War is coming into the house

The war has been spreading for months. The provincial capital Bukavu, where Hansen lives with his family, has been under siege for a few weeks. Last night was particularly bad. Here is the text message from Hansen:

„Hello Patrick, I hope you are well. The night was a nightmare for us. The soldiers (of the M23 rebels) sealed off everything and said they were looking for Congolese soldiers. They looted everything they could see and demanded money. If you don’t have any, they beat you and looted all your valuables.

In our case, it was the money I had kept here that saved our lives in the end and my computer was taken. They threatened the children and then they left. Then they came back and shouted at me. Then they threw my computer on the floor, which broke the screen. But luckily the family is safe.“

Kamituga threatened by cholera and Mpox

The city of Kamituga, with 260,000 inhabitants, together with the neighbouring territories of Mwenga and Shabunda, has a population of 1.5 million and, like most cities in the world, is dependent on trade and exchange with other cities. Road connections are the main supply lines, as they are everywhere. However, ‘National Road 2’, which connects Kamituga with the provincial capital Bukavu, is in a desolate state (see the other articles on this topic). As a result, humanitarian aid has difficulty reaching the town. Since the departure of the German aid organisation ‘Cap Anamur’ over ten years ago, the public hospital in Kamituga has been dependent on state support and privately run health centres run by local doctors are left to fend for themselves. As a result, diseases such as cholera and mpox, which have broken out in the region, continue to spread and claim more and more lives.

The cholera and mpox patients admitted to the hospitals often cannot be adequately treated as there is no access to medication due to the poor road conditions. The hospitals in Kamituga are therefore trying to fight these epidemics as best they can with the resources available. As is so often the case, it is the poor and the weak who suffer, having to shoulder the exorbitant bills for the treatment they receive due to the shortage. Very few are in a position to do so.

The second round begins

Following the start of the vaccination campaign late last year, we have continued the campaign. Hansen again travelled to the places where we have the goat projects. In some places, we had to start a second round if the treatment of the goats from the first round was not sufficient. Esther’s project with the women from Nyamibungu was also on the list of projects we visited. Esther was very pleased with the visit and the progress made in healing. She reports that almost all the goats in her project are healthy again. We have instructed the vet once again to treat those animals that still show symptoms so that all the goats are healthy again and, above all, so that the disease cannot spread again.

Finally our goats can be treated!

From the diagnosis of the diseases of the goats in the sometimes remote villages, to the preparation of the prescription for the medication, to the ordering of the same in a veterinary pharmacy in Bukavu 180km away (see the corresponding report), the collection there, the onward transport by lorry to our depot in Kamituga, the coordination of the treatment appointments in the individual projects, the renewed transport of the medicine by motorbike to our colleague René in Kitutu, 45km away, and from there to the individual project villages, a total of over four weeks have passed. All this is tedious – but rewarding!

The vet also took the opportunity to provide information about infection routes, prevention and treatment.

As you can see, not every goat likes injections… 😄 (see video below)

We picked up the medication for the goat project in town

It added up to quite a lot: The purchase at the veterinary pharmacy cost almost $1000. Injection solutions, syringes, antibiotics – a bit of everything, according to the prescription the vet had written for René. We packed everything into a large cardboard box and then took it to a dispatch depot, from where the goods were transported to our warehouse in Kamituga on the next lorry (truck). From there, the medicines are then distributed to the individual projects and the vet appointments are coordinated. Hansen will then take the medicines by motorbike to our colleague René in Kitutu in the hinterland and he will accompany the vet to the individual villages and projects. It’s all time-consuming and tedious – but we’re glad that it’s possible at all, because when the conflicts here were even more drastic, many roads were impassable due to the risk of kidnapping. The region is more peaceful today – even though it still hasn’t completely calmed down.

Our project in Nyamibungu is exclusively in the hands of women – with great success!

This morning we visited one of our oldest projects. What makes this project special is that it is exclusively in the hands of women. In my studies of ‘Sustainable Development Cooperation’, I learnt that women are statistically much more sustainable than men and I have the impression that this study result is also confirmed here! This project is one of the most successful we have. No other meeting was anywhere near as well prepared and structured as today’s! The project manager Esther did an excellent job of preparing and organising everything! Really great! 👍🏿👍🏼 She reported a lot on the successes of the project work, but also clearly identified the problems and associated concerns of the women in the project. Hansen wrote everything down so that we can continue to support them effectively. The aim will be to effectively bundle the individual measures for the various projects, as many problems do not only affect this group but are also reported from other projects, such as the infections of the goats.
The reception was amazing! ‘Karibu karibu! -Welcome, welcome!’ Click here to watch the video
The women thanked us warmly and presented us with a chicken and a banana plant 😊 This means something like ‘you have been accepted into our community, you are one of us!’ and is a really great sign of recognition.

Esther says that the big international organisations all drive past to the big cities and concentrate their projects there. We were the first to stop, listen and provide pragmatic support.

But we have to give the thanks back to you, women from Nyamibungu! Because you did most of the work!

Our loyal motorbike gets new ‘hooves’

The conditions are harsh, especially in the rainy season, which is just beginning. Because of the daily heavy rainfall, the otherwise very dusty road turns into a real muddy track and progress is very difficult. The mud is knee-deep in places. The track becomes very slippery due to the softening, comparable to black ice in our regions in winter. Not only does this cause problems for the drivers, the vehicles‘ technology also suffers. The mixture of sand and water settles on the drive chain, for example, and abrades the teeth of the drive sprockets little by little with every revolution – like sandpaper. The wear is correspondingly high.

So we continued our ‘shopping tour’ in a motorbike parts shop – and got all the parts even as originals. That’s not that easy, because many parts are cheaply copied and flood the market. Often even the packaging is counterfeited and then it is difficult to distinguish the durable original from the inferior copy.

The shop is run by an elderly couple who are very friendly and trustworthy. We told the owner about our projects and because he liked our commitment so much, he gave us a nice discount – his contribution to the development of his region, he says.

Medication for our goats

After we had been to the bank (see separate report), we went on a ‘shopping tour’: we ordered the medication and instruments for treating the goats from a veterinary pharmacy. We even travelled there in a suitable taxi 😄. They also have seeds for our agricultural project 👌🏼 A valuable address that Carlos, a Swiss man who has lived and worked here for 40 years, gave us. He really knows everything here!

One of our first projects has been successful for over 12 years

Another one of our first projects that is still going strong today! For over 12 years! Again we were richly rewarded during our visit! Here, too, people have joined forces and formed a co-operative – experience shows that this is when the projects work best! If a committed and thoughtful person takes the chair, it can only succeed! Another example of this is the project with Esther and the women! (see article below)

Remi (the man with the yellow T-shirt) is in charge here and things are going very well. In the beginning we had 10 goats distributed to 10 people in the village. Remi was one of them. He called for the establishment of the co-operative and today, of the 55 members of the co-operative, everyone has a goat 🐐, some even have two! And many of the goats that we have passed on to the other projects come from here. Not a single one has the infection that many projects have to contend with. That’s no coincidence! From the way Remi puts together the materials he uses to build the house, you can see how much vigour he puts into things. The shared barn is in excellent condition – even with climbing facilities for the goats!

A card game goes round the world

Visiting Hansen and his family in the provincial capital of Bukavu in South Kivu in eastern Congo. I brought along the card game UNO and IQ-Puzzlers. We have a lot of fun. Three weeks later we return to his family and Grant, one of his sons, has solved all the IQ-Puzzlers puzzles – wow!

The family lives very simply in a small house for rent. Life in the Congo is difficult. Very few people have running water, electricity only occasionally. The space is cramped. And expensive: Hansen has to pay the equivalent of $50 for rent. And as a government employee, he earns just $80 a month. That leaves $30 for food and drink, electricity, water and soap, school fees, clothes and everyday living. And not everyone has a steady job like him. Some earn less. You don’t have to do the maths to work out that it doesn’t add up.

Hansen earns some extra money when he can, for example by working as a translator or coordinator for one of the international aid organisations in the city. But this is not usually possible on a permanent basis.

And despite this real predicament, he and the others volunteer with our organisation and help those who are much worse off. ‘We have to start somewhere to lead our country out of the spiral of poverty and suffering. That’s what I’m committed to. Maybe others will follow us, that would help everyone. In any case, I want to be part of the change!’ he says.