The situation in North Kivu, DRC, has been harrowing for people from all walks of life – from the youngest child to the eldest adult. Often those who suffer the most can feel alone and abandoned, so receiving support from Comfort International through Comfort Congo is paramount in reminding people that they are loved, and they are not alone. Besides the emotional trauma, there has been significant structural damage as a result of the fighting and schools have not been exempt from this. Some schools have been destroyed by fighting groups and broken down for use as firewood. This is the current situation of the Comfort Congo schools (a reminder that our partners at Comfort Congo facilitate around 180 schools and Comfort International supports a proportion of those schools with initial building costs and ongoing expenses including partial or total salaries for teachers):
- Schools open: There are 155 schools open that are located in the administration areas of North Kivu 1 and North Kivu 3.
- Schools in restriction: There are 17 schools in restriction where the pupils are not able to attend the schools because they are located in or near the conflict zones.
- Present challenges: Some teachers who were paid by the government do not have access to their salaries (banks and other financial institutions have been closed throughout the M23 takeover), so they are starving, and pupils’ parents who could contribute to the school fees are themselves suffering from poverty and are not able to support the education of their children. Some classes can’t even secure chalk for using in the classes. As mentioned, many of the schools have been damaged or destroyed by the war.
- Present Victories: Comfort Congo expresses their gratitude to Comfort International and their donors for the ongoing construction of Marejeo Primary School in Rubaya (shown below).
Damage in the schools due to the war
1. Kyezye extension school
The new building, shown on the left in Summer 2024 and on the right at the present time, has been damaged during the fighting. The windows and doors were broken, chairs and batteries (for generating electricity) in the classrooms were robbed, and some pipelines for power installation were damaged.
2. EP Alongo
Desks and blackboards have been stolen and used as firewood and all the books have been stolen.
3. Salugaba Secondary School
Despite an improved school building, the desks are in bad condition and those that were there have been stolen and used for firewood.
4. EP La Misericorde
This school was carrying out lessons under temporary shelters, but Comfort Congo have provided triplex boards to provide some sort of protection from the elements.
5. EP Sadoki
Comfort Congo has provided shelters to cover the students of Sadoki Primary School in Mudja.
6. Mitume 2 Primary School
The school has been completely destroyed by the war and now the school activities are being carried out outside. As there is the promise of a building by another NGO, it was decided to extend the land and so Comfort Congo has recently granted $1800 to buy the rest of that land.
7. Tulia Primary School
The school was completely destroyed and burned down, so classes are now being held outside. During the rainy season class activities stop immediately.
Marajeo School in Rubaya
We are encouraged that after a long break in building due to fighting in Rubaya, the second classroom is now almost finished. Rubaya is a highly volatile area as it is based on a large mineral mine with various fighting groups battling for control. Families who work in the mines often find their love ones go missing, killed in collapsed mines, never to be seen again. Children are forced to work long hours of manual labour every day. Education provides another option for families who want to see their children protected from the inevitable entrapment of the mines. Children can learn skills and gain the ability to access higher education or other work opportunities.
Sponsor a teacher
You can support the brave teachers who are persevering in their calling despite working in such difficult situations, sometimes overwhelmed by the challenges they and their students are facing. We need more people to step forward and sponsor teachers like Clemence, who teaches at Salugaba Secondary School. In September last year, Clemence wrote to her sponsor, explaining a little bit about her life as a teacher.
“Thanks to your encouragement, I now have succeeded in helping pupils to finish the school year and now after 2 months of holidays, we have started a new year (2024-2025) with the hope that I will overcome challenges because you are always there to give me a hand. My husband is overwhelmed to see how much you have been a rescue to our family, especially because our baby has porridge to help him grow.”
“We are operating in an ongoing period of war. We went through many threats caused by this war since people were obliged to stay only in the town and then were exposed to hunger as the war caused the prices of everything to go higher than it was before. A lot of stress and some sickness occurred within the town, lorries which supply food in the city from the rural areas stopped because they were charged high tax costs. I bless the Name of the Lord because despite all of this we did not give up on the children or stop school activities and also this happened because you pushed me forward through the sponsorship money I receive from you. I continually thank you for the support you do for my teaching to improve. Let God bless the works you do.”
Adopt A Class
As well as sponsoring a teacher, you can support the work in education in DRC by “adopting a class”. This monthly support helps to pay for the teacher’s salary and buy much-needed classroom equipment. We need lots of people to adopt classes, as the funds needed to continue the running of the schools in DRC are significant. You can look through some of the different classes that need adopting on our new sponsorship portal under “Adopt A Class”. If you can, please consider sponsoring a teacher or classroom today.
