Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Bath Time

Most young children do not like to take a bath.  They will do anything to avoid a bath.  For some reason, bath time is just a stressful time.

In rural Congo, bath time is stressful, too.  But it is stressful for other reasons.  And it is stressful for more than just the younger children.

First, the older children would have to walk and fetch the water for the bath.  It could take hours to get water.

Also, the water is just air temperature.  It is not heated for comfort.  To heat the water, the older children would have to walk and fetch firewood.

An Important Commodity

Going to get water is a time-consuming process in rural Congo.  Many kids miss out on getting an education.  They have to get water instead of go to school.

The lucky ones can attend school.  But they have to miss out on studying.  Also, they miss out on playing games.

Water is an important commodity.  You need water to drink.  You need water to cook.  That's two important reasons.

The Odds are Greater

Meet Christine.  She could be the young mother from next door.  Or she could be the one from down the street.  Or she could be the one from the other side of town.  Unfortunately, she is not.

She is a young mother living in rural Congo.  The opportunities for Christine and her children is limited.  There is limited access to health care.  There is greater chance that they will not survive a preventable or curable illness or disease.  Malaria, measles, dysentery and typhoid are deadly diseases.

Studying as a Prisoner of the Dark

Congolese students have many obstacles.  One beyond the obvious lack of fees, books, good teachers, and decent infrastructure is studying.  How do you study at night when you have no electricity?

Oil and candles are scare and expensive.  Children mostly have to study during the day when sunlight is available.  Therein lies the conflicts:  studying during the day instead of helping the family make a living or studying during the day instead of getting water for the family.

Even 12 hours a day is not enough of daylight when studying is third, fourth, or fifth on your daily list.

Thankful

Can Congolese children be thankful?  Yes, they can.

They have no PSP or Gameboy to keep them in the family hut for hours.  So they are not couch-potatoes.  They get plenty of fresh-air and exercise on a daily basis.  They are not overweight.

Even living in poverty, they are thankful.   

Betting Against Life

"Children are our most valuable natural resource." Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. President

Most societies and cultures realize that children are valuable assets.  They are valuable now and in the present.  And they are valuable in the future.

But children are not respected as valuable persons.  The collective resources allocated for children and their issues are non-existent in Congo.  Schools and education are barely funded.  Health care is equally poorly funded.  BUT the neglect of health care issues results in death and suffering.

The lives of children are discounted.  Parents have more children because they anticipate some children is not going to make it.   

There Are No Scheduled Checkups

Polio was eradicated from the US many years ago.  Today, it is just one of the often forgotten vaccines and shots routinely given to children.  They are given during a baby's scheduled checkup.

In Congo and most developing countries, babies do not have checkup schedules.  Most babies are not even born in a health facility.    Many times, health facilities and trained personnel are not available.  So, it is not uncommon that poor parents do not routinely take their children to the doctors for checkups.

Sadly, that's why one out of five children in the Congo do not live long enough to see their fifth birthday.  Polio kills and cripples.

 

Another Type of Adoptive Parents Needed

I have seen a plenty of Congolese children that need to be adopted.  But they were not officially available or advertised for adoption.  They were just ordinary poor Congolese children who were trapped in poverty.

Most of them were not parent-less or orphans.  Their parents were not just too poor to provide for their basic needs.  Many of them were malnourished.  Many of them were not in school.  Many of them were not dress properly.  Many of them were destined to be poor parents, too.

These poor Congolese children need someone who cares for them.  They need a new type of adoptive parents.

Substitutes

Halloween is coming!  Children will be dressed in their favorite costume.  They will go from house-to-house in their neighborhood.  They will pose the question, trick or treat.  Then they will get some candy.

The children in Congo need to go ask the question, trick or treat?  But they do not need candy.  School books and tuition fees would be good substitutes.  Getting the resources for a good education would be a great trick.

Hope

In the past, we (Congo Helping Hands) have purchased Flip video cameras for the doctor at the hospital and the headmaster of the girls school.   But today, I was inspired to start a film project at the Bulape High School.  It will be interesting to see what two rural Congolese high schoolers would capture about their life.

My inspiration came from watching 11 short films produced by the high schoolers at the Heartland Film Festival.  The winner's film highlighted the suffering on a young boy in Haiti after the earthquake.  This year theme was hope.  And next year's theme is courage.  Hope and courage are essential survival skills for my rural poor high schoolers in Congo. 

Heartland Truly Moving Pictures | Announcing the Winners of Heartland’s First High School Film Competition.

Heartland Truly Moving Pictures announced the winners of the inaugural Heartland High School Film Competition today, honoring aspiring, young filmmakers from across the country.

Grand Prize winner John Gordon of Dallas, Texas took top honors with his film Clay. Gordon’s short film embodies the 2010 Competition’s theme of HOPE and tells the story of a boy trapped in the rubble after the Jan. 12, 2010 Haitian earthquake. By recalling happy memories, the boy strives to hold onto hope in order to stay alive.

“My short film takes place during the traumatic event of the Haitian earthquake, and was made to instill a quiet sense of hope in the audience,” said the now 18-year-old Gordon, who was a senior in high school when he made the film.