Public Safety
Communities in the rural part of the Congo are being invaded by not only rebel militia groups such as the well-known and feared, M23 but as well as their own government soldiers who violently rape and beat the men, woman and children in local communities. It is said that the rebel militia groups believes when they rape they get special powers that allows bullets to hit them like water. As to why the government soldier’s rape is still a mystery. There is no security measure in community compounds, which gives the persecutors ample opportunity to perpetrate innocent civilians.
The crisis in what was formerly known as Zaire has started way before the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Since the 1870’s, when Belgian King Leopold II set on his private venture to colonize the Kongo, unspeakable terror has roamed the land ever since. At the Berlin Conference of 1884, he claimed under his rule of the colonization of the Congo Free State, he would improve the lives of the native inhabitants. He ruled in ungodly measures and extracted many riches from the Congo such as ivory and rubber. After a rise in the price of rubber in the late 1890’s, he began to force labor the native citizens. Abuses included the forced labor of the native population, beatings, widespread killing, and frequent mutilation when the production quotas were not met. The estimated death tolls rolls from 1 to 15 million, making this the first of several Congolese genocides.
Belgium had control over the Congo until 1959 when they began to lose control over events in the Congo following serious nationalist riots in what was formally known as Leopoldville, which is now known as Kinshasa. FINALLY! In June of 1960, the Congo has gained their independence! Earlier before that Belgian Professor Antoin Van Bilsen published a “30-year Plan” for granting the congo increased in self-government but the people of the Congo declined, which only lead to post-independence turmoil.
Since independence the democratic republic of Congo has suffered 2 wars, the final one ending recently in 2006. A greedy, and self-serving leader by the name of Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the land, and millions upon millions of death, rape, and unspeakable violence from outsiders and sadly, some of their own people. The Congo has been described as hell in the mist of heaven. It is a very unsafe place, especially in the eastern part of the country BUT what if we can change that? One small group at a time…
What is going on?
What we plan to do to help – Our first plan is very primitive. The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to many people, so let’s begin with that, a home. Right now many people, like the many rape victim of north and south Kivu, live in pixie sticks, mud and bamboo made houses with easy entry way and unstable living conditions. When one thinks of home they think of a safe haven, where love roams and a warm bed awaits. For many, that is not the case due to unspeakable circumstances.
Currently in north and south kivu the towns of Beni, Butembo, goma, Bukavu, Uvira, Makobola are the most dangerous because of the rebel control in those areas. Our goal is to remove those that choose to eastward to a remote and safe location. We hope to find land in the Katanga providence where land and languages are familiar and the area is much safer, due to better obedience of the Congolese law.
With this organization, we hope to give these people a home… a safe haven where love roams and a warm bed awaits. We plan on buying a plot land and building on that. The goal is to first have a one story home for woman and children, which will consist of 10 bedrooms with 4 beds in each room, 5 full bathrooms, a medical clinic, a psych clinic, and an office/bedroom for the head of house, a kitchen and living room. Behind the house will be the school which will double as a church on Sunday for fellowship.
We plan on starting with one rural community by building a wall that surrounds the compound. This wall will be 15ft high and have the width of 60inches, with barbwire or broken glass at the top of each wall, in case of invaders. We plan for this to heavily decrease the amount of intrusions due to complicated access. This just being the first step, if we see progression then we implement these tactics in more areas.