Telling a different story - CI

Telling a Different Story - from Congo Initiative

Kipepeo Reflections: Telling a Different Story  Do you want to make a tangible difference in the lives of Congo's future leaders? Join Kipepeo Partners today and help us meet our goal of 50 partners by March 1. We only need 10 more sign-ups! Find out more about Kipepeo Partners. One of our Partners shares her story below: ***************************************** A couple years ago, I spoke with a law student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As we shared our life stories, I tried to recall everything I had read about the D.R. Congo on the internet or in books. But my mind blanked. The next morning, as coffee brewed, I decided to re-educate myself on the D.R. Congo's history, people, and beautiful terrains. My first questions were close to home. "If I were a Congolese woman, what would my life be like? What are their standards of beauty, roles in the home, and recent accomplishments?" As I typed "Congolese women" into my browser, I assumed the search would yield websites on Congolese literature, political developments, and colorful printed fabrics.  Instead, page after page was all about rape. War crimes. FDLR rebels (a remnant of Hutu forces) systematically destroying the reproductive capabilities of women. Besides a few charity efforts, few websites actually celebrated Congolese women; one article celebrated a doctor for his reconstructive surgeries of them. Gaping in disbelief, I then did a Google search for "American women." Immediately, links to songs, literature, "famous firsts" of American women, and women-only fitness centers popped up. Most links celebrated their beauty and strength.  The difference between my two searches could not have been more drastic.  The results grieved me for days. It was as if my whole world came to a stand-still. Friends asked why I would tear up at coffee, or on the way to the metro. Each time I answered them and shared why, I was surprised that others -- like me -- were completely unaware of the situation. Almost a week later, in sheer frustration, I confronted God. "Why are you letting me grieve? Why am I mourning? Obviously you've put this on my heart for a reason, but my tears are unproductive. Please give me an answer. Show me why D.R. Congo is on my heart." When I found out about the Congo Initiative, my prayers were answered. There was something I could do to help!  As soon as I found out about the work of Congo Initiative, I started giving to their programs monthly, and praying for them. While I have never been to the D.R. Congo, it means so much to me that Congo Initiative is working to build up strong and courageous women and men who will lead the D.R. Congo's future generations. I am inspired that Congo Initiative is promoting justice and nation-building on their campus...a campus where women are being respected, valued, and equipped for leadership! And, I am grateful that Congo Initiative is caring for disadvantaged women, and teaching them important skills. I wish I had even more to give. Being a Kipepeo Partner is the least I can do to help. Davita Maharaj Masters candidate in International Human Rights Law Oxford University ***************************************************  We are proud of the fact that roughly 45% of the current student body at UCBC is female. This is radical for a country in which the national average is around 10%. This embodies a different story about the women of D.R. Congo--a story marked by the hope and potential of their unique place as future leaders. Join Davita and others today by making a monthly pledge of support. Your gift will go toward covering the critical tuition costs that so many of our deserving students are unable to meet. Choose an amount that fits your budget. You will be making a real impact in the education and formation of a new generation of leaders. We only need 10 people to join to help us meet our March 1 goal of 50 Kipepeo Partners. Thank you in advance for partnering with us! Become a Kipepeo Partner Today

For more information about Congo Initiative or UCBC, please go to the websites, below.

www.congoinitiative.org
www.ucbc.org

DRC - different from the what the news reports

http://matadornetwork.com/trips/the-drc-you-dont-see-in-the-news/

The DRC you don’t see in the news

by RICHARD STUPART on FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Richard Stupart shares these journal entries and images from the Democratic Republic of Congo, without a single Joseph Conrad reference.

– Somewhere in the Epulu Forest, 26 December 2011

I WALK HALFWAY back to the okapi pens to make field recordings of the forest noises and the faint rushing of the Epulu River behind me. Watching the light change in the forest as I sit monitoring the recorder levels in silence, I am reminded — or perhaps realise for the first time — how strange this place can be. The different sounds in the trees as the birds sing, some acrobatic, mouselike creature leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk just beneath the canopy. The yellow and green of moss and damp leaves bundles between the giant buttress roots pushing out from the forest floor. If “fecund” ever described a place accurately, it’s here.

Normalcy is perhaps the most profound lesson of this place. Just how durable the fabric of human routine can be.

This is a neat article, with a great photo collection at the bottom... Hope you'll read the entire article and enjoy the pictures! love, Bethany 

An NBA player without a country

http://africasacountry.com/2012/02/22/serge-ibaka-has-no-country/

NBA player Serge Ibaka has no country

FEBRUARY 22, 2012 BY SEAN JACOBS 

Last year we pointed to the fact that sports commentators, statisticians and journalists can’t distinguish the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) from its neighbor the Republic of Congo every time they talk about NBA basketball player Serge Ibaka. He was born in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, normally referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, not the DRC or what used to be known as Zaire (until 1997) and now commonly referred to by its initials or as Congo-Kinshasa. The only thing the two countries share is a river: the Congo (yeh, that river which  Conrad fictionalized). Earlier this week Deadspin, the American sports blog, pointed out that ESPN lists Ibaka’s birthplace as “Brazzaville, Zaire.” At least they know that Zaire still existed when Ibaka was born in 1989. But again it is the wrong country. Today I noticed they just deleted his country and his birthplace is now only listed as “Brazzaville.” So now he has no country.

Anyway, he acquired a Spanish passport last year and now plays for Spain in international tournaments.

7 worst international aid ideas - Matador

http://matadornetwork.com/change/7-worst-international-aid-ideas/

7 worst international aid ideas

by RICHARD STUPART on FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Like my energy drink or the kids starve. Image via Africa is a country

Maybe their hearts were in the right place. Maybe not. Either way, these are solid contenders for the title of “worst attempts at helping others since colonialism.”

Check out the article... 

It's good to help. It's good to be passionate. But we have to remember to think about how we "help." Is it really helpful? Can it create more damage, abuse, harm, in the community that we're trying to serve? 

The article is worth reading!

Congo hydroelectric dam plans delayed - BBC News

The following article can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17056918


16 February 2012 Last updated at 13:13

DR Congo Inga Three Dam: BHP Billiton withdraws custom

A huge Congolese hydroelectric scheme has been dealt a blow by mining giant BHP Billiton's decision to abandon plans for an aluminium smelter.

The foundry would have been powered by the planned Inga Three hydro project, providing it with a major customer.

The firm said it decided to pull out after a review of construction costs.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Inga Three would add to two existing dams on the Congo River, making it Africa's largest hydropower dam.

The project is seen as crucial to providing sufficient power by 2020 and spurring the country's economic growth.

Mining boom

DR Congo's multitude of rivers offer enormous hydropower potential, but a lack of infrastructure and difficult business climate have made it difficult to find investors - leaving the vast majority of the country in darkness.

"The company has chosen to not continue the [smelter] project, which was still at a very early stage, following a review of its economics," BHP Billiton spokesman Ruban Yogarajah told the Reuters news agency, adding that the firm would not have been the only customer of Inga Three.

Correspondents say the pullout of the Australian-based multinational is significant because the mining company would have been a major - and solvent customer.

The dam would also have provided electricity for the Congolese national grid.

The DR Congo government says it is confident of finding other backing for the scheme - which has been considered for many years, but never received sufficient backing.

"The problem is real but there are alternative solutions," Energy Minister Gilbert Tshiongo told Reuters.

Inga Three, near the estuary of the Congo River, is estimated to cost between $8bn and $10bn (£5-£6bn) and would produce 3,500 to 7,000 megawatts.

The plan has been stalled for several years with the African Development Bank warning over the costs - but last year it received a boost when DR Congo and South Africa signed an agreement to build Grand Inga, another much more ambitious hydropower scheme.

World Bank studies show that project would cost $50bn and could take decades to build, but would produce twice as much electricity as China's Three Gorges dam.

A mining boom in the mineral-rich southern province of Katanga has put additional strain on DR Congo's inadequate power resources.

The government last year said Inga Three was planned to come on line in 2018.

Continue reading the main story

DR Congo in figures

• Population: 70 million
• UN human development index: Bottom of 187 countries surveyed
• Life expectancy: 48 years
• Has 70% of the globe's coltan - vital for mobile phones
• Average annual income: $300
• With 13% of the world's hydropower potential, its network of rivers could power much of Africa
• Just 9% of the population has access to electricity

Sources: Estimated figures from the UN and World Bank

Kabila aide dies in plane crash - BBC News

DR Congo: President Kabila's aide dies in plane crash

12 February 2012 Last updated at 15:37

A senior adviser to the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, has been killed in a plane crash in the east of the country.

Augustin Katumba Mwanke died when the private jet came down near the town of Bukavu, a statement read out on national TV said. The pilot also died.

Finance Minister Matato Ponyo Mapo and a provincial governor were among other passengers who were seriously injured.

The crash happened when the plane overshot the runway, officials said.

"Unfortunately, I have to confirm the death of Katumba Mwanke and the pilot," government spokesman Lambert Mende told Reuters.

"It's a very big loss, he was considered a pillar of the presidential majority," he added.

The accident is the latest in a string of crashes in the DR Congo - a country which has one of the world's worst air safety records.

Last July, a passenger plane with 112 people on board went down at Kisangani airport, in the north, killing more than 50 people.

In April, a UN plane crashed as it attempted to land in heavy rain in Kinshasa, killing 32 of 33 people on board.

This article can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17004512

AFP - NBA star caught in DR Congo gold scam

NBA star caught in DR Congo gold scam

By Tim Witcher (AFP) - January 22, 2012

UNITED NATIONS — NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo fell into a gold smuggling trap that saw millions of dollars handed over to a notorious Democratic Republic of Congo warlord, according to UN investigators.

Mutombo, a 7 foot 2 inch (2.18 meter) All-Star who ended his 18-year playing career with the Houston Rockets, has made a name for himself since retirement in 2009 campaigning for good causes in his native DR Congo. He was mentioned in President George W. Bush's state of the union speech in 2007.

But Mutombo, 45, was just the latest of many gullible individuals to be tempted by the promise of riches dealing in the country's gold and other treasure trove of minerals.

The Mutombo case involves bags containing millions of dollars in cash, sacks of gold of dubious origin and intermediaries with false identities across East Africa.

According to a report by UN sanctions committee experts, all was seized at an airfield in DR Congo. The money ended up with Bosco Ntaganda, a militia leader wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, and the gold in government vaults.

"Our understanding was that Dikembe Mutombo's role was as an intermediary. We don't suggest that he was part of some criminal gang," said Fred Robarts, coordinator of the UN Security Council's sanctions committee experts for DR Congo.

"He thought that there was money to be made out of this deal and tried to set it up with a buyer to make a share of the profit; in that, he was probably naive," Robarts told AFP from Kinshasa.

Mutombo and relatives from DR Congo organized a meeting at a New York hotel in December 2010 in which he proposed the sale of 475 kilograms (1,045 pounds) of gold to businessmen Kase Lawal and Carlos St Mary, said a report by the sanctions experts.

Lawal is the Nigerian-American head of a Houston oil company, CAMAC. St Mary heads a diamond trading company. Lawal agreed to finance the deal and share the estimated $10 million profit with St Mary and Mutombo.

The gold was to be extracted in DR Congo and handed over in Nairobi. The sanctions committee said an initial $4.8 million was handed over to one intermediary who "disappeared."

Ntaganda presented himself as the owner of the gold when a handover was organized in February 2011 at Goma in eastern DR Congo -- where militias are in a murderous battle for control of the mineral wealth.

Twenty-five metal cases of gold were loaded onto a plane chartered by Lawal, but before it could take off, the oil mogul's representatives and St Mary were arrested by intelligence agents for money laundering and illegally transporting the gold.

St Mary said Lawal told him later "that he had lost a total of $30 million as a result of the whole ordeal, including transport fees, fines, bribes and payments made on the gold purchase."

Neither Lawal nor Mutombo would speak to UN investigators. Neither have spoken to media about the deal.

The sanctions experts said they were "concerned" at the growing number of such scam cases which have sucked in the likes of the former NBA center.

The UN investigators are meant to concentrate on tracking down the sources of finance for Ntaganda and other eastern Congo warlords.

They see other scam cases through their detective work, said Robarts.

"They don't always come to light because the buyers are often aware they are only operating semi-legally and they might not have all the right paperwork and they are just embarrassed. They don't always go to the police."

Kenyan authorities have investigated a number of cases. Some of the names are in Uganda and other east African countries, the investigator said.

Targets are shown real gold with certificates of origin. Lawal, however, made no inquiries into the real origin of the gold he was planning to buy, the UN report said.

"It is all an elaborate scam involving a lot of different people. And it seems to convince buyers to the point that they don't give up easily. They want to know what has happened to their gold rather than realizing that they have been duped," Robarts said.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

Bloomberg article - 18 January, 2012

Financial Crisis May Kill in Congo as Global Health Aid Stalls

By Simeon Bennett

 

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Europe’s debt crisis has brought down governments, roiled markets and triggered austerity measures affecting millions. Now it may kill.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 28,000 people with HIV who were meant to start life-saving treatment by 2014 may not because of shortfalls in the foreign aid that pays for the nation’s AIDS drugs, according to Doctors Without Borders. Some of those people will get sick and die, said Thierry Dethier, an HIV analyst with the charity that runs AIDS clinics in Congo.

“Because of the lack of drugs people don’t test themselves,” Dethier said in an interview from the capital, Kinshasa. “And because of that, people with AIDS are dying.”

Governments struggling to curb deficits from Spain to the U.S. have cut or slowed the growth of their contributions to the World Health Organization and disease-fighting funds that prop up health services in the world’s poorest countries, according to a report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research unit at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“The financing is only going to get worse,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University in Washington, and a member of a committee advising the WHO on an overhaul of the Geneva-based organization. “You’ve got donor states in financial crisis and there is increased competition for funds.”

The entire article can be found by clicking here or going to: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-18/financial-crisis-may-kill-in-congo-as-global-health-aid-stalls.html

 

2011 Graduation Photos

More pictures for you to see! These are from our first graduation ceremony in July. I had posted a few photos on here after graduation...

Graduates listening during the ceremony

Probably with promises to upload more soon... 

But after six months, they are up!

I love having a faster internet connection! :) And wow, will I miss you, Wisconsin internet, in a few short weeks...

Anyway, here's the link to the photo album.

Happy New Year

Click the photo to go to my picture albums!

Happy 2012 to you! 

I've uploaded some photos... And hope to get some more online soon... For right now though, there are photos from my recent time in Kampala, Uganda. Check them out and enjoy!

My photo albums

love,
Bethany




*Updated 6 January 2012 - It seems the link to look at the photos was broken. But it should be working now!