In DR Congo’s Kigonze camp, Ebola deals new blow to displaced families

BUNIA, DR Congo, July 6 — Ebola-related warnings are impossible to miss in Kigonze, an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Bunia in Ituri Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

A white sign bearing the words “STOP EBOLA” greets visitors at the camp. Plastic handwashing stations dot the narrow paths between shelters.

Health workers move briskly among newly built treatment facilities, while children carry yellow jerrycans of water and women prepare meals outside modest homes built for families who fled one crisis only to find themselves caught in another.

For years, the displaced families living on the edge of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, have endured hunger, overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, chronic water shortages, and limited access to healthcare. Then came Ebola.