Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

DRC death toll hits 47

Congolese do not have a lot of choices when it comes to traveling from place to place.  It is a roll of the dice!

DRC death toll hits 47: Africa: News: News24.

Kinshasa - Officials say a motorised boat has sunk in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 47 people. Some 100 people were missing.

The boat went down on Tuesday after it left the DRC town of Mobayi Bongo. It was headed for the Central African Republic. Because of the state of roads, many people preferred to take the small boats even if they did not know how to swim.

MickeyTalk | Joe Biden: Op-Ed: Biden/Lugar bipartisan legislation S.2279, International Violence Against Women's Act of 2007

How do we get the International Violence Against Women's Act of 2007 (S.2279) passed? How do we get the other 78 or so senators to cosponsor? 

The United States should do what it can to end the violence against women and girls.  We need to encourage our senators and representatives to consponsor the International Violence Against Women's Act of 2007, Senate 2279 and House 5927, respectively.

My organization, Congo Helping Hands, is an Indiana-based humanitarian non-profit organization working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to improve the quality of life.  Support for Congolese women and girls is needed.

MickeyTalk | Joe Biden: Op-Ed: Biden/Lugar bipartisan legislation S.2279, International Violence Against Women's Act of 2007.

One in three women worldwide will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. In some countries, that’s true for 70 percent of women. No country is immune. From the trafficking of women in Eastern Europe, to “honor” killings in the Middle East, to the use of rape as a weapon of war in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violence against women and girls crosses all borders and affects women in all social groups, religions and socio-economic classes.

Violence against women and girls violates their basic human rights. It prevents girls from going to school, stops women from holding jobs, and limits access to critical healthcare for women and their children.

For humanitarian reasons alone, the United States should do what it can to end this scourge. But equally important, it has a profound impact on the health and development of countries worldwide. Stopping gender-based violence isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also smart diplomacy. Violence contributes to the poverty, inequality and instability that threaten our security and our broad national interests.

The good news is that local organizations are working in communities around the world with courage and sensitivity to help women overcome violence at home, in school and at work. Governments are bringing together all sectors of their countries to try to prevent and end abuse. But they need our help.

Where do you start repairing roads?

It did not take me long to realize that a transportation system is crucial for the development of Congo.  Without transportation, Congo will remain in poverty.

So the question is in a country which has virtually NO PAVED roads or highways, where do you start?  Well, the World Bank and the United Kingdom has decided to start in three of eight provinces.  I would say those areas map to the mineral rich areas.

Why not start on a trans-Congo highway?  Maybe, the other neighboring countries would respond and build a trans-African highway.

A trans-Congo highway would do more than just promote national commerce.
 

ReliefWeb » Document » DR Congo gets 110 million dollars to repair roads.

The aid will be spread over a five-year period and will be used to restore 1,800 kilometres (1,120 miles) of roads in three provinces: South Kivu, Katanga and Orientale.

"Opening up these regions will help reduce poverty by allowing three million Congolese access to markets and essential services such as schools and hospitals, which are currently inaccessible," British ambassador Nick Kay said during the signing ceremony.

G8 leaders condemn Mugabe's 'illegitimate' regime

Can I believe that Mr. Mugabe had the audacity to attend the G8 meeting?  Mugabe is marching by the directions different drummer major.

Canada, the US, the European Union and other western governments have instituted a travel ban on senior Zimbabwean officials.  It will be interesting to see what the other African leaders do in responsible.  South African President Mbeki is trying to negotiate a power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe.

Are African leader to move forward with democratic and transparent governments?  How they handle Mugabe will set the precedent for newly elected leaders like Congo's Kabila.

G8 leaders condemn Mugabe's 'illegitimate' regime.

As expected, the G8 leaders did not hide their distaste for Mr. Mugabe, who was re-elected on June 27 after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the race, saying his supporters had been intimidated by government thugs.

"The message is that ... the Mugabe regime is an illegitimate regime and that it should be ended," said the Canadian official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

"The role of the Africans, since it's in their region, is to take whatever steps are needed to remove Mr. Mugabe from power, and this is up to them to do it."

The G8 leaders threatened further sanctions against Zimbabwe unless action is taken soon, the official added. They also warned that Zimbabwe's conduct could hurt Africa's image around the world and have an effect on its economic and social development.

Rising cost of food to hit poor

The rising cost of food will affect the Congo.  Since they are a net importer of food.  The large urban areas will be particularly hard hit.  Smaller and regional cities may be less affected due to their proximity to rural farms.

The rural farming villages should be less affected negatively by the rising cost of food.  For example, most of the food consumed in our village of Bulape is locally grown or raised.  The only exception is for the visiting Americans who want rice instead of cassava.  Rural farmers should be able to make a better living due to the rising cost of food.

Fuel prices will have a small impact on villagers, too.  Unfortunately, everybody still uses wood for cooking.  And there is no motor-driven transportation in the villages.  However, the cost of fuel will keep more people in the dark.  Many generators will be silented by higher fuel cost. 

Rising cost of food to hit poor | theage.com.au.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the international community should help poor countries whose trade deficits were increasing with the cost of imported commodities.

IMF researchers identified more than a dozen countries that were likely to need external support. They included Benin, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rising food prices were forecast to have a more harmful effect on standards of living in developing countries than rising fuel prices, the fund said. In large emerging countries, households typically spend more than a quarter of their income on food, while spending less than 10% on fuel. In many African countries, households devoted more than half their income to food, the fund said.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, rising food prices will bring dead and suffering for many but let the rural farmers rise up to feed their country. AMEN.

Humanitarians pick up the pieces as insecurity persists in North Kivu

Civil unrest in eastern Congo continue to create more internally displaced people (IDPs) in North Kivu.  IDPs are not covered by the UN agency.  IDPs are at the mercy of a group of humanitarians.  

IRIN Africa | Great Lakes | DRC | DRC: Humanitarians pick up the pieces as insecurity persists in North Kivu | Food Security Health & Nutrition Conflict Aid Policy Refugees/IDPs | Feature.

GOMA, 30 June 2008 (IRIN) - Violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s embattled North Kivu province this year has boosted the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to some 857,000. The scale and fluidity of the crisis, coupled with the fact that many of the displaced live with families rather than in camps, has led aid workers to adapt their responses.

"This year has seen the worst humanitarian situation in the province; about half a million people became displaced within a short period of time," Patrick Lavand’Homme, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Goma (OCHA-Goma), said.

Clashes involving the plethora of armed groups in the region and regular army have continued, despite the January signing of a ceasefire by most of them.

For instance, most of the IDPs in the four camps nearest Goma, the main town in North Kivu, have fled their homes since the start of 2008.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, protect the various humanitarian groups who are served the internally displaced persons in North Kivu.  AMEN.

Congo's Riches -- Will they used for the good of its people?

Congo could to be a leading country in Africa.  Today, it is NOT!  It is so heartbreaking to see such potential stolen from the people of Congo.  The Congolese people live in extreme poverty for one reason and one reason only, it leaders and their allies stolen or misused its vast resources.

The mining contracts (conceesions) in the Congo will be reviewed.

New fight for Congo's riches | Business | The Observer.

It is one of the world's most resource-rich countries, with huge deposits of diamonds, gold and copper. For a decade, the Democratic Republic of Congo was torn apart as factions backed by neighbouring countries wreaked murderous havoc on Africa's third-biggest country. Three million died.

As war subsided in all but the eastern region of this vast nation, a new regime led by Joseph Kabila signed dozens of valuable mining contracts with Western concerns based in the southern Katanga region. Only now are the implications of those contracts coming to light.

'The losers, of course, are not the companies who willingly entered into questionable arrangements, but the Congolese people,' says Patricia Feeney, executive director of Rights and Accountability in Development, a renowned expert in Congolese mining.

A commission formed by the Congolese government to investigate several legal and financial aspects of the impoverished central African nation's mining industry published a hard-hitting report this year. It has worried international extraction concerns, which fear their potentially lucrative concessions may be adversely affected. The report has prompted the Congolese to renegotiate 60 of the biggest gold, diamond, copper and zinc contracts. Fresh talks with those concerned are due to begin next month.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, guide this new review of mining contracts to ensure your people are helped.  AMEN.

International court off to 'shaky start'

Thousands of children be forcibly recruited and required to participate in armed groups in eastern Congo.  Responsible warlords are being brought to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.  However, the trials were stopped.

Will justice be served in the Congo?

International court off to 'shaky start'.

The terror of those days was supposed to be partially expunged this week when the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague began prosecuting DRC warlords charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the ICC's very first case, Thomas Lubanga, leader of the Hema-backed Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), was scheduled to have gone on trial last Monday, charged with "conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities."

Yesterday, two rival Lendu warlords, Germain (Simba or Lion) Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo appeared at the ICC for a preliminary hearing into their trial for murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers. The cases should have been the highlight of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Statute of Rome on July 17, 1998, which led to the establishment of a permanent international criminal court to prosecute crimes against humanity, such as genocide. But, like the ICC itself, the DRC prosecutions are plagued with problems -- and may now be tottering on the brink of collapse.

Last week, the judges at Mr. Lubanga's trial ordered an indefinite halt to proceedings after reprimanding prosecutors for withholding evidence from his lawyers.

At the heart of the dispute was the prosecution's refusal to allow the defence to see 212 confidential documents supplied by the United Nations and other sources to help build their case against Mr. Lubanga.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, we pray for the innocent children forced in fight for armed rebel groups.  Help them to reintergrate into their families.  AMEN

Deaths in Congo caused by poverty and hunger, not violence

This new British Medical Journal (BMJ) study of world-wide violent deaths support the conclusion of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Mortality Study.  The IRC reported that less than one percent of the estimated 5.4 million deaths in the Congo were from violent acts. 

The IRC estimated "deaths from violence accounted for just 0.4 percent of deaths nationally" in the Congo.

The BMJ Study cites 7,000 violence deaths in the Congo from 1955 to 2002.  Vietnam reported highest violent death total of about 3.8 million.

Deaths in Congo caused by poverty and hunger.  Therefore, they were largely preventable and treatable.


The Numbers Guy : Calculating the Toll of War.

A study last week reporting that 5.4 million people died violently in wars in 13 countries between 1955 and 2002 received world-wide press coverage, because the numbers were far greater than previously reported. Researchers also suggested that war deaths weren’t declining over the period, as had been previously believed.

But the new numbers are extrapolated from just 917 deaths reported in surveys, so they entail great uncertainty. The study’s global implications were also limited by lack of survey data in many countries with conflicts during the period, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and neighboring Arab nations. And it counted only violent deaths, not deaths caused by poverty and hunger brought on by war. If nothing else, it’s a valuable reminder that better efforts are needed to record the human toll from war.

Accurate war-death numbers help countries look backward and forward, according to study co-author Ziad Obermeyer, a research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and a Boston-based emergency-medicine doctor. The numbers are “part of a country’s historical record,” and have been used for prosecuting war criminals. And they are “important for policy makers and for the public,” in deciding whether to go to war.

 

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, empower the leaders of the international community to bring peace and stability to Congo.  And empower the government of Congo and other humanitarian organizations to help end poverty and hunger in the Congo.  AMEN.

Activist Paul Polak Inspires Others with Low Tech Solutions for Poverty

In 2006, we work to introduce drip irrigation in Bulape.  I must say that we started the introduction because it was not the revolution that we envisioned.

Drip irrigation is the solution to growing crops during dry season.  But it is going to be a paradigm shift to garden during a time when you normally sit back and wait until the rains come again.  Farmers normally do not carry water to irrigate.

Growing food year-round in the Congo is possible.  Food is needed year-round because there is no storage.  Typically, it is "field to table" operation. 

VOA News - Activist Paul Polak Inspires Others with Low Tech Solutions for Poverty.

"If you're going to come up with a practical solution to any problem," Paul Polak observes, "you have to first talk to the people who have the problem and listen to what they have to say. So that's what I did."

Psychiatrist Paul Polak was drawn to the problem of poverty while working with poor patients, and began his efforts in international development by talking with subsistence farmers in Bangladesh. They are among the world's one billion people who live in extreme poverty, which the World Bank defines as earning one dollar a day or less.

Polak has interviewed more than 3000 of these poor farmers, and notes, "They represent the vast majority of dollar-a-day people in the world. And everything we've done comes from what we learned from them."

One important lesson was that poor farmers need better tools to make their farms more efficient, so Polak established a non-profit organization called International Development Enterprises, or IDE, to develop and market cheap technologies. They include a drip irrigation system that uses plastic bags, tubes and the power of gravity.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, open our eyes and minds to new things.  AMEN.