"We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it."
― Wendell Berry, The Long-Legged House
So much has changed in such a short time. Have you witnessed it? There is a sense of an awakening, in ourselves and our communities, to the underlying connectedness between all of us, and between humanity and the earth that Wendell Berry references in much of his writing, to the "inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny," as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. describes it.
Today we continue to connect with the people of Congo, as we make an effort to know the world, in all its corners and quirks and groanings and beauty. Much like our mandates here in the U.S. and around the globe, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has issued safer-at-home mandates, which closed schools in March, restricting public gatherings to no more than 20 people at a time.
“The Congo Peace School may be temporarily closed, but the mission and vision behind the school cannot be shut down.”
– Amani Matabaro
Amani and the staff have made immediate changes in operations to meet the crisis, making the most of the resources at hand, utilizing the infrastructure that is in place because of years of your support and investment as the foundation for the life-saving work that needs to be done.
We may be a small organization, but we are vigorous and energized under Amani’s leadership. Amani’s action plan in education and prevention are in line to what UNICEF lists as their approach to combat the spread of Covid-19.
UNICEF response strategy and interventions focuses on the following axes:
1. Risk communication & community engagement (RCCE);
2. Improving WASH and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures in health facilities and in the community;
3. Provision of supplies, medical equipment for case management;
4. Psychosocial support and continuous access to basic social services;
5. Social protection interventions to mitigate the socio-economic impact in households and Social sciences analysis.
Amani is already leading the way with his team. The Congo Peace School has become a hub of health and education, not just to feed the most at-risk students with meals served to 20 students at a time, but as a resource center for hand-washing stations made possible by an emergency grant from our partners at Jewish World Watch, as well as the ability to distribute the educational information on the how-to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Thanks to your ongoing support, we continue to invest in the staff of the Congo Peace School, who are now a team of health educators, going out into the community to teach our neighbors preventative actions to take, and are feeding the students who are most at risk of starvation with a meal made from purchased beans and rice as well as the vegetables we are growing on the organic farm at the school. (Pictured below is one enormous head of organic cabbage!)
It means so much to have this infrastructure in place that made it possible for an immediate pivot to respond swiftly with resources to this public health crisis, and we could not have done it without you.
Another foundation is the decade of sewing training from your long-term support for Action Kivu that has prepared our community to make masks! The women who graduated the Sewing Workshop are now making the masks you see them wearing here, safely distanced in the Sewing Co-Op in the Community Center as well as in the Congo Peace School auditorium.
The masks are critical, and they are not easily accessible in the region. As Amani reports, he is more concerned about people dying from hunger than from Covid-19 at the moment. The majority of the region’s population are living in poverty, and people must leave their homes each day to find food for that day, to stay alive.
As you'll see in the photo and video below, face masks are a critical component of precaution that is being implemented as the masks are being made. With malnutrition being an immediate risk, the staff was serving the student meals as you see here, but be assured that they are taking every precaution with hand-washing and preparation, and the masks are now being distributed.
More great news as we work today for a better future: we were able to purchase 20 laptops for the Congo Peace School, thanks in part to individual donors and Chocolate for Congo, an annual fundraiser in Portland, Oregon hosted by Never Again Coalition! In groups of 20, the students, seated at a distance from each other, are learning the basics of word processing, the first time they’ve worked on a computer. They too will receive masks to ensure the greatest possible prevention.
The city power in Mumosho is patchy at best, running at odd hours with no guarantees, more usually off than on, so to best run these laptops, and to provide greater security for the campus at night, we've been working to find funding for solar power for the campus. As of the end of April, we are in discussion again with an organization, working on a grant for phasing in the necessary solar power, starting with the computer lab and the two boarding houses, boarding houses that once fully outfitted, will provide sustainable income for the school.
It's impossible to express the overwhelming gratitude we have for all you've done in building up this foundation in Congo, that it can be used to truly serve the students and community in a time of crisis, while we continue to look forward to when the pandemic is over, and we resume classroom teaching, having created an even greater trust in community-building through showing care, love, and hope in a time of need.
We hope you are well and safe in this difficult time. Take good care of yourself as you are caring for others.
