by Bedadi Bwagula, Comfort Congo
Stories of hope and employment from the Children of Liberty Project, D.R.Congo.
Since 2012 Comfort International has been collaborating with Comfort Congo to help rescue and restore child soldiers. In many cases staff at Comfort Congo have negotiated with armed groups for the release of these young people whilst other ex-child soldiers have found their own way to the project or been rescued from the streets in and around Goma. The project became known as the Children of Liberty Project, a very apt title chosen by the first group of beneficiaries.
Many of the young people came to the project without hope, devastated by the things that they had been forced to do and that had been done to them and knowing that their families no longer existed because they had seen them killed at the time of their own capture.
Thanks to Comfort Congo and sponsors found by Comfort International these young people have found a family and a life filled with hope for a better future within the Children of Liberty’s Hope Village and Pam Jackson House. They have benefitted from psychological, spiritual and financial help and been encouraged in their education and business opportunities.
Now many of the Children of Liberty have become able to provide for their own material needs, this has come about through the opportunity to receive business start up loans provided by Comfort International. Below are testimonies from some of the Children of Liberty, “these are encouraging and give us great joy that inspires us to continue to serve people and shows us the importance of sponsorship within their life.” (Bedad, COL Monitor, Comfort Congo)
1. SAFARI
I am a Child of Liberty. Before coming here I had lost all hope of being a normal person because of atrocities that I had committed when I was child soldier but thanks to the psychological and spiritual help of our monitor and my sponsor within Comfort International I have my own barber shop today and I can support my life with that.
2. OBEDI
Being an ex-child soldier, I thought it was impossible to have or to think about hope, a better future and to be useful within society. This is because in the army group they only taught us how to kill and rob people. Thanks to the Comfort International’s Children of Liberty project I have become a woodworker making furniture and I earn my living without fear and I am happy.
3. ESTHER
I am a Child of Liberty. Here in D.R.Congo a girl who has been raped and who has experienced life within army groups is not thought of as a normal girl within our society. Thanks to the variety of support I have received within this project my mental, spiritual and financial health has improved enormously and now I am pleased to say I have my Diplome d’ETAT in social skill. I have also become involved in the craft of making baskets and today I can provide for all of my basic needs.
4. NDOOLE
I am a beneficiary of the Children of Liberty project within Comfort International. Sexual violence is everywhere in D.R.Congo and especially for us girls when we are raped we become vulnerable and we lose all hope to be married one day. But the fact of being a beneficiary of the Children of Liberty project within Comfort International has given me hope of having a better future. I have received help from my sponsors and advice and psychological help of our monitor. Today I sell dresses in the large market in Goma city and all this is thanks to the funds that I received in the form of initial capital from Comfort International.
5. ISAAC
I am a Child of Liberty and I live at Tongo. I am an ex-child soldier and have been in army groups. In the army group they taught us only how to rob, rape and commit a lot of atrocities. We lost every hope for the future. The Children of Liberty project is a blessing in my life because since I joined there has been a positive change in my life because of what Comfort International has done for me. I became a Christian thanks to teachings from God’s word that they teach us within Comfort Congo. I have become responsible for my life and am useful within my society. Thanks to funds that I received I became a potato farmer and breeder of poultry and goats for sale to households.
There are many more testimonies from the Children of Liberty. All showing how much this Comfort Congo project in collaboration with Comfort International has changed lives and given hope to these young people who didn’t have hope but now they have become useful within the Congolese society.
The Effect of Covid-119
With the recent situation of Corona virus, the income of most of these young men and women has seriously decreased because of the curtailment of many activities over the past months. Today they are again in need of financial help in order to continue their activities.
a little can change a life