Skills development to Refugees and IDPs in DRCongo

Online fundraising trainings have been our priorities in order to capacitate refugee initiatives

For the last three months we focused on helping refugee leaders and all those projects to explore online fundraising opportunities in order to continue with their projects. This came in as we realized that people have great ideas but they limited in terms of funding.

In Goma, so far 39 people were trained, in Uvira so far 13 people have trained and the next training will focus on people in Kalemie. In these trainings also opportunities with GlobalGiving have been explored and some have already projects running on the site of GlobalGiving, we have also linked to COHERE and at the same time connected COHERE to local initiatives.

Being aware that we may not solve everything ourselves, we are trying to solve challenges refugees have.

In the same way, we held two trainings in Goma on how to create an organization and how to manage it. We have also helped 6 refugee leaders to make the constitution of their organizations among them 2 in Uganda, 3 in Goma and one in Uvira. The next training will focus on people in Kalemie who have also expressed the need.

We hope that they raise money and continue with their activities in order to solve community problems.

All our equipment for the tailoring center in Goma looted by unknown armed people

As we break off for the New Year on December 20^th, 2024 we left everything well packed and well safe in the store. However in the night of December 30^th, 2024 unidentified armed people raid many houses in Majengo and unfortunately our center was affected and all what we had was taken. Machines, chairs, tables, clothes, measures, among others. They left nothing at all and as per this project is completely destroyed.

Different parts of Goma especially the suburbs are highly insecure and armed groups are daily operating in houses including killing people. On top of that Goma is now also affected by the humanitarian crisis.

This center was a life-saving project and it should continue, in this situation of disaster this center was providing alternatives to Internally Displaced Persons and Refugee women to acquire a life-skill which helps them to survive by using their knowledge in order to function in the community and at least earn a living as we wait for the war to end. If we close this center then we shall put more women and young girls at risk.

Our activities are based on the conviction in this story which is spoken to help people focus on certain things “ in a certain village of a certain country there was a Lake which had so many fishes and people in that village lived on fishing and exported fish to many other places in the world. Now, one day a heavy wind came and storm came hit the mountains alongside the Lake and destroyed the whole Lake which poured all the fishes in a dry land where they were dying. After the wind and the storm people in the village came out to see the devastated areas, an old man was in front collecting the fishes one by one and putting them back where there was water. So a young man from the village found him and told him “old man, are you normal, can’t you realize that we have lost everything and unfortunately there is nothing we can do, we have last the lake and all the fishes, and now our lives are gone, what remains for us is to die also one by one because we lived on the fishing, so you are wasting your time, you cannot put back all these fishes in this small water which is here”. The old replied, yes young man you are right, but my intention is not to bring back the situation to normal as it was before because that will never happen again, I just want to save some few fishes, and block this water for running, so as the years pass, this lake will become again big and fishes will multiply and the next generations after 50 years will again enjoy fish here.

Key point message: We may not save everyone currently but we can save some people who will become the next generation after this war.