Visiting Kigeme Refugee Camp
By Megan Haggerty Foster and Christine Hooyman
The Kigeme Refugee camp started with a handful of white plastic houses built on top of a hillside along the main road in Nyamagabe district. We were driving past it for months, craning our necks in the twegerane, like everyone on board, watching the camp literally grow from week to week. What started out as projections of around 7,000 people, quickly rose to numbers upwards of 14,000 living in and around 4,000 houses on two hillsides, sandwiching the main road. The citizens of the camp are from the DRC, Rwandans mostly that had been displaced in the 1994 genocide or before, and mostly women and children.
The presence of the refugee camp in many aspects of our lives, including constant discussions between community members, co-workers, and ourselves, the constancy of UN supply trucks and other aid organization vehicles along the
road, and the overwhelming visibility of the camp, really encouraged us to pursue visiting it. “I had wanted to learn more about the camp since it was first erected. I had mixed feelings about going, but many of my co-workers had already visited or were going to visit. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong in being curious - I guess it's more important how we respond to that curiosity,” says Christine.
The process to visit started with discussions with the mayor and chief of police for the district, and with the director of the camp itself. These led to communicating with and receiving permission from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs. On the day of the visit, we briefly met with the camp director, who coordinated a very busy guide
to arrive and take us on a tour, up one hill and around and up the other, giving us a cursory example of what life is like in the Kigeme Refugee Camp.
The influx of 14,000 people has substantially and visibly changed the community of Kigeme, discernible if one were just to see it from the road. However some of the less visible changes we learned about from our guide or other community members. Vendors in the area have raised the prices of everything - some items even by as much as 400-500%. It's forcing the residents to travel to other communities to purchase basic market items. The market itself has changed from a barely recognizable clearing along the road to established wooden structures and boutiques, open every day of the week. It’s a shocking transformation. Although the camp has boosted the local economy in some ways, previously existing residents complain of the financial burdens that the camp places on them as individuals, and on their families. This includes several of our co-workers in Nyamagabe district health centers.
The presence of the refugee camp in many aspects of our lives, including constant discussions between community members, co-workers, and ourselves, the constancy of UN supply trucks and other aid organization vehicles along the
road, and the overwhelming visibility of the camp, really encouraged us to pursue visiting it. “I had wanted to learn more about the camp since it was first erected. I had mixed feelings about going, but many of my co-workers had already visited or were going to visit. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong in being curious - I guess it's more important how we respond to that curiosity,” says Christine.
The process to visit started with discussions with the mayor and chief of police for the district, and with the director of the camp itself. These led to communicating with and receiving permission from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs. On the day of the visit, we briefly met with the camp director, who coordinated a very busy guide
to arrive and take us on a tour, up one hill and around and up the other, giving us a cursory example of what life is like in the Kigeme Refugee Camp.
The influx of 14,000 people has substantially and visibly changed the community of Kigeme, discernible if one were just to see it from the road. However some of the less visible changes we learned about from our guide or other community members. Vendors in the area have raised the prices of everything - some items even by as much as 400-500%. It's forcing the residents to travel to other communities to purchase basic market items. The market itself has changed from a barely recognizable clearing along the road to established wooden structures and boutiques, open every day of the week. It’s a shocking transformation. Although the camp has boosted the local economy in some ways, previously existing residents complain of the financial burdens that the camp places on them as individuals, and on their families. This includes several of our co-workers in Nyamagabe district health centers.
The hospital and health center in Kigeme have agreed to take on patients from the refugee camp, but sometimes it has been at the cost of successful patient service. Wait times in both locations have increased substantially, and although there is a seemingly well-organized system for intake of refugees at both the locations, there is concern over lack of staffing and availability. As the majority of the refugee population are women and children, kids are running around everywhere, posing a logistical nightmare - figuring out what to do with so many children who no longer have a school to attend.
The camp is located back-to-back with a school, however the school is already filled with local children. We asked if the
children at the camp were attending school and were told that they were taught on Saturdays only. There were talks of educating them during the other children’s school breaks and other options were being posed and discussed by community leaders. Although it seems now, almost a year after the camp was established, the refugee camp children have been incorporated into the normal school schedule. However, the school continues to face similar problems to the health center.
This was the first visit for both of us to a refugee camp, although Christine has visited emergency aid camps before. Neither of us knew what to expect, yet we were surprised at how organized the camp appeared. It was calm and quiet and structured. Of course there was the traditional excitement of children seeing foreigners in their village, but not dissimilar to our experiences visiting any random village in Rwanda. The informal economy that was thriving inside the camp - barber shops, small boutiques and tailors interspersed throughout the houses, was really interesting. “I think it really speaks to the resilience of individuals and the ability to make something from nothing. Perhaps I'm making an assumption, but I expect many of the camp residents had mainly immobile resources left behind in DRC. To see individuals rebound so quickly - and creatively - was something that I wished I had more time to explore and ask questions about,” recalls Christine.
We walked through rows and rows of the white plastic houses, or sometimes actual tents for those whose houses hadn’t been built yet. These houses were some of the first things we noticed in the camp. Seeing the size of each individual house really gave perspective to the total area of the camp and the density of the population within it. The size and structure of these buildings raised a lot of questions for us about the quality of life in the camp, which will probably only be answered with time.
“I envisioned the houses in the rain, water and mud running down the hillsides, families of around five living in a maybe 8 ft. by 10 ft. house, using communal kitchens, communal bathrooms, and communal showers. I thought about attempting to understand what that could possibly be like, yet understanding that I really can’t possibly begin to reach comprehension. The people looked happy however, as if they had found ways to exist outwardly seamless in this environment,” says Megan. “This is not the first time that a refugee camp has been located in Kigeme, and therefore, I assume they’ve had some experience working out the challenges.”
The centralized bathrooms, showers, hand washing stations and water filling points are used for the entire camp, and there is a camp health post to address minor health issues. Once a month there is food distribution at a central point along the road. We were told by our guide that these distributions include staples like rice, potatoes, flour, sugar, salt, oil and beans. Often times many of these things are later sold on the side of the road to passing cars so that the families can purchase things like fresh vegetables. The reach of these distributed goods has been interesting to watch. We have heard that USAID mosquito nets and blankets from the camp have made it all the way down to Burundi to be sold in the markets there, and we regularly see USAID oil cans and other materials back in our own villages.
The local football field has been used for much of the material distribution, organizational and supervisorial meetings for the camp, and also as a parking lot for many of the aid vehicles and trucks bringing materials. Each time we pass by, there seems to be something else happening on the field, including recently, the distribution of firewood. The volunteer who led our tour was clearly busy, but was very willing to answer our questions. We wanted to keep the questions pretty basic, as we tried to balance our curiosity with our hesitancy to not seem too intrusive. At the end of the day, our visit
lasted only a handful of hours and therefore it was very surface level.
“I'd like to maybe go back again - maybe on a food distribution day and learn more about that process. Ultimately, I'm glad I went because the presence of the camp is certainly impacting my community,” says Christine. We are really thankful to have had the opportunity to learn more about the camp, and see what some of the successes and challenges for the camp and its population are. Nobody knows how long the refugees will need to stay in the camp, or if they will return to their lives in the DRC. Overall we were impressed with the camp, the organizational structure, and the people within the
camp. Although the visit was on a superficial level, it helped put into perspective the conversations happening in our more immediate communities.
The camp is located back-to-back with a school, however the school is already filled with local children. We asked if the
children at the camp were attending school and were told that they were taught on Saturdays only. There were talks of educating them during the other children’s school breaks and other options were being posed and discussed by community leaders. Although it seems now, almost a year after the camp was established, the refugee camp children have been incorporated into the normal school schedule. However, the school continues to face similar problems to the health center.
This was the first visit for both of us to a refugee camp, although Christine has visited emergency aid camps before. Neither of us knew what to expect, yet we were surprised at how organized the camp appeared. It was calm and quiet and structured. Of course there was the traditional excitement of children seeing foreigners in their village, but not dissimilar to our experiences visiting any random village in Rwanda. The informal economy that was thriving inside the camp - barber shops, small boutiques and tailors interspersed throughout the houses, was really interesting. “I think it really speaks to the resilience of individuals and the ability to make something from nothing. Perhaps I'm making an assumption, but I expect many of the camp residents had mainly immobile resources left behind in DRC. To see individuals rebound so quickly - and creatively - was something that I wished I had more time to explore and ask questions about,” recalls Christine.
We walked through rows and rows of the white plastic houses, or sometimes actual tents for those whose houses hadn’t been built yet. These houses were some of the first things we noticed in the camp. Seeing the size of each individual house really gave perspective to the total area of the camp and the density of the population within it. The size and structure of these buildings raised a lot of questions for us about the quality of life in the camp, which will probably only be answered with time.
“I envisioned the houses in the rain, water and mud running down the hillsides, families of around five living in a maybe 8 ft. by 10 ft. house, using communal kitchens, communal bathrooms, and communal showers. I thought about attempting to understand what that could possibly be like, yet understanding that I really can’t possibly begin to reach comprehension. The people looked happy however, as if they had found ways to exist outwardly seamless in this environment,” says Megan. “This is not the first time that a refugee camp has been located in Kigeme, and therefore, I assume they’ve had some experience working out the challenges.”
The centralized bathrooms, showers, hand washing stations and water filling points are used for the entire camp, and there is a camp health post to address minor health issues. Once a month there is food distribution at a central point along the road. We were told by our guide that these distributions include staples like rice, potatoes, flour, sugar, salt, oil and beans. Often times many of these things are later sold on the side of the road to passing cars so that the families can purchase things like fresh vegetables. The reach of these distributed goods has been interesting to watch. We have heard that USAID mosquito nets and blankets from the camp have made it all the way down to Burundi to be sold in the markets there, and we regularly see USAID oil cans and other materials back in our own villages.
The local football field has been used for much of the material distribution, organizational and supervisorial meetings for the camp, and also as a parking lot for many of the aid vehicles and trucks bringing materials. Each time we pass by, there seems to be something else happening on the field, including recently, the distribution of firewood. The volunteer who led our tour was clearly busy, but was very willing to answer our questions. We wanted to keep the questions pretty basic, as we tried to balance our curiosity with our hesitancy to not seem too intrusive. At the end of the day, our visit
lasted only a handful of hours and therefore it was very surface level.
“I'd like to maybe go back again - maybe on a food distribution day and learn more about that process. Ultimately, I'm glad I went because the presence of the camp is certainly impacting my community,” says Christine. We are really thankful to have had the opportunity to learn more about the camp, and see what some of the successes and challenges for the camp and its population are. Nobody knows how long the refugees will need to stay in the camp, or if they will return to their lives in the DRC. Overall we were impressed with the camp, the organizational structure, and the people within the
camp. Although the visit was on a superficial level, it helped put into perspective the conversations happening in our more immediate communities.