Educate 130 Children of Rape Victims in DR Congo

Our extraordinary middle schooler Claudine (see report of 4 Feb 2013) has had a successful year despite personal trauma a year ago. As many victims of sexual violence do, her mother departed from her family to avoid bringing shame on her children; earlier their home was burned and they relocated from one of our school communities to another. Fortunately Claudine has had generous people in her life who arranged to relocate her to the nearest town to attend a better school there. She showed that much promise, and she was at that much risk. After returning to her village to stay with her grandmother over the summer, Claudine - still a student of this project - will return to her town school, advancing to the third year of secondary school. She writes (translated from French):

"I was born into a poor family without a father and of a mother driven away from the locality of Rwenena. Being that I am an offspring of violence [rape], I am without a person of goodwill who can support my studies in my family.

"I say thank you to all the people of good will that support vulnerable children like me for the advancement of their education in DRC. Thanks to the education you have provided to me, I will be one of the great helpful women of society and I will never forget to support the children in the same category as myself."

On Wednesday, July 16, GlobalGiving will be matching this project's donations 50% beginning at 9:00 AM Eastern time. We are gearing up for the fall (needing to allow 2 months from fundraising to delivery to the project) so please consider a generous donation. Thank you for your support of this important project. Claudine's and others' lives would not be the same without it.

You may recall from a previous report that a storm had destroyed the roof over 5 of the classrooms at our Vijana Primary School in Luberizi. Please watch the video included in the link on this page, in which a mother (Miriam) explains their ordeals. Make sure the "cc" icon is enabled so you can read the translation captioning. Her thanks to "Mama Annette" means thanks to you, the GlobalGiving donors. Mama Annette is simply the conduit between students and donors.

Fortunately funding came through and the roof has been successfully repaired. The kids have experienced much hardship during this academic year, but they are always dedicated to their work. Your donations have allowed school - and after-school tutorials for struggling students - to continue. I am happy to report that two GlobalGiving microprojects - for shoes with socks and for backpacks - have been funded. Don't miss the photo on this page of the shoe and sock distribution (backpack funding came later) with the GlobalGiving sign. These shoes were so desperately needed!

Our other 2 school communities also are doing well.

Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, June 25, at noon EDT. If you donate as little as $10 at this time (preferably more), your donation will be doubled thanks to Microsoft YouthSpark (credit cards only). Matching funds run out quickly, so the sooner to noon you donate, the better chance we have of successfully attaining the match.

Your caring and your dollars mean so much to everyone involved. On their behalf, I thank you.

Links:

• Video of Luberizi mother Miriam describing challenges