Unfortunately, most of the houses are built with boards, they are close to each other, and the streets are not wide enough to allow for the rapid arrival of emergency vehicles. Thus, flames spread from one house to another for over two hours due to the late arrival of the fire-fighting vehicles of Monusco and the municipality. Fortunately, no deaths are recorded.
According to the provincial government and the FEC / South Kivu (Federation of Congolese Entrepreneurs), 289 families have lost everything, are now homeless and in need of urgent assistance.
The photos show the violence, progress and reach of the fire and the desolation of the inhabitants who struggle to find traces of their home. Families have lost everything (home, furniture, clothes, food ...), all obtained after years of work and sacrifice. On the eve of the beginning of the school year they are totally indigent, unable to pay taxes and school materials.
In the Bukavu neighborhoods, where the houses are covered in wood, fires are frequent: at least four in the last three months. According to our information, these fires have affected families of over 2,000 children. A tragedy that adds to the extreme poverty in which most of the population of Bukavu and the suburbs have fallen. Many families are desperate, most of them have hardly anything by which to live.
The Don Bosco Center does not have the means to transfer those affected or to rebuild their homes. This is where the solidarity of families and Christian communities comes into play, and it is here that the government should intervene (very busy with the preparation of the elections). In its small way, the Don Bosco Center can extend what it already does: the Tuwe Wafundi vocational training school, which offers free professional training to street youth, can accommodate children whose families are no longer able to pay their tuition fees and therefore could end up on the streets.
Distance support, which last year permitted the Don Bosco Center to pay the tuition fees of 507 primary and secondary school children, will give priority to the students of the families affected.
