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Central African Republic: water for a rainy country, care for scratched legs … and an original use for ICRC tarpaulins

29-01-2009 Photo gallery

The Central African Republic has suffered war and insecurity for the last 40 years. The ICRC is one of the few agencies operating throughout the country, including the remote northern villages. The organization works with detainees, promotes international humanitarian law and assists the tens of thousands affected by the situation.

    • © ICRC / 081004-TP-Gonezabet-02

    ICRC field officer Flora Sambia addresses the people of Kambakota in Sango, the local language, to organize the distribution of aid. As well as issuing supplies to families that have fled the conflict and relocated in the village, the ICRC provided smaller kits to people who were already living there.

  • Photo, women manage a delicate balancing act, carrying firewood on their heads.
    • Women manage a delicate balancing act, carrying firewood on their heads.
      © ICRC / 081004-TP-Bezanga-01

    Some walk over five kilometres each way to gather wood for cooking. The ICRC has given buckets, soap, tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and seed to 7,800 people in the north of the country, where civilians are bearing the brunt of the long-running conflict and of banditry.

  • Photo, many families use ICRC tarpaulins to keep the foundations of their houses dry during construction.
    • Many families use ICRC tarpaulins to keep the foundations of their houses dry during construction.
      © ICRC / 081004-TP-Kambakota-38

    This allows house building to continue during the rainy season that runs from March to October.

  • Photo, for people living in villages, the nearest hospital may be far away, and medical care hard to find.
    • For people living in villages, the nearest hospital may be far away, and medical care hard to find.
      © ICRC / 081006-TP-AxeBotto-03

    A Central African Red Cross volunteer from the village of Gonezabet performs first aid on a boy who has injured his leg playing in thorny bushes. The ICRC supports these dedicated volunteers by providing supplies and training.

  • Photo, malaria is rife in the Central African Republic.
    • Malaria is rife in the Central African Republic.
      © British Red Cross / T. Pengilley / v-p-cf-e-00204

    This deadly yet preventable disease is spread by bites from infected mosquitoes. The ICRC distributes mosquito nets impregnated with insecticide to help protect people against bites. More than one million people die of malaria every year, most of them babies, young children and pregnant women. The majority are Africans.

  • Photo, the CAR gets plenty of rain, yet clean drinking water is scarce.

    This joint ICRC/Central African Red Cross Society project protects a natural water source against pollution. The pipes and concrete block have been installed directly over the water source to filter the water, providing 4,000 litres of water an hour.

  • Photo, women collect water in the village of Axe Botto at a pump renovated by the ICRC and the Central African Red Cross Society.

    Many people, especially children, have worms and suffer stomach problems as a result of contaminated water. Working together, the two organizations installed or renovated 100 pumps during 2008, providing clean water for drinking, cooking and washing.

  • The school in Balamba, a village in the north of the country, started the new term in October with a brand-new shower and latrine block. Previously, children had to go to the toilet in the bush and picked up illnesses from the waterborne parasites that flourish in the stagnant rainwater.

  • Photo, heavy rainfall and the lack of paved roads make travel difficult.

    The ICRC uses Land Cruisers to negotiate the difficult terrain, delivering aid to remote villages that would otherwise be cut off during the rainy season.


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