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DRC: YOUNG PROFESSIONALS PARTICIPATE IN A PEACEFUL MARCH TO DEMAND WATER IN ORDER TO BETTER FIGHT EBOLA

Thursday, 10 October 2019
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On 6 September 2019, a peaceful march was organized in Goma by a few civil society organizations. The ''Young Professionals in Water and Sanitation of DRC'' actively took part in this march organized with the objective of advocating with the Congolese authorities to better fight against the Ebola virus disease.

The first case of Ebola was reported in Goma in mid-July 2019, the large city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a city of more than one million inhabitants. This is the second deadliest Ebola epidemic in African history, after the 2013-2014 outbreak in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone).

A golden rule to avoid the spread of Ebola is washing your hands regularly. Yet finding water is a major headache in Goma. The distribution network managed by the public operator, REGIDESO, covers only half of the water needs of the city's inhabitants."We are marching today because too much is too much; we are suffering, the people have been demanding water for several years. Today Ebola is here, we want our march to challenge the authorities. During this dry period, our mothers wake up very early in the morning with all the possible risks to fetch water from Lake Kivu, which is why we want to question our authorities again and especially because we already have new leaders," said Passy Mubalama, one of the demonstrators and organizers of the march.

From the Signers roundabout in the municipality of Karisimbi, the demonstrators (young water professionals, women from the city of Goma and the territory of Nyiragongo) with banners and bands mobilized to head for the provincial governorate where they submitted a memorandum with their complaints. The following few sentences can be read in the memorandum addressed to the governor of North Kivu province : "We ask to ensure that the rights of citizens are respected, to deliver on your promise to us, the population, to personally invest in the fight against Ebola by giving drinking water to the population".

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