We are finishing the building of a community hall to provide a common space for gathering, worshipping, and learning. The center is being built on land donated by the Minembwe community leaders in anticipation of having a common gathering place. The building will be complete by 2022.
Hope is a precious gift. It is fragile. Adrien’s mother and Aimable’s parents, strong, faithful people who have been born and raised in South Kivu but forced to flee to another East African country, are finding fresh hope that they may be able to return to their homeland Minembwe one day in the near future. This new hope is fueled by what they hear from their sons here who are active Congo Peace advocates and members of the New Hope Revival worshipping community at BelPres, sees their need and is responding.
Once again Alice fears for her life and those of her children in East Congo. In just a little over two years, Alice’s life has been devastated by loss, violence, and fear. In March 2018 she lost her husband to illness, brought on by the trauma the family suffered in South Kivu during attacks by rebel troops. She was forced to flee from her village to Minembwe with her five children, one still a baby. After a period of instability where food was scarce and housing was a day-to-day struggle, Alice found a new home in Minembwe with her children, moving into a 3-bedroom home, housing multiple families, sometimes with as many as 29 people finding haven.
A near-famine crisis level of hunger-severe malnutrition exists in East Congo.
According to the UN's World Food Program, decades of armed conflict are causing the crisis. Crops are burned, livestock stolen, homes are burned displacing many persons. Congo Peace has the vision that God's shalom of healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation will bring future peace. However, our reconciliation efforts by our in-Congo team are impacted until hunger and severe malnutrition are mitigated. Physical and spiritual needs are being addressed simultaneously.