Structural engineer Val Tarasov never imagined he would celebrate his 60th birthday in a refugee camp in Africa – but that’s what happened this year.
Red R deployed Tarasov to Rwanda to support tens of thousands of refugees who have fled violence in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
RedR deployee Val Tarasov inspects a water source at the Kigeme refugee camp in Rwanda. Photo: RedR Australia/Shaban Masengesho
Since violence erupted in Burundi in April last year, more than a quarter of a million refugees have fled and 75,000 of them are in Rwanda, where Val is working hard to ensure they have access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
“Mahame camp on the Burundi border is the biggest refugee camp in Rwanda and, by next month, it will have 55,000 refugees,”Tarasov says from his base near the camp, where he is supporting UNHCR.
“When I first arrived here, I was working in Mahame and my highest priority was replacing emergency latrines – which are fast to build and are drop holes with wooden frames and plastic sheeting for walls – with semi-permanent ones which have brick walls and proper doors and roofs of corrugated iron sheets,”Tarasov explains.
“I’ve also been working with our contractors to ensure that 10% of the latrines are accessible to the disabled.”
Later,Tarasov started working in the Congolese refugee camps as the UNHCR prepared for an influx of Congolese ahead of that country’s 2016 election.
“The camps’ water and sanitation infrastructure is old and limited so we need to upgrade the existing facilities and build more,”Tarasov says.
“I like to help people and to see the results of my work especially when the positive changes have such a major impact as they can have on a community affected by conflict or natural disaster."
To find out more about RedR Australia and the work their volunteers are doing, visit the website.