HEKS provides on-the-spot emergency aid for civilians impacted by war, violence and destruction In Syria, for example, HEKS/EPER distributes food, toiletries, wool blankets and other items for daily use to especially needy, internally displaced families. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, HEKS/EPER provides emergency aid in Nord-Kivu province, where internal conflicts are rife. This consists mainly of road repairs, securing water supplies and building accommodations. To defuse the social tensions generated by internal refugee flows, HEKS/EPER also runs projects geared both to internally displaced persons and to host communities. Hence, in Iraq and South Sudan, for example, local peasant families and internally displaced people are assisted in collective grain and vegetable farming..