DRC

Radical Advent: story of Angela from Kisunka, DRC

As a part of our Radical Advent Christmas campaign we want to share a story of a very determined young girl from Kisunka.  Angela lost her parents when she was just two years old.  Her aunt took her in, but like most other villagers, she works on a farm and earns barely enough money to survive.  As a young girl, Angela struggled with her job of taking the family goats to graze for most of the day, leaving little time for play. 

When Kisunka Community Based Organization (CBO) began caring for her, she had never been in school.  Now, at nine years old, she is in second grade and working hard.  After facing many challenges, Angela says she has big dreams for her future and is grateful to Kisunka CBO for enabling her to attend school.  She has made friends with the other children and feels loved by the Kisunka CBO care workers who visit her at home.Make this a Radical Advent by supporting Hands at Work in improving access to education to poor children in Africa! Please consider making a donation to our Christmas campaign here.

Radical Advent: a snapshot of Kisunka, DRC

As a part of our Radical Advent Christmas campaign, we want to highlight Kisunka, a cluster of villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo so remote that few non-profit organizations can reach it to provide support. Kisunka lacks access to clean drinking water, education, health care, and sustainable work. These circumstances contribute to an overall sense of hopelessness among the approximately 5,000 villagers, many of whom are struggling to survive. 

Diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy are common in Kisunka.  There is no clinic, so the sick must travel 9 miles to the nearest health center.  To supplement meager crops from farming, some impoverished villagers try to earn extra income by fishing in Changalele, a lakenearby Kisunka. However, the good fishing at Changalelemeans that large numbers of seasonal workers travel to the area for fishing and other trade.  As is common in other areas of sub-Saharan Africa, this has led to the sexual exploitation of those who are most desperate for survival, such as orphaned young girls, contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Hands at Work is supporting local Christian leaders in Kisunkato develop a locally-owned organization in their community to meet the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children. Before they started, Kisunkahad not had a school for the past twenty years, so very few of the children had any education. The cost of education and the 9 mile walk to get to the nearest school were huge hurdles, especially for orphaned children. In partnership with Hands at Work since 2011,KisunkaCommunity Based Organization has provided food security, basic health care, and access to education to 75 orphaned and vulnerable children—children who deserve love and care and hope.  Make this a Radical Advent by supporting Hands at Work in serving remote and impoverished communities like Kisunka.  Please consider making a donation to our Christmas campaign here.

Hope for the Forgotten Villages of Kisunka (DRC)

Walking 15 km to the nearest school in a neighboring city is considered a blessing for those who can afford to attend a school in the first place.  For many families living in Kisunka, where there has not been a school for the past twenty years, the cost of education is simply beyond their means.    

Kisunka, a cluster of remote villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is trapped in a cycle of hopelessness. It is so remote and difficult for non-profit organizations to enter that it has been all but completely forgotten. The five villages that make up Kisunka lack access to clean drinking water, education, health care, and sustainable work. These circumstances all contribute to an overall hopelessness shared among the approximately 5,000 villagers. Everyone is focused on oneself, not because the people are selfish but because each one is struggling to survive.  One old man summed up this sentiment this way, “No one notices when someone is busy dying; they only pay attention when someone dies.”

The cycle begins with the basic but unmet need for a reliable source of clean drinking water. Though the Kisunka community shares two wells, both are reduced to mud during the dry season. Because the wells are open, if anything such as a sick animal falls in, it poisons the well and spreads disease throughout the entire community. When people in the community do get sick there is no local clinic in which to receive care, and villagers must travel 15 km to the nearest health center.  This long distance means that villagers who need urgent health care often die on their way to the clinic, creating orphans of their children.

Kisunka survives on farming maize and cassava, but with the rising costs of farming materials combined with poor farming techniques, the harvests yield barely enough for villagers to survive.  Members of the community may take on other menial tasks or try to fish in Changalele, a large lake nearby that is well-known for its good fishing. At the same time, the good fishing also means that large numbers of seasonal workers travel to the area for fishing and other trade.  As is common in other areas of sub-Saharan Africa, this has led to the sexual exploitation of those who are most desperate for survival, such as orphaned young girls, contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The story of John is typical in Kisunka, where young children bear the burden of providing for their families, thus sacrificing their own education and future for day-to-day survival. John is a 13-year-old orphaned boy from a family of five in Kimboyi, a village in Kisunka. He lost his father to tuberculosis when he was 9 years old.  After this loss, John and his other siblings, together with their mother, were forced to go and stay with their granny, as the father’s relatives took all their possessions after his death. The boy’s mother was sickly but still remarried after 4 years.  Unfortunately this didn’t improve the situation for the family as her new husband wouldn’t allow her to bring her children to live with them. 

John only went to school up to grade 3, and has not attended since the death of his father due to the inability to pay school fees.  Instead, he is wandering in the field trying to help his granny with farming.  Sometimes when farming is not doing well, he will go to Lake Changalele at the edge of the village to try fishing in order to support his family.

Hands at Work is supporting local Christian leaders within the vulnerable community of Kisunka who are already demonstrating a passion to serve the poor and broken among their neighbors.  Hands at Work is helping these leaders to develop a locally-owned organization in their community and beginning a long-term relationship of service and partnership, where we continually work to increase the organization’s capacity to provide care in an effective and holistic manner.  Are you interested in partnering with Hands at Work by advocating for Kisunka within your church, family, or group of friends?  Visit www.handsatwork.org/advocate or email our partnerships coordinator in the U.S. at brooke@us.handsatwork.org.