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Key people: Israel Ngiribabo, James Tai, Mapenzi Lumeto
We met with four of the team from the Evangelical Alliance in Gisenyi, Rwanda. We would have preferred to go into the DR Congo and see what was going on there. However, the situation is tense there and not safe for expatriates. Those who came were (right to left in the photo): Israel Ngirababo (General Secretary,) Robert Ndinayo (Development and relief,) James Tai (Assistant to the General Secretary), and Mapende Lumeta (Programme Manager).
The vision of the Evangelical Alliance is to help local people bring their own development. 53 communities (churches) and three local NGOs are members of the Alliance. COVID and the internal conflicts have made life so much more difficult, and the churches are struggling to meet their financial pledges. They are not quite nationwide but represent 7 million Christian people around the DR Congo. There are 10 people in the team based in Goma and hundreds of volunteers.
One of the major difficulties facing the eastern part of DR Congo is the problem of empowerment, integration and reintegration of displaced populations from rural areas fleeing the atrocities of war between the parties involved in the armed conflicts that have been going on for over two decades. These conflicts have generated waves of population movements from the territories of Rutshuru, Masisi and Nyiragongo, scattered in several makeshift camps around the city of Goma, and numbering over two million people in a situation of proven vulnerability, having abandoned all their means of subsistence at the time of exodus: agricultural activities, jobs, businesses, worship, services, etc., to which is added the break in schooling for young people.
After our last visit in 2022 we began to support the orphan programme the Evangelical Alliance had recently begun. The children are all orphans because of internal conflicts, trauma and rape. Most of these children were dumped on the team and they felt they had to do something about it, they could not do nothing.
The orphan care began in 2018 as they felt they had to respond to the issue. When we were there in 2022 there were 96 total orphans. The number is about the same. The ages range from 7 to 17. None of them are going to school currently. Those in the orphanage are 10 years and older.
The programme began with children in people’s homes, but it proved to be very difficult as the families were very poor. Then they got more orphans and not enough people willing to take them in. So, they began caring for the children in a house.
They are working hard to get the children into homes and have 74 of them with families. 22 are in the orphanage and are looked after by volunteers. However, the level of care is minimal and well below what they desire to give. The orphanage is supposed to be funded from local churches around Goma but the funds available have dwindled to virtually nothing. Since 2018 they have received one donation of US$5,000 for clothes for the children from WEA, but those clothes are well worn out now.
The funds from BHW are used to provide food supplements to the families with the children and to bring all the orphans together weekly for a small meal and encouragement.
On Sunday evening the watchman at the orphanage contacted Lumeto saying that 10 of the children were talking to him and were saying that they had no food all weekend. He rang the General Secretary who sent two bags of rice from his house to feed them. The situation is appalling. Many days the children have only one meal.
The influence on the children is profound. However, it is way short of ideal, and the team members are embarrassed that they cannot do more. They are trying, hence the school, but it is way short of minimum and what they desire.
Education is such a major issue for these children and many other children as well. They decided to build a school and were given a grant by the WEA (World Evangelical Alliance) to do that. They have completed half of the building and intend to commence in September without any money to pay the teachers they have recruited.
They also do not have the funds to complete the buildings so who knows how this will develop. It is a primary school, and they intend to use it for vocational training as well.
One of the main drivers of this is the fact that none of the 96 children are going to school and thousands of other children are not going as well. There are no schools being built by the government for all the children being born. They cannot charge school fees as the government has made education at the primary level free. The standard of education in the government schools is appalling.
We are waiting for some ideas about an income generating activity for the orphanage, i.e., getting the children to participate in gardening, small animals - chickens, rabbits etc.
Current Issues and Challenges- Almost too many to mention
- The lack of adequate resources to do a good job
- The huge number of vulnerable children and orphans
- The poverty in the area largely caused by the internal conflict
1) That the children are alive, but they are not well
2) That the children are better off than they would have been without the intervention
They feel that children who are very poorly cared for and need to be motivated to go to school by giving them a meal each day. That makes the school even less viable.
We talked to them about empowering the families, especially with Foundations for Farming. They agreed with this, but it is much easier when you are involved with the children to feed them. It is a short-term solution though and while they assent to development, it is just too complicated. I understand that.
The current funding sent from BHW is only about two months of their annual budget. I do not know what to say about it after having heard the stories. I wonder if we should increase the amount we put in to ease the situation a little and also explore with them the establishment of gardens and perhaps some small animals, goats, chickens, rabbits etc.