Restore 500 Kahengera Flood Victims in Kalemie DRC

Testimony from Kahengele Flood Survivor

The Democratic Republic of Congo is highly affected by Flooding which makes new victims each year.

Since 2021 we withnessed the presence of heavy rain in this Province which affected our crops, increased the water of the rivers and the Lakes Tanganyika and affected so many people. This year 2025 especially from the month of July we saw the rain and water reducing but progressively being replaced by hit because it is too hot here. Over the years my Ancestors lived alongside this River Rugumba in this very same village of Kahengele, this River helped us to get Fish which we ate and sold also to the Market in order to get money, but now the water which increased since 2021 affected also the Fish, it is hard to get fish in this River anymore. We also planted crops alongside this River and got a lot of food but water also destroyed everything and you can imagine that for the last four years we have been living without clear stable source of food, we also grew animals here which helped us to get meat and money. We lost all these livelihood activities connected to this River. I shifted far from the River up to this Hill where, I’m trying to restart a new life, to build a new house but I have not managed to get money, I need to come up with other livelihood activities which can help me to survive here. I’m not yet sure what I should but I have started with Chicken and as you can see I have now 5, so my target is to get at least 100  chicken which can also produce eggs. Thank you so much for the support you have extended to me, but also please think about all other survivors who are living in Camps and all those who have nothing to do and are still in Kahengele.

Report on the situation of the flood victims in Kahengele – Kalemie DRCongo

Kahengele village is one among the areas affected by the flooding in Kalemie alongside Kamuko, Dave, Camps Joseph, Kamukolobondo among others. Floods have displaced thousands of people and as the raining season draws near, we expect more challenges.

The particularity of Kahengele is that this village is occupied by vulnerable communities among them refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, who in most cases do not attract the attention of the political leaders.

Even if we do not have funding to solve the challenges communities are facing we have done the following:

One community meeting with the survivors in order to alert them to be prepared enough and avoid risks during the raining season which is starting in September. This meeting helped us to share with the population some safety strategies including the necessity to shift for those who can do so.

Awareness among actors of the Civil Society and the need to involve them to raise the situation of the flood victims, and because of this two Civil Society Structures have joined our advocacy. Two meetings have been organized in order to call upon Civil Society Actors for action and now Kahengele flood victims have been involved in the advocacy plan of the Civil Society.

And lastly we have organiozed separate meetings with the following provincial authorities: A representative of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Director of the Ministry of Plan, the Special Advisor of the Minister of Social Affairs and the Minister of Education. We facilitated the Cholera vaccination among the survivors and we have continued to share with their representatives about hygiene habits.