Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Nate's Fundraising Page for the Congo

Nate's letter.

Hello. My name is Nathaniel Houghton and I am a student at Cornell University. I am also President of the newly- founded organization Cornellians for the Congo.

While we would love to be involved with Congo Helping Hands in our organizational capacity (through fundraising, etc.), this message concerns something more pertinent to me specifically. In October, I will be running a marathon in Corning, New York. I will be raising money on firstgiving.com and I was wondering if you would be interested in being the recipient of my fund- raising efforts.

Please contact me if this is OK, and also to stay in touch for future work. Thanks!

Yes, Social Media can HELP end Poverty!

Yes, Social Media can HELP end Poverty!  Social Media can be a great tool to help end poverty.  What is the needed to end poverty is the will and a mass of people to care and act.

The first step is connecting to masses of people.  Social media is a new way to connect people to distant places like Congo.  Then it is up to the NGO to get them to care and act.

Engage: the Carve Blog on Social, Search, Talent - Post details: Can Social Media end Poverty?.

N.G.O's are increasingly using social media to help spread their messages virally across the web, raise awareness and recruiting new supporters to the cause in the process.

Karina Brisby, interactive campaigning manager at Oxfam, said: "Using this widget allows Oxfam to reach out to a wide audience of people who want to make a difference, but might not necessarily be aware that they can do this by visiting our website.

Alfred State College donates their BUV to Congo Helping Hands

Thanks, Alfred State College!

This video was taken with my HP Digital M425 camera. (Other pictures are shown in BUV Competition photo album.)

Alfred State College, a SUNY College of Technology, won the 2008 BUV Competition. Beyond the design, Alfred State College's vehicle did exceeding well in the demonstration part of the competition. Here's the vehicle going through the final phase of the moguls.

Alfred State College donated this vehicle to Congo Helping Hands. The vehicle will be used in Kananga, DR Congo.

Africa is FAILING in "Eradicating Global Poverty"

Sub-Saharan Africa is FAILING to meet the goal of eradicating poverty.  The truth is, not a single country (in sub-Saharan Africa) is on track to meet the goal.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon reminded me of a good school teacher.  He highlighted the few positive accomplishments while delivering the bad news. 

Senegal is making great strides toward meeting the water target.

Niger, Togo and Zambia has made impressive progress to control malaria through the free distribution of nets.

Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda was commended for increasing primary school enrollment.

What is Congo's grade?  Since they were not mentioned, you can assume it is failing, too.  But I knew that already.

Hence, that's why "Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo" exist!

Congo Helping Hands (CHH) is working to eradicate poverty.  CHH is partnering with Rotary International to provide safe, clean drinking water sources.   We distribute free malaria nets to vulnerable women and children.  And we provide scholarships for students (especially girls) to attend elementary and secondary school.  Visit www.CongoHelpingHands.org for more details.

We will eradicate poverty in Bulape and Congo.  It is possible!

Link: The Associated Press: UN chief says anti-poverty efforts are lagging in Africa.

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE – ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — The U.N. chief said Monday the world must do more to eradicate poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, where not a single country is on track to meet the goals of a global anti-poverty campaign launched in 2000.

The U.N.-sponsored Millennium Development Goals aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 by ensuring elementary school education, improving health care and making a start toward reversing the AIDS pandemic.

Nothing but Nets ... and coltan

Congo Helping Hands distributes mosquito nets "free of charge" to those most vulnerable to malaria, pregnant mothers and children under five years old.  We purchase subsidized mosquito nets from the Bulape Health Zone.  The health have mosquito nets for sale.  However, we found that the poor can not afford or they are very reluctant to purchase mosquito nets.  Pictured are bundles of mosquito nets in the Bulape Health Zones' warehouse. 

_____________________________________________

Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 10:39 AM

To:
Subject: RE: Nothing but Nets ... and coltan

John, I knew I could count on you! 

Mr. Collins, I hope that you could assist us with our event.  We would like to have a display and information to distribute to the students participating.  I could pickup and drop off any displays that you could loan us or better we would love for you to help us with a presentation on the day of the event.  I agree with John on exposing our youth to community groups.  Getting the youth engaged and thinking-talking about social issues is vital and TGIF's primary goal. 

I believe that we could have a presence at Marian on the 16th. It does make for an excellent opportunity for social activism and coverage of cross-curriculum instruction.  I have worked on a couple of service learning projects over the years here at Cathedral and we have began a new initiative with the hopes of encouraging the use of service learning with a recent hiring of a service learning coordinator.

John, could you keep me informed on the logistic?  I will need a week notice to meet the requirements to excuse the students from school.  This does look like a great opportunity for a future service learning project.

I copied the members of TGIF and Sister Jackie on this correspondence mainly to keep them in the loop.

Thanks for the information and opportunity

Dennis

___________________________________________

Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 7:04 PM

To:
Subject: FW: Nothing but Nets ... and coltan

Sounds like a good opportunity for Cathedral students and parents to learn more about the challenges of malaria, and how easy it is for individuals to make a difference. Dennis, meet Woody Collins, head of Congo Helping Hands, an important local nonprofit group working in Congo. Woody has a good display of a crib with netting. Perhaps you know of other groups that might have displays of other kinds of nets, Woody. In addition to connecting to Nothing but Nets, it will be great if the Cathedral community learns about local groups like Woody's that they can support. Let me know what I can do to help with the event.

Speaking of Congo, Dennis, on April 16 at Marian College we hope to help launch what could be a great program for high school students next school year. The focus will be coltan, a mineral found mostly in Congo that produces a couple of alloys that are necessary for every cell phone and laptop in the world. Struggles over coltan-rich regions are said to be fueling Congo's civil wars, and the mining is leading to rapid destruction of habitat for endangered species such as silver-back gorillas. What a great theme for the sort of campaign that links our consumption and lifestyle to a civil war and environmental disaster no one has heard of on the other side of the world. Imagine campaigns that would be like "blood diamonds", or "fair trade coffee", or "recycle a phone = save a gorilla." And it could start in Indianapolis.

It'’s also great for a group of high school students to work on together. It's one of the only topics I can think of that needs both social and natural science: geology and geography, chemistry and environmental sciences, business (a case study of social entrepreneurship) and history (look at the long history of exploitation of Congolese people whenever their natural resources are exploited).

April 16 Marian College is bringing in John Katunga, the head of Catholic Relief Services in Nairobi, to talk about the Kenyan crisis. Katunga is from Congo is one of the world's experts on the coltan industries. So that afternoon around 2:00 we'd like to get together a group of high school students and teachers who might be interested in working together on a coltan/Congo project. We'll also be joined by some of the groups around Indy working in Congo (including, I hope, Woody Collins), by the White House's National Security Council adviser on post-conflict stabilization, and some others. It should be an informal, brainstorming discussion that I hope will generate enthusiasm so that some of the students present will want to take a leader role. My Provocate colleague Gwyneth has collected a thorough collection of background information and connections about coltan, but we want to remain in a supporting position what will make it a truly important initiative is if it mobilizes the imagination and creativity of kids.

We are waiting to hear from Marian where we will be meeting, I hope to send you a formal invitation Monday. In the meantime, think of any of your colleagues who would like to be involved. We are still hoping to get the active participation of some science teachers. It's a pity we are going to have to do this meeting at 2:00, since it surely makes it tougher for teachers to attend Â… but Marian is doing us a favor to meet with Katunga so we make the best of what we have. What is most important for this April 16 is getting a few students at 6-10 different schools excited about working on this next year. We will have time to talk later with teachers who can'’t get away on Wednesday afternoon.

Could you think of any students you think would be particularly interested in this meeting on the 16th?

We have a couple of other Congo-related events scheduled for later April so I hope that we can build on the enthusiasm from the 16th.

Let me know what you think. Thanks,

John

___________________________________________________

Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 3:41 PM

To:

Subject: Nothing but Nets

Hello John, Hope all is well.  It is busy as always in the teaching world.  Our little club TGIF (taking global issues further) has been able to secure a date and time for a fund raiser for Nothing but Nets.  We are going to play a 3 on 3 basketball tournament with all the proceeds going to the cause (except covering the cost of t-shirts).  We had a few issues with resources and many conflicts, but have secured a date and time for our tournament -- this Saturday the 12th 2-6:00 pm.  I know this is late notice, but was hoping that you could put me in touch with a local chapter, or individual that could set up a net or two and provide us with some educational opportunities. Our goals are two fold: to raise money for Nothing But Nets and second to educate and engage the youth of Cathedral.  I have attached a student created flyer that is hanging in the halls of Cathedral.  We will be very busy this week to pull the whole thing off (especially just coming of spring break).

Any help or direction you can provide is greatly appreciated!

Your friend, Dennis

Keep Thinking and Doing What's Right!

Great Documents from ONE - The Campaign to Make Poverty History

These are two fantastic documents from the ONE campaign.  Get them, study them, and then go change the world, ONE by ONE.   

Link: ONE » Blog Archive » Speaking With ONE Voice.

Over the last year, I have been traveling throughout the Midwest, holding training sessions for ONE volunteers. From Minneapolis, MN, to Bloomington, IN, dedicated ONE members came together in large and small groups to learn how to speak with ONE voice and bring the fight against extreme poverty and global disease to their communities.

After all these trainings, I thought I would share the materials that the other field organizers and I developed for these trainings with everyone interested in raising awareness on global poverty.

Download this document to learn about ONE, the issues and learn what books you can read to get more information.

Then look at this document for ideas on bringing the fight to your community, ONE volunteer guidelines, ways to engage your elected officials and the media on behalf of the world’s poor, and much, much more!

The Protestant Denominations, aka, The Church of Christ in Congo

I hope to identify all the Protestant Denominations activate in the DR Congo.

See Wikipedia for more details:

The Church of Christ in Congo or CCC (in French, Église du Christ au Congo or ECC), is a union of 62 Protestant denominations, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is often simply referred to as The Protestant Church, as it federates the vast majority of the Protestants in that country.

Walking to Raise Money for Congolese women at Panzi Hospital

Paul Clay-Rooks was moved by the "epidemic of rape" of the Congolese women at Panzi Hospital in eastern Congo.  He walked from Lynchburg to Washington which is over 180 miles.  Paul is the first male resident director at Randolph College (formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College).  What a great way to spend your spring break!  Walking to send donations to help build the City of Joy, a project of Panzi Hospital and UNICEF.

Link: Va. man pounds pavement for Congo's women -- dailypress.com.

His goal is to send donations to help build the City of Joy, a project of Panzi Hospital and UNICEF, among other groups, intended as a refuge for women who've survived rape and torture and have no family or community. The "city" will offer them education, support and income opportunities. "A sanctuary for these women," Clay-Rooks says, "where they could come and be safe."

Textbooks for Congo

Greetings All,

Here’s my answer and comments. 

How were the books that you sent to Bulape found and sent?  Muriel Maxwell found a school district in Sherbrook. Nancy via the internet also found a person who donated mostly library books (in French).  We made two individual trips to Canada and picked them up.  We took them directly to IMA World Health in New Windsor MD (Larry Sthreshley’s organization).  They were containerized with other items (ours and Larry’s) and shipped to Congo.  We air freighted them from Kinshasa to Kananga, and then by train and trucks up to Bulape.

Were they appropriate for the Congo?  That is question.  I do not think the teachers had time enough to use and incorporate them.  I do not think the Congolese teachers were ready for textbooks.  It required them to read, understand, and develop lessons.  That is a BIG jump from teaching with book from memory or handwritten notes.  Bulape had virtually no books (students or teachers).  So, their initial response were “they are not African appropriate”.  Then we decided to purchase some Congolese textbooks (Tshiluba and French) last year.  I have not heard any responses on the Congolese textbook.  I thought the Congolese books were very elementary and simple.  They were more like full-size pamphlets with 30 to 40 pages.  We American would say they are inferior but we can not impose our education system on them, yet.  They have to crawl, then walk, then run.  I believe we can get more books from Canada but we did not want to go to the expense to get them something too advanced.  I think the teachers need training.  We have a Congolese (Faustin) here in Indy who works for the International School of Indiana.  Faustin is pursuing a doctoral degree in education at Indiana University.  He has started a not-for-profit to train and certify Congolese teachers.  He is going over to Congo this summer to research his program.  He is from Lubumbashi but he wants to implement his program throughout Congo.

How were they distributed and stored?  We did not get involved in the distribution or storage of books.  We empower them to figure out the distribution and storage.  We gather all (8-10) the school masters from Bulape into a meeting and tell them what we are giving them collectively and let them decide how to distribute the resources.  This method is done for books, supplies, funds, and scholarships.

I emailed James about the books.  He teaches for the Catholic Industrial High School.  The Catholic book system appears to be more developed then the Presbyterian.  I had asked Dr Mulumba repeatedly for a source of textbook.  He always said they were available but he never pointed me in the right direction.  Our project leader from Bulape went to the Catholic book center in Kananga.  I assumed this was the source of books in Kananga.

Blessings, Woody

Can you imagine carrying water all day and having no time for school?

I loved to whine about my chores.

Often, my parents would put my whining into perspective.  They would tell me what they did before going to school every day.  Can you imagine carrying water all day and having no time for school?

In rural Congo, that’s how many young girls spend their day.

You can make safe and clean water accessible and reduce the time needed to obtain it.

Download i_loved_to_whine_about_my_chores.pdf

Click on the link for the full article. 

UNICEF reports less than half of the Congolese population has access to safe drinking water.  But there is a wide disparity between urban area and rural areas like Bulape.   In the village of Bulape, there is no access to clean and safe water.