It's the month of October, and I'm once more in the area of North Kivu where gunfire resounds again from the heavy clashes between protagonists in a story that seemingly has no end. Unfortunately, the story is a tragedy because the heavy clashes are causing even more people to flee their homes and abandon their dreams.

The displaced people spend the night on the road -father, mother, and child--as they make their way southwards to the outskirts of Goma town where there are displacement camps and humanitarian assistance. But, they soon find that the fighting with heavy artillery keeps even this part of the province highly insecure, so humanitarian operations beyond the Goma area are repeatedly postponed. This means that many displaced people are unable to receive assistance. Security conditions must improve significantly. This story is definitely non-fiction.

The United Nations estimates that the fighting since September alone has displaced 163,275 people . It's a frightening fact, because I was here in September -just two weeks ago--visiting the camps with colleagues from our Rapid Response Programme, and the situation was already dreadful: about 50,000 people forced from their homes.

Once again I'm briefed at the office on Oxfam's work in the Goma territory, and then I'm set to go to the field. We're operational in three displacement camps, and finalising assessments in a fourth.

Ashley Sarangi, Oxfam's programme manager for the emergency response, is a busy man. He has scheduled a visit to the three camps in one day. "We won't be stopping for lunch," I presume. Later on, I find out we will barely even be stopping for the rain that surprises us whilst at Bulengo camp.