Help Us Build An Orphanage In The Congo ❤️

Help us to build an orphanage ❤️

There are 20 children who need a place to live, they don’t have parents because of conflict in the south Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We can build them a beautiful place to live and grow with just a little effort from our friends on the internet. The conflicts are being creating for minerals such as coltan, cobalt and others that end up in our mobile phones and electrical devices.

On Saturday, May 22nd after nearly 20 years of silence, Mount Nyiragongo erupted destroying homes, and livelihood in Congo's eastern city of Goma; a city of 2 million just south of the volcano.

Because of the natural resources in the eastern portion of Congo, Goma has been victim of conflict, famine, displacement, use of rape as a weapon of war, and now, a volcano. As of 2002, the most affected group in Goma in such crisis' are Congolese women, and children.

So I heart Africa have been in Congo working on a disaster relief effort for 4 months now.

In that time they have done many food distributions in the camps, bought land and for it paid in full to build four new houses, complete with toilets, shower and a large shared communal space for individually secured kitchens.

Originally they estimated needed around $2k per house, wanting to maximise the number of houses built for money they were raising, but after careful review, and being able to observe first hand, they have realized that they didn’t want to perpetuate the problem of creating displaced communities that were inadequate for proper living and can never maximise opportunities for permanent property.

There are many NGOS that exist solely to maximise off the suffering from displaced and vulnerable people.

Problem: Natural disaster

Solution: Temporary camps paid for by tax payers money and kind donations, with little to no sanitation, education, opportunities for gainful employment, proper nutrition, or shelters that allow a good foundation for human growth and development:

Problem: Greater risk of mortality, malnutrition, crime, disease, low self esteem, created culture of waiting for hand outs, no financial literacy, dependency on NGOs for food, medical care, etc

Solution: The same sometimish distributions of food, inadequate shelter, campaign that champion the poverty industry as necessary, but our question is this?

Where is all the money going, these people stay in expensive hotels, have 6 figure salaries, staff that wait on them hand and foot, drivers, chefs, personal trainers, maids, personal assistant, fly around in helicopters, private planes, luxury 4x4s, private security, their own boats and stay in huge gated communities. All in the name of helping “poor people” we find it audacious that foreigners come to Congo and get paid more than the people indigenous to Congo. The reason the most of the NGOs in Goma exist, is for the wealth in this mineral rich country, not just because some of them care. They rarely go into the camps and spend time with the people, trust us, we have done the research. And seen this firsthand.

It’s all very tokenistic and not genuine. 80-90% of the money raised go on salaries and lifestyle. Iheartafrica do the opposite. 90% of the money raised goes directly to the people, for example with the Goma houses project, the project managers @Chakabars and @Omega_Axsal haven’t ever taken a salary and that’s not their prerogative, they pay local Congolese people reasonable salaries to get the job done the best way they can. They have done a lot with $80k including creating some micro finance loans for to help local women start businesses to create access to better hygiene.

The cost of new houses with land, farm for sustenance, materials, labour, toilet, shower, interior fittings/furnishings and shared kitchen work out at about $14k each, they have built 4, costing 56k.

They are looking at reducing the cost of more houses, by making the next set out of wood but, have realized that there is a real demand for an orphanage because of children who have lost their parents/been displaced. They are happy to tell you they just bought the land for this for $14,000 and are ready to start building this. They have identified 20 children to take care of now and have got designs for the orphanage which will cost around $100,000.

Keep sharing this project, keep donating, very soon they will be moving the 4 special families into the houses they are building now, exciting times ahead.

We want to show you the right way to build for people and change their lives forever for the better. Blessings and peace to you for supporting this project.

I Heart Africa is a charity driven by a social mission to improve the livelihoods of men, women and children in Africa.

Our values are centred on the promotion of holistic self-sustainable development that creates an environment that is optimal in establishing a thriving community.

We work with orphanages, medical centres, schools and voluntary organisations located in Africa, at present within Congo DRC, Jamaica and Ghana.

At the core we focus on education, healthcare, well-being and infrastructural support by providing training, safeguarding of children, skills nurturing and development through sports and recreational activities. Our vision is nothing less than helping the people we work with realize their full potential through development, growth, and productivity by implementing sustainable programs that will enable them to become self- sufficient. We have a passionate desire to help the people of Africa build a better and brighter future for generations to come.