Gold from Congo smuggled into World Trade ... are you wearing "blood gold"?

A friend pointed me in the direction of this video, which was aired on 60 Minutes, a credible U.S. TV news show, a couple of nights ago. I hope you'll take the time to watch it, it really gives a good picture of not only the problems associated with smuggled gold, but also how this is tied to the catastrophes (war) happening in the Congo. It raises some other poignant questions too, a few of which I've listed below as quotes.

Do you know, or even care, about where your gold (and other minerals like those in your cell phones and laptops) come from? I hope you're at least a little more curious after watching..

Watch CBS News Videos Online

"Five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a war fueled primarily from gold mined in the country by warlords and smuggled out to be sold on the open market."

Some quotes I thought were interesting from the video and worthy of further exploration/research (perhaps for a future post!):

- "Uganda produced $500 worth of gold, but exported $75 Million (almost all from the war zone!)"

- "How would a consumer know where their gold comes from?"

- "The source of origin is not yet a part of the council's framework"

(Council being the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) which the "Jewelers of America" (JA) cofounded. The JA link takes you to their 'Responsible Gold Position Statement for retail jewelers' which addresses gold from the DRC, by saying that they and their members are "...doing what they can, within their spheres of influence, to ensure that none of the gold jewelry products they sell has contributed—in any way—to the funding of any current conflicts or wars.").

- "Why can't the industry cut off the Congo?"

- "Violence is localized and comes in spikes. These spikes have something to do with the contestation of resources."

- "Only Tiffany's traces all their gold back to its source: 1 mine in Utah"

(I knew there was another reason I liked Tiffany's!)

Would love to hear your thoughts/comments/questions about the video and/or the reality of this situation...

Thanks!

A HUGE thank you to my friends who came out to meet Georges last Monday in Munich and who were more than generous in supporting his program. Thanks for taking the time to hear his story. I hope you found his journey interesting and inspiring. Thanks for your concern in what he's doing to help some people learn to help themselves in a part of the world many of us will probably never see. He really enjoyed meeting you all!

For those who missed his talk, he (quite eloquently!) spoke about how and why he decided to go to Amadi from Rome before completing his studies in 2004, his first impressions of the village (you can imagine how different it was coming from Rome where he was studying for a couple of years!) and facing the reality of the country he is from. I also thought it was interesting how he went from initially beginning this as more of a social program - organizing soccer matches, clearing land, repairing roads, and sewing training - to realizing this wasn't enough. "What are they going to do play soccer their whole lives?" While that is a valuable activity to both boys and girls (they still play regular matches, although he was sad to report that one of the coaches recently died of AIDs), he felt something more needed to be done.

When he met a girl named Rose and heard her story, that's when it clicked for him: he would help young people with serious problems continue their studies, with a particular focus on young, unmarried mothers who deserved (and desired) to be helped.

Kudos to Georges for an excellent overview of the program - your English teacher in Dublin would have been very impressed with how well you spoke! And I hope you are close to reaching your goal of at least keeping the current students enrolled in school for the year!

Meet Georges and learn more about DRC this Monday, August 31 in Munich

Now is your chance to come meet Georges in person and hear his stories firsthand. He'll be in Munich this Monday, August 31 to speak casually about the program he and his parish have started in Amadi, Congo (depicted in above painting by a local artist) as well as the situation in general. He hasn't been in Munich for 5 years...lets see if he still remembers any of that German he learned before he began studying Greek, Latin, and English:) Note, he will be talking about the situation in Congo and what he's doing to help in English. Details below:

WHERE: Nero Pizza & Lounge - located at Rumfordstrasse 34 (about a 5-minute walk from Isartor S-Bahn- unfortunately Tram 18 is not running at this time)

TIME: 18:30

What you get for 10 euros: Antipasti and Pizza Pane - with 5 euros going to George’s program supporting Congolese youth in Amadi, Congo.

Spread the word, and feel free to bring a friend!
Georges will speak about the following:

• The work he and his parish are doing in Amadi, Congo
• Education in Amadi and DR Congo – including the youth currently being supported (as well as what they do themselves to generate funds)
• The current situation + causes of the conflict
• Personal stories, if interested, as well as any questions you may have!

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CONFLICT IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC CONGO:

• It is the bloodiest war since WW2, having killed about 5 million people, according to UNO.
• "The United Nations calls eastern Congo the rape capital of the world because hundreds of thousands of women have been sexually assaulted by the various militias haunting the hills." (Increasingly, men are also being
• raped)
• Rebel movements, foreign fighters, and local militias – including some of those responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda – fight to control Congo’s vast natural resources and prey upon civilians.
• Since the war’s official end in 2003, more than 2 million people have died
• NE Congo is the part of the country most affected, this is where Amadi is located.
  

Eastern Congo: "The rape capital of the world"

Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, stopped in Kinshasa, Congo Monday as part of her African tour to "push the Congolese government and the United Nations to end the longstanding bloodshed here, taking special aim at the illicit mineral trade that helps fuel the conflict."

Many people, including myself, don't fully understand the roots of this long-standing, deadly war. But its pretty clear that one of the main causes is the Congo's vast amount of natural resources, which have created an enormous amount of wealth, for some... emphasis on "some." Along with this, of course, comes a vast amount of corruption.

Even if you don't have time to read the entire NY Times article, "Clinton Presses Congo on Minerals", take a glance at some relevant facts:

- "Illegal mining was one of the root causes of Congo’s violence"

- "The fighting and its fallout — mass displacement, hunger and disease — have claimed millions of lives in the past decade."

- "The United Nations calls eastern Congo the rape capital of the world because hundreds of thousands of women have been sexually assaulted by the various militias haunting the hills." (Increasingly, men are also being raped)

- "Women are being turned into weapons of war" (this isn't new... The United Nations estimates that about 3500 women have been raped since the beginning of the year and 200,000 women and girls have been raped in Congo over the last 12 years)

- "Nearly two out of every three rapes were carried out against children, most of them adolescent girls" (Source: Human Rights Watch)

On a sidenote, I like that former NBA basketball star, Dikembe Mutombo, has given much back to his homeland, having built a hospital and research center with his own money in his hometown, and capitol, Kinshasa.

Hopefully you'll read the article. I'm glad the U.S. considers it an important enough place for our Secretary of State to pay a visit (I try not to question motives). And hopefully something good will come of it and people will start to pay a bit more attention to what is happening here.

If you prefer videos, here's a video summary of her visit:

Education in Amadi, DR Congo - Part 2

This is a continuation of my previous post about some of the kids trying to turn their lives around. To read this previous post click here.

Below are 3 more individuals currently being sponsored. Keep in mind, all of these kids are covered financially through the end of this school year, however, there is not enough funding for all of them to continue and complete next year, which begins in October. Georges was hoping to increase the number of Congolese youth they give scholarship money to (as a result of their own fundraising efforts selling rice- more on this later), but they were not able to generate enough due to the insecurity caused by the threat of the Ugandan rebels in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) (This link on LRA will take you to a 20-minute video, "Inside the LRA", even if you watch just the first 3 minutes it will give you a clear picture of what the victims of this brutal war are dealing with). Now the program can only hope to give priority to those who have already started it, including these 3 students:

Massambra is 19 years old. He knows nothing about his parents. He has never seen his father and his mother died when he was 8 years old. He is studying stonework / masonry.












Chantal Sara, 22 years old. She got pregnant in her last year of high school. Abandoned by the father of her baby, who was a married man, she suffered greatly. After giving birth, we helped her restart the year and she finished high school in 2007. Since last year she has been studying commercial sciences in the superior school at Isiro.



Charly Nangumbie, 24 years old. After finishing high school with excellent notes, she spent 3 years not knowing what she can or should do with her life. She got pregnant during this period. At last we gave her a second chance and sent her to study laboratory in superior school.

Education in Amadi, DR Congo - Part 1

At the present time, and despite the unsettling conditions where most live in fear of another raid on their village, the program that Georges and his parish have already begun continues to help both children and young adults in Amadi. They sponsor 2 girls in primary school, 2 girls and 2 boys in high school, and 4 young women in superior school (college). Only those in primary school study in Amadi. The high school is in "Poko", a small city 85 km from Amadi. Isiro, which is the nearest city, 210 km away, is where the superior schools and University are located. But to arrive there, because of the really bad road conditions, people need one day in a car or motorbike (which most don't have), or two days on bicycle (the much more common mode of transportation in these parts).

I was interested in putting some faces and names with the kids and very curious to learn as much as I could about them, so I asked him if it would be possible to send a few photos of the kids who are participating. In order to receive the photos below, here's what had to happen, since Georges is temporarily in Italy studying and working with other parishes:

"I will have a "correspondent" in Congo. With a camera, he can go, take photos and informations we need. And from the nearest city which has internet - 210km but it needs one day of travel because of the roads - he can send me all that."

Aisance is 9 years old and from a poor family in the village. She is in her 3rd year of primary school in Amadi.

Jeanne is 11. She was taken from her mother who suffers from madness. She is her 4th year of primary school in Amadi, thanks to the sponsorship of this program.

In Congo, the government pays teachers very little, around US$60/month for the most qualified teachers in Amadi. For this reason, parents must pay an additional "contribution" each month to the teacher. This amounts to:
- $5 for 1 child in primary school for 1 month
- $10 for 1 child in high school for 1 month

For the 10-month scholar year, including registration fees ($15 for primary school and $30 high school), a child can study for:
- $65 in primary school
- $130 in high school

Rose Delingi, is 19 years old and has a 3-year old child. From a poor family, she got pregnant when she was only 15 years old because her family couldn't afford her studies and take care of her. Another man was helping her, until he discovered she was pregnant with his child. Desperate, she tried to abort, but was not successful. She was able to resume her studies last year and is now in her 3rd year of high school in Poko.

Mariam Kitete, 14 years old and the first girl from a family of 5 whose mother is not married. She is in her 1st year of secondary school in Poko.













Judoc, is an 18 year old orphan. He lost both his parents when he was 7 years old. He is in his 3rd year of high school in Poko.








Francoise Bandengbako, is 28. She had to quit secondary school at 16 when she became pregnant. When she had her baby, she began her nurse's studies for 3 years. For the last 2 years she has been working in Amadi's clinic. She is needed in the village for her nursing skills and so was sent to Isiro to further her studies.








Check back next week for the remaining 3 young adults being sponsored, what they are all doing themselves to contribute, and also what you can do to help...perhaps you'd like to sponsor a child?

About Georges…and what he’s doing to help the youth in Amadi, Congo

I met Georges when I first moved to Munich in July 2004 and he sat next to me in my first German language class, he was mein “Nachbar”. I was excited because I got to practice some of my really rusty French with him (yes, I know it was a German class). Anyway, we became good friends that summer and I was surprised to learn he was studying in Rome to become a priest!

I never actually knew any priests, at least not young and funny ones (he was about 25 at the time). He returned to Italy and eventually to Amadi to work with the young people in the only parish in the village. It was difficult to keep in touch – the nearest telephone or Internet was over 200 km away, a 6-hour car drive due to bad road conditions (2 days by bicycle which is the most common mode of transportation there). But he still managed to congratulate us on our marriage (“Hochzeit” in German) during this time and all the while I had no idea how bad things really were for him, his family and village, and the rest of the country. Things just kept getting worse.

An email from Georges in November 2006:

"Hi Kim,

I m very happy for u and Marco. Congratulations!

Yes, I m now in Congo. The situation is worse than I thought or wanted to believe. Anyway, it is my country. I have to stay and help my people.

U can continue to use the same email address. But I can read that only when I m in the nearest town…210 km away. Don’t worry if u don’t reach me. I would be for sure in my village.

Once more,

Congratulations for your Hochzeit.

Bye"

While I was finding my way in a foreign, but safe country, Georges was helping to start a program in Amadi for young boys and girls to continue their studies and give them hope for a better future. These boys and girls were, in varying degrees, affected by the ongoing conflict happening around them. Future posts will elaborate on these kids. In his own words, here is how he explains the program, first in 2006 when it first began and again in 2009:

For the Boys

2006: “Our idea is to be able to offer the young men of the village a place where they can gather together, learn some discipline or at least discover again the joy of living. Being part of a religious congregation, we can, in this sense, be of great help. In fact, from our position there it will be possible to have a very positive influence on these youths because they will be able to look at life in a different way. For this reason, we have decided to organize two soccer teams. We made this choice for these precise reasons: soccer will attract the greatest number of youths; it is the most loved sport and the games can be occasions of entertainment for the whole village. In fact, there are no entertainment opportunities for youth there – no movies, no theatres, nothing.”

2009: “We organized two teams of football / soccer according the division of the village in two areas. It is the best way to attract young people because football / soccer is the most popular sport in DRC. There is training twice a week and there is a match on Sundays. We had also social activities such as repairing roads. Generally, our aim was reached because, through football / soccer, we could guide many young boys known as impossible in the village. Some of them became more responsible, others went back to school.

Unfortunately, the equipment we bought two years ago is getting old because they are used so often, up to three times a month. And they still play barefoot. The equipment has to be renewed.”

For the Girls

2006: “The situation for the young women is extremely serious. Early sexual activity is a critical problem. The consequence is teenage pregnancy. These young women, not able to be supported by their parents, find it extremely difficult to care for their babies. Our idea is to create an educational center, or better, a training center for the girls. Specifically, we have decided to offer a training program in sewing and dressmaking. This will provide two advantages: the young women will learn a trade, and they will be able to earn enough to support themselves. But the purpose of this center is not limited only to this goal. It will also be a center for personal and social formation and education. This will be of great help for teenage mothers, both psychologically and socially. Additionally, education in life skills and sexuality will help prevent the type of problems they so often encounter. This will also serve as another effort in prevention against AIDS.

2009: “We also organized two football / soccer teams for girls. They have training once a week and play match twice a month on Sundays.

The situation for girls in Amadi – and also other regions of DRC – is very pathetic. A summary of life for a majority of girls is: to be born, to start school if possible to stop it because of economic problems or becoming prematurely pregnant by an irresponsible man who will abandon them, to do small economical activities just to survive, to wait for the second child from another man while wishing for an unlikely marriage to happen … and then to die (often of AIDS). And the life is passed away. IT CAN”T BE A LIFE.

It appears then clearly that the situation for girls requires urgent attention. That is why we wanted first to build a sewing center. But later we found it better to encourage them to study. Indeed, a girl who finishes high school in DRC can be a schoolteacher or make a better life for herself in other ways. For this reason, as well as for lack of funding, we bought just two sewing machines and helped only a few girls learn how to make dresses last year. However, this project of a sewing center will be very useful still if fully realized.”

Raise Hope for Congo

There are many good sites out there on the situation in Congo. One that I really like is Raise Hope for Congo and it has lots of good information including a call to action from YOU (this is a campaign of the "Enough" Project which is working to end genocide and crimes against humanity in other areas as well). Its difficult to come up with a specific 'action' that YOU could actually do, I know this. That's why I'm trying to redirect attention to what Georges is doing to help- hands-on, results-oriented, and grass roots assistance that a native Congolese is actually doing (more on Georges' project in Amadi, Congo and how you can support his efforts in my next post..)

If you're still not sure how impactful this conflict is, I urge you to spend some time on this site, or at least watch the short video below briefly summarizing the situation. You can also learn more about why this ongoing war is happening and what you can do about it. If you decide you would like to support one of their 'on the ground' organizations working in the Congo, I would ask you to please consider checking back on this blog to see how you might be able to help (eventually donate to) Georges program he has already begun which includes direct assistance to boys and girls in Amadi.



Thank you and please check back this week for our next post which will give detailed information on Georges "Hope for Amadi" program.

Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to our first blog posting about a small village you've probably never heard of, called Amadi, located in a country that I hope you have heard of: Democratic Republic of Congo. What you may know about this country probably varies quite a bit from reader to reader, but it is our goal to not only broaden your knowledge of this area, its people, and what is going on there but also to share stories of hope from individuals who have survived what is the bloodiest war since World War 2. Our stories come from young boys and girls who are struggling to make their way in this extremely challenging world they are living in.

About Amadi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the DRC is the third largest country in Africa, situated in the middle of this continent with around 60 million inhabitants. Since 1995, the DRC has been experiencing a civil war. According to the UNO’s data, it is the bloodiest war after the second world war, about 5 million victims. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves. The consequences of this war are enormous and numerous: a disastrous economy, impassable roads, serious difficulties of communication, not to mention the huge loss of life and the brutal manner in which this has occurred. More details can be found from links which are posted to the right.

The Northeast Congo is the part most affected. And Amadi is here. This is the place where my friend, Georges, worked with young people for two years in the only parish of the village. This is also the once peaceful place that is depicted in the painting at the top of the blog, which a local artist painted. If you continue to follow this blog, you can also read posts from Georges and others, as well as communications I have received from him. It's a story that cannot be told solely in one post, it will unfold gradually, and the stories, there are many, will be unfolding for years to come.

We hope you will stay, and come back often, to see how this progresses. We hope you will think about how the atrocities that have occurred there and continue to occur, could really be happening, and what you could do to help. Some is already being done, but its still not enough for the magnitude of this war. Stay tuned for introductions of the young boys and girls who are currently part of the program Georges has started in Amadi...