Democratic Republic of Congo Peace & Hope Initiati

Hello, this is Ingrid, Ally, Krista, and Kevin, former Peace Corps Madagascar volunteers. We are seeking your help to fund an organization founded by Laurent Mupemba to support young students and their families displaced by warfare in eastern DRC in 2023. Many families have been forced to flee their towns and villages and seek refuge in the city of Goma. Crowded into camps, with limited access to food and water, these families struggle to get by, even with the aid of international organizations; the children especially are at high risk of falling into a vicious cycle of delinquency and violence. The DRC Peace & Hope Initiative wants to get these children off the streets and into schools. Mupemba and his team have identified 15 schools in Goma all of which have at least 30% of their students coming from displaced families. (The picture above is one Mupemba took of displaced families lining up to get their children into schools). These students urgently require funds for school fees, supplies (displaced students often share one pen among three or four students), as well as regular meals at a school canteen (at home they may have a meal only every other day). Their parents know that school is the best way for their children to have hope for a better future and break the cycle of violence.

The DRC Peace & Hope Initiative will work with these schools to provide for the needs of the displaced students. The initial phase of the project will provide for the purchase of supplies, school fees, and meals, in order to get these children into schools and keep them there. Further steps call for the purchase of a printer and supplies to print textbooks (which many of the schools in DRC lack). This small scale printing press will also provide employment for family members of displaced students. DRC Peace & Hope Initiative will also establish a system of microcredit for displaced families for small-scale commercial activities (food stalls, tailoring, sale of portable phones, etc.). Mupemba and his team will work closely with schools to assess the needs of displaced students and also to develop the capacity of teachers and educators, particularly in the domain of bilingual (French/English) education. With these funds the DRC Peace & Hope Initiative aims to support upwards of 30,000 students across the 15 schools. $100 will provide nearly all the students with pens; $1000 will provide school lunches through the year for over 2000 students. Whatever you can give will be an immense help, and go a long way in providing hope for these children and their families.

Those of you who have had the privilege of working with Mupemba need no further introduction, nor guarantee of the success of this project. For those of you yet to know this remarkable individual, Mr. Laurent Mupemba has dedicated more than 20 years working with youth in Francophone Africa and has more than 15 years of management and staff mentoring and supervision experience especially with US Peace Corps where he trained PCVs in DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Central Africa, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire. In addition to his experience with Peace Corps, Mupemba has worked for FHI 360 (Family Health International), IRC (International Rescue Committee), Training for Development, WCS, and Transparency International Rwanda. After having spent a career throughout Africa honing his skills as an educator and administrator, and though nearing an age when he should begin enjoying retirement and spending more time with his family, Mupemba has founded the DRC Peace & Hope Initiative to provide aid to the most vulnerable populations in his homeland, because he has dedicated his whole life to helping others, and because he is uniquely qualified and positioned for this task. Let us all join together and help Mupemba to help the displaced children in Goma.

Because GoFundMe does not allow for your donations to go directly to the Peace & Hope Initiative in the DRC, we have set up an account in the US; all monies will then be wired to the Initiative. Thank you for your support.

Ingrid Belete Núñez, RPVC Madagascar

Kevin Frey, RPCV Madagascar

Allison Joye, RPCV Madagscar

Krista Michaelis, RPCV Madagascar