Brief Report of the donations

We launched this fundraising campaign in order to address some of the urgent challenges faced by refugee women victims of rape in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the time that we launched that campaign in June, 2021, Goma had just suffered an earthquake and volcano, making the situation for refugee women even more precarious. The little actions we have so far done through your generous support have created hope and now these women are looking forward to be restored back to normal life, which they are now looking at as possible. Our hope is to see these women being supported so they can overcome the current situations they are facing.

We have only had enough funds to focus on the most urgent cases. We have supported the following people:

Anita (name has been changed for confidentiality) is a 16 year old refugee girl. She was born in a refugee camp in DRCongo, as her parents fled Rwanda during the genocide in 1994.

In 2019 Anita went to the garden outside her home to collect food because her mother was sick and on her way back she was raped by armed people which led to her becoming infected with HIV/AIDs. We met Anita several months ago when she was only praying God to help her to die quickly and she had stopped taking medicine. Since then, we have made interventions including regular visits, inviting her to our offices for some activities and meetings with other refugees, paying some of her medical bills, and providing her with food so that she is able to continue taking medicine, especially that connected to HIV/AIDs. She has now enrolled for tailoring training. Anita did not go to school and our desire is to help her to go school when she finishes with tailoring. Anita still has so many challenges, mainly: access to stable shelter, regular food, regular medical treatment, and counseling. Anita is just one among many refugee girls who have been raped.

Sifa (name has been changed for confidentiality) is refugee woman from Rwanda, she came to DRCongo in 1994. Sifa has been raped three times, the latest time was in 2015 near Goma by armed people who attacked her when she had gone to collect firewood. To this day, she continually bleeds because she believes her uterus was damaged. We have supported Sifa with some medical treatment but her health situation continues to deteriorate because she needs specialized medical interventions. The doctors around have informed us that they can address her problem in case she has money to pay for the bills. We have also provided her with food, but during a home visit we found even more challenges. Surrounding her home, people have been disposing waste which is exposing her to more risks of getting diseases. It is urgent that she is relocated. Beyond her health and housing needs, Sifa needs counseling and our hope is that she can learn skills for income generating activities so she can continue to cae for herself.

Food distribution

We have also managed to distribute food to 13 refugee women victims of rape and were also affected by the eruption of Nyiragongo Volcano in Goma. These women still have so many challenges and need more support which can help them to recover and then be reintegrated in the communities. We have now started counseling sessions at our offices every Friday and we are looking forward to put them in groups.