PHOTOS: Harsh conditions persist for Masisi population 24 years since the conflict
In late June 2017, BM’s two children, aged four and two, were admitted to the emergency room of Masisi general referral hospital with gunshot wounds. The older child had been shot in the back, the younger child in the neck.
“We live in a village in Walikale territory. One night I saw armed men in my house – I don’t know how they got in. As soon as I saw them I grabbed my two youngest children and tried to take cover under the bed. My eight-year-old son tried to do the same, but the men shot him. The bullet hit him in the chest and he fell next to the bed.
They fired towards the bed where we were hiding. My two-year-old son and his brother of four were hit by bullets. I shouted, ‘You’re killing me and all my children’, and they replied, ‘All you have to do is die!’
While some of the armed men were shooting, others were searching my house, looking for money or valuables. My husband had managed to flee the house.
I heard the men leave. Then I heard voices telling me to come out because the shooting had stopped. I was scared and wondered if it was still those thugs who were lying to get me out, or if it was my neighbours, kind people of goodwill. In doubt I stayed a while longer under the bed. I finally came out when I saw neighbours entering the house to help us.
My neighbours helped me carry my injured children to the health centre. The night was still dark and we walked for about an hour before reaching the centre. There they provided first aid to my children. Then they started asking me for money. I wasn’t in a position to pay what they were asking, so I decided to go to Maya health centre, where the MSF ambulance comes.
Before leaving for Maya, I went back home for the funeral of my son who was killed. We buried him, and I left for Maya with my two injured children. We walked from four in the afternoon until four the following morning. Then the MSF ambulance picked us up and brought us to the hospital.
My children received treatment at Masisi general referral hospital. They are a bit better now. I hope they can forget about this tragic incident. So far they haven’t talked about it. My four-year-old just told his older sister – who wasn’t living with us, she has just joined us here at the hospital – that their brother was killed, that he died because he was shot.
As soon as they are better, I will go back with them to Maya, the village where I was born. I don’t want to go back to Walikale territory – we moved there for my husband’s job. Now I absolutely don’t want to go back there.”
ENDS
Health promotion session in the health zone of Masisi, in the village of Mpanamo.
A crucial part of MSF work is health education, and family planning has crept up the agenda. The MSF health promoter describes the risks of large families, and the benefits of limiting family size. She is explaining the different contraceptive methods available, to considerable hilarity, especially when she demonstrates correct condom use. Photographer: Sara Creta
Jean, 54 years old, gun wounded patient in the Masisi hospital, North Kivu. In 2016, at Masisi Hospital, the MSF surgical team has offered 3804 surgeries. Photographer: Sara Creta
MSF supported hospital in Masisi, DRC. Jacques suffers from a severe form of malaria with moderate anemia. Photogrpaher: Sara Creta
Masisi. Photographer: Sara Creta
Midwife Jeanne K. Mikundi attends a newborn in the MSF supported Masisi hospital in North Kivu province, RDC. The skilled medics, nurses and midwives here deliver about 5000 babies per year. Photographer: Sara Creta
Nelly, 18 years old from Walikale province, is waiting to give birth at the ‘welcome village’ for pregnant women at the Masisi Hospital in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Women in their third trimester of a risky pregnancy, can stay at the 'welcome village' to ensure they have access to medicalized support to give birth. Women may be accompanied by another woman to help prepare meals for them, or bring their younger children if there is no one to care for them while they are staying at the facility. Photographer: Sara Creta
Newborn in the MSF supported Masisi hospital in North Kivu province, RDC. Obstetric emergencies sometimes require surgical assistance. Photoghrapher: Sara Creta
Operating theatre staff prepare a 20-year-old man for surgery, at the MSF supported hospital in Masisi, North Kivu, DRC. The man had been wounded by gunfire during intense fighting in Nyabiondo, a town in the Masisi area where MSF is supporting the health center. Photographer: Sara Creta
Portrait of Teresa, 78 years old, inhabitant of Masisi.
"The people of Masisi are suffering, especially the women, MSF is doing a lot here. MSF is also in a way helping families, as many of the national staff were out of a job before MSF came into the area. Photographer: Sara Creta
Roads are so bad that MSF carries out mobile clinics by motorbikes. Photographer: Sara Creta
View of the hills from Masisi town. Photogrphaer: Sara Creta
Women waiting to give birth at the ‘welcome village’ for pregnant women at the Masisi Hospital in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Women may be accompanied by another woman to help prepare meals for them, or bring their younger children if there is no one to care for them while they are staying at the facility. Photographer: Sara Creta
Women waiting to give birth at the ‘welcome village’ for pregnant women at the Masisi Hospital in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Women may be accompanied by another woman to help prepare meals for them, or bring their younger children if there is no one to care for them while they are staying at the facility. Photographer: Sara Creta
Wounded patient in the Masisi hospital, North Kivu. Since August 2007 MSF has been supporting Masisi hospital with a full package of care in a very volatile environment. The reference hospital of Masisi (220 beds), includes services of surgery, internal medicine, gynecology, maternity, pediatric, neonatology as well as a « village d’accueil » for women in their third trimester of a risky pregnancy who can stay there to ensure they have access to medicalized support to give birth. In 2016, MSF surgical teams have conducted 3804 operations. Photographer: Sara Creta
