Some five thousand people inhabit a district called Tukananes , across the river from the market place. Land is so scarce that these Moro refugees have built a village on stilts in a swamp. People move about in canoes, or on raised walkways. Community Aid Abroad helped rebuild these when they were destroyed by a fire, thought to have been lit by wealthy landowners. Women earn a living from selling goods at the main market, men by ferrying people around in boats, mostly dug-out canoes.
Child care is a major problem, but the most serious difficulty is the complete lack of safe water.
The river has become both life and death for these people. It is their means of transport and their dwelling, their rubbish tip and their laundry, their water supply and their toilet. Despite appalling living conditions the government has done very little to ease the suffering. Few non-government organisations will fund projects for Moro people because of the very real security problems and the highly politicised nature of the situation. As refugees within their own country, fleeing an internal conflict which seems intractable, they are not refugees in the official sense and thus are unable to attract international support.