Two years of fighting. Nearly six million people displaced. Bombings, human rights abuses, and forced recruitment.
This is current-day DRC, where armed rebels are closing in on one of the country’s main cities in its mineral-rich eastern region. As they march, families flee, and more than 700,000 are trapped behind the front lines, where lack of food, safe drinking water, and diseases such as cholera and measles are a growing and serious problem.
The UNHCR Refugee Agency has sounded the alarm, calling it a “dire humanitarian crisis,” as they receive reports of kidnappings for ransom, human rights abuses, and bombings on civilian sites. Seven schools already this year have been destroyed by bombs; 17 were attacked last year.
“The renewed violence means many children have been displaced, and a large number are now unaccompanied and exposed to grave risks and violations, including kidnappings, forced recruitment, mutilation, and rape,” according to the UNHCR. In March, bombings killed dozens, including children; and unexploded ordnance is becoming a graver threat.
In addition, 25 million people are facing starvation, according to one media source. “The Congo is not ignored by those who want to extract the riches of that place,” Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland said. “It’s ignored by the rest of the world who would want to come to the relief of the children and families of the Congo.”
CAM-assisted ministries continue to work despite the danger, and part of their work is focused on sustainability projects, though many of those projects have been destroyed by armed groups. “We would like to relocate them to the cities, especially the urban-rural environment, but we lack the funds,” the ministry leader said.
Still, they persevere and pray that their work is not in vain—that the projects that remain, such as their palm oil project that provides work opportunities to children who might otherwise become child soldiers—will not only sustain those displaced people they are able to help but will also help prevent children from being recruited into the fighting.
“The great challenges to our ministry are the war in the east, which causes insecurity and killings in villages and towns,” the ministry leader said. “People are suffering a lot and the internally displaced are very numerous without assistance. We ask for your prayers because the Congolese need peace.”
As the number of displaced people continues to grow, so, too, does the need to support the missionaries on the front lines of this seemingly overwhelming work. Pray for their endurance and for peace for the DRC. And please consider a donation to support ministry work in a country that has largely been forgotten.
*Name changed for security reasons