Displacement Kit ($250)

In an instant, disaster and war can take everything away: possessions, livestock and homes. Where do families go from there? And what do they need to survive when they're displaced?

Why Help Is Needed

Imagine having most everything you need one moment, then absolutely nothing the next. What would you do? Where would you go? Those questions - and the will to survive - face those displaced by conflict and catastrophe. But how do you meet your daily needs when you're in a new place with no way to meet your needs?

Mercy Corps In Action

We speed relief supplies and other urgent assistance to families in some of the world's most challenging places — sometimes going behind battle lines and into disaster-flattened areas to reach survivors. From shelter materials to clean drinking water, from hygiene items to tools, we quickly assess the specific situation and provide survivors the help they need.

Furaha's Story

Photo: Roger Burks/Mercy Corps

It's firewood distribution day here in Buhimba displacement camp. Hundreds of women, most of whom are elderly, have lined up to wait their turn. A green rope goes up along the perimeter of the wood yard where the distribution will take place.

Furaha Maombi, 32 years old and the mother of five young children, is among those who will receive firewood today. She fled a rebel attack on her village and, with her family in tow, walked more than a day to get here. That was more than a year ago. Since then, nearly all the trees have been cut from the once-forested hillsides that surround the camp — tinder for the stoves of more than 13,000 people.

At 10 a.m., the distribution begins. Mamy Muvughe, a Mercy Corps field assistant for this camp, begins calling out names. "Maria Konga ... Mohinda Kasheka ... Nira Kabanga," she shouts. Then a young man yells out each name again to make sure it's heard.

When their name is called, each woman bends under the green rope and enters the wood yard. The first three women walk with canes. They come and stand by the small piles of wood — which average 15 pounds — that they will take home.

In all, 500 families — including Furaha's — will be served today. That amounts to more than 7,500 pounds of wood. And there's another distribution scheduled for Monday. Every day, Mercy Corps teams are in camps like Buhimba, meeting the most urgent needs of eastern Congo's displaced families.

Displacement Kit ($250)
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Purchase of a Mercy Kit is a symbolic gift that supports Mercy Corps' worldwide programs to help children and families in need. The Breastfeeding Kit, Climate Change Kit, Fuel-Efficient Stove Kit, Cricket Farm Kit, Send an Orphan to School Kit, Plant a Tree Kit, Play to Heal Kit and Uganda Farm Kit supports those specific project funds. Proceeds from the sale of other Mercy Kits will be used where most needed.