The distribution of school materials by Coopi and Expertise humanitaire et sociale to children in a camp for displaced people.
The Democratic Republic of Congo represents one of the great, scandalous paradoxes of our planet: a land rich in natural and subsoil resources, beautiful from a landscape point of view, yet torn by incessant instability, internal conflicts and unbridgeable socio-economic inequality. In Goma, in the eastern province of North Kivu, from the breathtaking panorama of Lake Kivu with its villas and luxury resorts surrounded by greenery, in a matter of minutes by car you enter an antipodal reality, that of the endless settlements of tents and huddled shacks that have grown up around the city, populated by thousands and thousands of displaced people who have fled from the villages gradually occupied with violence by the armed rebel group M23.
«The context of the province of North Kivu is marked by a series of characterizing elements: the first of all is the armed conflict, which pits the government army against the rebellion of the armed group M23, active in the east of the country». To give a picture of the current situation in North Kivu, from their headquarters in Goma, they are Emmanuel Ilunga Mubamba And Clément Papy Nkubiziproject leader and head of mission respectively Italian NGO Coopi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rebellion, they explain, has nothing to do with ethnic or religious reasons: it is a purely economic struggle for control of the country’s natural resources. Since 2022, the conflict has seen a resurgence, causing a serious humanitarian and food crisis associated with the problem of displaced people living in absolute precariousness in camps. An even more difficult situation now, in the rainy season in North Kivu, with almost daily torrential downpours filling the settlements with water and mud, worsening the sanitary conditions of the displaced.
«The other elements that characterize Goma and North Kivu are terrorism, the high crime rate, from armed robberies to kidnappings. And again, the violent demonstrations by groups of citizens against the presence of Monusco, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The volcanic eruptions of Mount Nyiragongo, about twenty km from the city of Goma, one of the most active in the world”. In May 2021, the NGO recalls, a river of lava produced by an eruption hit the northern outskirts of the city, causing at least 31 deaths and the flight of around 20 thousand people who found themselves displaced. Finally, among calamities, it must be remembered monkeypox (Monkey pox), a very serious and contagious disease that has put the province on health alert.
In this complex and difficult context, Coopi has been operating for almost half a century: the NGO founded in Milan by Father Vincenzo Barbieri is present continuously and has been well rooted in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1977, where it carries out activities to protect, prevent and combat malnutrition and promote food security, with particular attention to women victims of gender violence, children recruited as soldiers and other violations of human rights.
In North Kivu, in particular, Coopi is involved in a multi-sectoral project which aims to improve the living conditions of displaced people and all people affected by the armed conflict by acting on two factors: the fight against malnutrition of children up to 5 years old – a serious and widespread problem that compromises the growth of the little ones – and the school education of displaced children living in some settlementsie who, otherwise, would have difficulty accessing school. The NGO works in the field with a local partner, the organization Expertise humanitaire et sociale. The project started last July and lasts one year. In recent months – as many of the beneficiaries themselves, the displaced families, the mothers of children saved from malnutrition recognize – many steps forward have been made and the intervention of the Italian NGO has already made the difference. But much still remains to be done, to help the smallest, the most vulnerable, the first victims of one of the world’s great forgotten conflicts, to grow up in safety and have a future. For information: www.coopi.org
(Photo above: some members of Coopi RDC with mothers and their children treated for malnutrition in the Nyiragongo Regional General Hospital)
