The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
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This page contains information about the Democratic Republic of the Congo and especially about the humanitarian crisis in its Eastern provinces. It also contains information about the projects Oneworld Works and I are currently planning, namely a mobile school project Kinshasa and an emergency relief project in the war-torn East. |
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Materials |
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République Démocratique du Congo, previously Zaïre) is Africa's third-largest and the world's twelfth-largest country. Its capital, Kinshasa, located in the West of the country, has a population of 9 million people, which makes it both the second-largest French-speaking city in the world (after Paris) and the third-largest city in Africa (after Lagos and Cairo). The DRC gained independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960.
The Sad Facts
1. The Second Congo War (1998-2003) claimed an estimated 3.8 million lives (source: International Rescue Committee), making it the single worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. This war, however, was only the culmination of 38 years of states of emergency, of conflicts and crises, preceded by one of the most ruthless and exploitative colonial rules the world has ever witnessed.
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2. 3 million Congolese are currently in need of immediate assistance, the only alternative to which is a preventable death from hunger or disease. More than half of these are children (source: United Nations).
3. An estimated 1,200 people die every day as a result of ongoing conflict. Again, more than half of these are children (source: International Rescue Committee).
4. The DRC is home to up to 50,000 child soldiers (source: Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict). This is a sixth of the world’s 300,000 child soldiers (source: Amnesty International). In some areas especially in Eastern DRC, a 15-year-old boy is more likely to have ever held in his hands an assault rifle than a pen.
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5. Sexual abuse and slavery, especially by armed groups, is probably worse in the DRC than anywhere else in the world (source: Jan Egeland, former UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator). The main targets of these abuses are children, in particular young women.
Movies about the Eastern DRC
In July 2006, IRIN, the UN's Integrated Regional Information Network, released a 15-minute documentary entitled Congo's Curse, which is very informative with regards to the situation in the DRC's Eastern provinces. Please follow this link to (legally) download and watch the movie (in French or English, Real or WMP). You can also watch the movie here or here.
Al Jazeera has produced a documentary entitled Children of Conflict: DR Congo, in which several former child soldiers, now between 13 and 16 years old, are being interviewed. The documentary can be found here. |
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What I am planning to do |
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© CIA World Fact Book |
1. Mobile school project: I will coordinate a mobile school project in the DR Congo’s capital Kinshasa, run by California-based humanitarian organisation Oneworld Works. The school will provide food as well as basic education (HIV/AIDS, nutrition, literacy, basic calculation) to some of the many thousand homeless children and former child soldiers living on the streets of Kinshasa. Donations will secure the ongoing existence of this school.
2. Emergency relief project: I will participate in an emergency relief mission with an army-backed first responder team providing protection, food, medical supplies and shelter to those displaced by the ongoing armed conflict in the DRC's Eastern provinces of Ituri and South and North Kivu. Donations will partially cover the costs of this project as well as covering the costs of food and medical supplies which I plan to deliver in person to the people in need.
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PLEASE - help us helping them!
Donations towards the Mobile School and Emergency Relief projects above: Address: Carsten Korfmacher, Linacre College, St Cross Road, Oxford OX1 3JA, United Kingdom (Please contact me via email for alternative addresses in Germany or the USA). Email: c (dot) korfmacher (dot) 99 (at) cantab (dot) net or click here Website: www.carsten-korfmacher.com Telephone: Germany: ++49 163 243 1080 (currently), United Kingdom: ++44 773 3366325 (permanent)
Donations towards projects in the DRC as well as other countries: Address: Oneworld Works, 2138 Penmar Avenue Suite 3, Venice, CA 90291 Email: donate (at) oneworldworks (dot) org or click here Website: www.oneworldworks.org Phone: Ira Simmons at (310) 980-4686
Oneworld Works is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent provided by the law. Oneworld Works’ Federal Identification Number is 20-0542322
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© 2007-08 Carsten Korfmacher. All rights reserved. |
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