Partnership Overview

The Alliance Evangelique was originally formed in the DR Congo by 10 denominations with the aim of combining efforts for holistic mission to serve the Christian churches in the country. At present they serve 53 communities of different denominations with a membership of 5.3 million people. 

Currently the situation in the DR Congo is pretty dire and people are struggling. Many donors have diverted funds away from DRC to the Ukraine situation and there is a constant stream of people into the major towns which the government is not capable of assisting. It has been left to NGOs but with Covid and Ukraine, there is little coming now to help. 

Impressively, Alliance Evangelique is doing things anyway, even though they are not able to operate to capacity or do all they want.
- They were involved in the Ebola outbreak and Covid sensitization. Many people became Christians during this period.
- They assisted many people who were made homeless by the Goma volcanic eruption by providing food, blankets, water etc. There was a lot of violence at that time.
- Recently they have completed an agriculture programme for 172 families. They were formed into a co-operative and the project was based on them all planting Irish potatoes. The potatoes produced in 3 months and each of the families has become self-sustaining. This project is now self-sustaining and requires no inputs. 
- Because of the huge number of orphans, they have tried to help by establishing an orphan care programme. Churches have been encouraged to support this and some are doing that, but the need is overwhelming. 

The “Orphan's Place of Peace” was established in July 2018 when Rev Israel Ngirababo decided to start taking care of children who had been orphaned when their parents lost their lives during different rebellion wars that happened, and continue happening, in the eastern part of the DR Congo. A pastor in their network offered his wooden house (14m x 7m) where 36 orphans now live with volunteers overseeing them. Because they lack the means to take of them, another 60 orphans are currently living with host families, but these families are under pressure as well. They are being encouraged to join the potato project, but the people are very poor. This means for now the “Orphan's Place of Peace” has 96 children in it's care (40 boys and 56 girls); this home has become partial residence for these helpless children. These children are aged between 2 and 16 and all are double orphans (both parents deceased). 

In addition to providing a place to live and food, Alliance Evangelique assists these orphans with clothes, medicines, school fees, etc. The 60 orphans living with hosting families join the orphanage twice a week for food as it is becoming increasingly difficult for these families to continue taking care of the children as they are struggling to even feed themselves. The aim of AE is to bring all the orphans who are with hosting families to come live in the orphanage where they can be fed and looked after.  

History of Partnership

BHW's New Partnership Facilitator has been communicating with Israel Ngirababo since a trip to the DRC in 2019 when he spent a day with him. 

In August 2022 BHW's New Partnership Facilitator was in Rwanda and Israel and two of his co-workers, Mupenzi Lumeto and Herman Makoye, his personal secretary who is his son, came across the border to meet him in Gisenyi. They spent a couple of hours chatting and talking about their vision and priorities.  

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are the 96 children being cared for by Israel and his team.  

What We Like About The Partnership

These people have real potential to have an impact. They are well structured and governed, have a good reputation and proven track record.

The team members appear to be humble and efficient. 

They are caring for the most vulnerable people in their community. They didn't go out looking for these children, the community has begged them to look after them. 

Key People

Rev Israel Ngirababo (Project Director)

Reverend Israel is a programme professional in the areas of recovery and community development. He has led teams in emergency, protection and assistance projects for internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees and other vulnerable people in partnership with international organizations such as Gateway International Ministries, Medicus del Mundo, UNICEF, ICRC, FICR, MEMISA, etc. He is experienced in the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of programmes and projects.

Israel completed his license in Theological Studies in 2001 at the Evangelical Baptist University of Rwanda. As Project Manager, he added several on-the-job training courses in the areas of Health, Community Awareness, Leadership, Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Anti-After his theological studies, he was sponsored by the Brethren church to plant the Good News Evangelical Church in DR Congo and became its legal representative. This community has 49 parishes to date.

Currently Rev. Israel is appointed Secretary General of the Evangelical Alliance in DR Congo. As a result of his leadership, the Alliance of Evangelicals of Congo, which at its appointment had 27 member communities from different denominations, has 53 member communities. Its ability to curb conflict has reconciled two rival factions of the Baptist Community that had created a separation based on ethnic cleavage and that to this day have buried the axe of war and become the same community. Following its humanitarian commitment by assisting Internally Displaced People in Mugunga camps as well as prisoners in prisons in eastern DR Congo, the Alliance of Evangelicals has received honours of distinction from government authorities as well as international organizations. 

Other People Involved

Mr Mapenzi Lumeto (Project Manager)
Lumeto was born in South Kivu province, DR Congo in 1989. He went to Kigali Independent University where he got his masters degree in development and project planning in 2018. Since then, he has worked for the Evangelical Alliance of Congo as a project manager. He is married to Clarisse Kalusi and they have one child. He has already led 11 projects.

Lumeto has a very evident sustainability mindset and sees agriculture as a key to ongoing self-sufficiency for families. He is outgoing, easy to relate to and expresses himself well in English.  

Vision And Annual Strategy

Vision 

The founding leaders of ACS were driven by the revelation that working together is an essential lever of strength and success. So, they set themselves the following goals:
- To work together as churches to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ
- To create, encourage and promote initiatives for the development of the economic resources of the churches
- To assist victims of natural disasters, widows, orphans, IDPs and especially those suffering from human trafficking, rape and other oppression
- To promote education through the construction of schools, scholarships for orphans, poor children, children separated from their families and victims of war and armed conflicts. 

Strategy 

The Alliance Evangelique are representatives of hundreds of churches in their community. In their desire to care for the most vulnerable they have been approached to care for many orphans. These orphans are largely the result of rebel and militia activities, and most have been traumatised. There are few resources in the community and in the churches and the government has no interest in helping these young people. Out of concern, they have developed this care facility. They try to find relatives for the children to live with, but this is extremely difficult and even if they do, the families do not have the capacity to take in any more children. 

In terms of partnering with BHW, the strategy is to support for two years and then reassess the situation. It is not ideal, but what else can we do when there are so many kids in trouble. A major issue here is that there are so many abandoned children, that this will become a permanent thing, how do you ever stop caring for these children? 

Annual Budget

BHW's annual budget to provide food for the children is US$5,500.