bringing dinner back

“The teeth are smiling but is the heart?” — Congo proverb

Since coming home from my first trip to Africa in September 2008, I have plotted to go back. My first trip was to Rwanda, site of the 1994 genocide where a million or so people were killed in a three-month period. My second trip, I believe, will be to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda’s next-door neighbor.

3-year-old Marlene Nsimere, an orphan at Congo Restoration

I have recently met a wonderful woman from the DRC, who has sparked my interest in her homeland. Her name is Gorethy Nabushosi. She was an attorney back in Congo, as she calls her country. Because she fought for women’s rights, she had to flee 10 years ago, leaving behind her husband and six children, who joined her almost two years later. About a year ago, she returned home for the first time, finding a hospital full of rape victims and a village full of orphans. She took in 30 of them and started Congo Restoration, an organization she hopes will help those 30 sweet children and so many more.

We shared a meal with Gorethy and her family last week, which I’ll write about in my next post. She makes my heart smile, even when my teeth don’t want to.

In the meantime, here are some interesting facts about the DRC:

The Congo River

1. After Rwanda’s genocide, many of the genocidaires (those who killed) fled across the border into DRC. These Rwandans, combined with long-time political unrest, started a war, which, in 1997, overturned the government.

2. Since the war began, more than five million people have died from violence, famine, or disease, making it the deadliest war since World War II. The weapon of choice is often rape.

3. The DRC gained its independence from Belgium in 1960.

4. The country used to be called Zaire and should not be confused with the Republic Congo, another African country. Laurent Kabila, who became president in the coup of 1997, renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo.

5. Kabila was assassinated in 2001. His son, Joseph Kabila, is now president.

Rape victims reintegrating into their community

6. DRC is the 12th largest country in the world and the third largest in Africa. DRC is about a quarter the size of the United States with more than 2.3 million square kilometers and 68.6 million people. At least 1.4 million are internally displaced because of war while another 212,713 living as refugees in other African countries.

7. 47 percent of the DRC’s population is age 14 or under. Only 2.5 percent are over the age of 65.

8. Half of the country is Roman Catholic, 20 percent Protestant, 10 percent Kimbanguist (a Christian offshoot that started here), 10 percent Muslim, and 10 percent other.

9. Members of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army continue to live in the DRC’s Garamba National Park, which borders Rwanda and is home to one-third of the remaining Mountain Gorillas left in the world.

10. A pasty white food called fufu, which is pounded into the texture of oatmeal, is a staple here and often eaten out of a communal bowl. Sweet potatoes, perch, bananas, and plantains are also common. Meat is not.

11. Traditionally, women serve meals to men, who sit in chairs. After they eat, the women and children eat what’s left while seated on the floor.

Civil war in DRC

12. French is the official language of the country, but most Congolese speak many languages.

13. War broke out again in 2008 along the eastern border with Rwanda.

How you can help:

• For $60 a month, sponsor an orphan of the war through Gorethy’s organization, Congo Restoration. Or share such a sponsorship with a friend: $30 pays for the child’s food, $30 pays for rent, medical care, housing, and school.

• For $27 a month, support a woman through Women to Women International, which works in war-torn countries around the world. Your letter of support to these women is as important as the money that helps them start their lives over with education and a trade.

• For $3 a week, help Invisible Children as it works tirelessly to set free the 3,000 child soldiers who have been kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army in many African nations, including, as of December 2008, the DRC.