”

Dr. Cooper also joined a medical team that is identifying handicapped children in refugee camps who are candidates for corrective surgery. One of the children was a 10-year-old boy named James who was born with a club foot.

“It was exciting for me to see this child, that otherwise would not have access to this life-changing, corrective surgery, and to know that Samaritan’s Purse is part of this process of bringing these children into the hospital and allowing them to receive surgical care for some of the deformities they have,” Dr. Cooper said.

It is estimated that more than 5 million people have lost their lives during the 10-year struggle that has plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thousands of people have also fled the country to refugee camps in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda.

Nearly 20,000 UN peacekeepers have been dispatched to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. An uneasy truce between the Congolese Army and rebel commander Laurent Nkunda has made Goma a safe haven for refugees, but the situation remains highly unstable.

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Samaritan's Purse , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Emergency Relief , Helping Victims of War