Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Are Maternal Deaths a 'Right to Life' Issue?

Yes, I think it should be a right.  But how do we make it so?  Where is Capt Picard when we need him.

via allafrica.com

Picture yourself in a room with 30 other women - knowing that one of you will die during pregnancy or childbirth. That's not a concept for a macabre TV show - unless it's reality TV.

A woman who conceives a child in sub-Saharan Africa is 45 times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than a woman in developed countries. Over her lifetime, a woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a one in 31 chance of dying from pregnancy-related causes.

Those stark facts are a focus of a World Health Organization report released at the 126th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union that ended on Thursday in Kampala, Uganda.

Poor sanitation affects access to education and poverty

Poor sanitation is a root cause to the lack of access to education for girls.  As a result, they can not broke the cycle of poverty.

via www.bbc.co.uk

Diarrhoea is the biggest child killer in Africa and 88% of those deaths can be attributed to poor sanitation.

Barbara Frost of Water Aid says it is women and girls who are most affected.

"The crisis falls mainly on women and girls because it is them who carry the water and it is the women who look after children who are getting sick with diarrhoeal diseases, often through water infected with faecal material because of poor sanitation," she explains.

Carrying water and looking after sick children means women are unable to earn livelihoods and girls drop out of school when they reach puberty because of inadequate sanitation facilities at school.

Ms Frost emphasises how the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are heavily dependent on each other to succeed.

"If children do not retain food because of diarrhoea their development is arrested," she says.

"Without proper sanitation you cannot achieve universal primary education, you cannot promote gender equality and empower women, you cannot reduce child mortality."

She is adamant that if health, education and sanitation are looked at as separate issues, people will not get out of poverty because they are so profoundly interlinked.

What Shoes Gotta Do With It?

Are shoes a measure of prosperity?  To most, children without shoes are poor.  They are a sign of poverty.  That's true in most situations.

In rural Congo, most children do not own a pair of shoes.  Most of them don't even own a pair of rubber flip-flops.  So they are poor and are living in poverty.

But if you give a children a pair of shoes, are they still poor and are living in poverty?

A Versatile Utensil

In rural Congo, there are few specialized utensils.  The 55-gallon drum is one of those versatile vessel.  The 55-gallon drum is a cooking utensil.  It is used to process palm oil.

However, one of the most prominent uses of the 55-gallon drum is to storage water for the kitchen and bathroom.  You will be surprised at the amount of water needed in the kitchen and bathroom. 

The water in the drum is usually refilled daily.  Here's what it takes to refill the 55-gallon drum with water.  Did you know it is filled five gallons at a time?  So it may take two girls, 4-5 trips to a distance water source to fill an empty 55-gallon drum.  And it could take a 4-5 hours of walking.

Chains of Poverty and Inequality

"... the single most important way to encourage women and girls to stand up for their rights is education" from the book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

Who is going to watch the back of Congolese girls?  It could be their moms, dads, or other family members.  Or it could be her government.  The answer is all of them and some unnamed others.  But mostly it's going to depend upon her access to education.

Education will help to remove the chains of poverty and inequality.

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.

The Future Is In Her Hands

It's said that the future lies in the hands of the children.  In the case of Congo, the future lies in the hands of girls.  If the equality gap is closed, extreme poverty could come to an end.

Education is key to equality in the Congo.  Girls must have an equal access to primary and secondary school, and university level professions.   

Wordprocessing Center

We, Congo Helping Hands, have shipped many manual typewriters to the Girls' School in Bulape.  The typewriter are used by the girls learning to type in the Administrative Option. 

Laptop computers are an option for a few of the advanced students.  But the laptop computers are located at the Bulape Cultural Center.  The girls can learn how to prepare documents using wordprocessing software.

The laptop computers are available for rental.  Therefore, they are a potential income-generator for proficient students and graduates.   

Basic Bullying

In the US, we have a big problem of students bullying other students based upon sex preference and other issues.  Later, most students grow out bullying and move on to adulthood.  The bullied-student may not have any major or lasting effects.

But in Congo, they have only basic bullying, so far.  Boys bully or tease the girls.  Many girls are discouraged by their parents, too.  Later, most girls would drop out of school before completing high school.  BUT, the bullied-girl will have life long effects of little or incomplete education.

In our rural village of Bulape, they have started girl only schools to combat bullying.  Education is too important and too irreversible. 

 

Catch The Vision

 
Congolese boys and young men have a vision of their future.  They may dream about occupying a certain position.  And most young men ask about more education post primary and secondary school.

I have never had a Congolese girl or young women ask me about more education.  They are just happy to be recognized.  They are content with opportunity to attend primary and secondary school.

Girls must be given universal access to primary and secondary school.  Then they will catch the vision for a better future.