“Helped are those who love the entire cosmos rather than their own tiny country, city, or farm, for to them will be shown the unbroken web of life and the meaning of infinity.” ― Alice Walker (excerpt from The Gospel According to Shug)
This unbroken web of life reveals itself as we connect with the communities in Congo. We needed all of March's 31 days for everything that transpired at the Congo Peace School!
• UNDER CONSTRUCTION
We’re excited to share the news that we are adding another building to the campus to house the pre-school classes, including a new class, making three classes of young children who will be provided the space and encouragement to foster play and curiosity.
Thanks to our CPS partner Dillon Henry Foundation’s Harriet Zaretsky for a generous gift, and her relationship with Susan Saltz, Anita Saltz and the Gary Saltz Foundation, we were granted the funding to build the three-classroom building, with an additional space for the school counselor to meet with students privately. Our pre-school partner PILA Global has committed to outfitting the third classroom and raising the funds for the teachers in addition to the current two classes!
Previously, with two pre-school classes of age 4/5 and 5/6 year olds, those 22 older students would graduate into the first grade, joined by 18 students who had not been in the program our partner PILA Global calls The Nest (the CPS Nests being a part of their worldwide education outreach).
The primary school’s first grade teacher reported that there is a significant difference in the students who experienced pre-school: greater capacity for curiosity, asking questions with more confidence than their peers.
Thus, moving forward, with one 4/5 year old class, and two 5/6 year old classes, the first grade class will consist of students who have all benefited from this unique pre-school program.
(Photo courtesy PILAGLOBAL.ORG)
• BOOKS
Books for Congo, the non-profit that launched the Congo Peace School and Community Library, donated 1900 more books, expanding the library to over 3,000 that surround the computer lab tables.
The students plan to start a book club of sorts, a monthly Club of Readers who come together to share what they read, whether a novel or scientific study, and what they learned from it. We look forward to sharing some of those reviews with all of you.
Amani shared that watching the students unload and explore the books was a healing day for him. He and the staff are looking to see how reading contributes to empathy, one of the pillars of the Congo Peace School.
• PLAY
Also hanging in the auditorium are checkerboards for the students to play on during breaks and after school.
• FARM
The CPS Community Farm welcomed a new member, a beautiful pregnant cow. As we’ve noted in previous posts, the Community Farm provides both an educational space and professional platform for women and students to learn and put into practice organic, aquaponic techniques and animal husbandry, and the cows, along with providing milk for the malnourished students, also provide poop for the compost.
• WOMEN MAKING HISTORY MONTH
In March, we celebrated Women's History Month, but in Congo, we celebrate women making history every day. Action Kivu has worked with Nurse Jeanine over the years, through hiring her for the HIV/AIDS testing and education that she continues to do, to staffing her as the CPS nurse to care for the students (seen here in her office at the school).
For women’s history month, Nurse Jeanine shared, “The Congo peace school is a model to teach about equality between men and women. We need to focus on this new generation giving education to all the children and Congo peace school is preaching by example: 52% girls and 48% boys.”
• HUMANITARIAN
And last but certainly not least, we celebrate that Amani Matabaro, our Founding Director and the visionary behind the Congo Peace School, was selected as one of 35 participants (from 300 applicants) to take the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership. From the site: “Concern Worldwide, in consortium with International Medical Corps (IMC) and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and with technical support from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health developed the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership (NNPHL). The program, funded by the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and launched in 2016, offers dynamic and relevant training opportunities that help learners build their skills, knowledge, and confidence to take on leadership responsibilities in humanitarian organizations in order to improve the delivery of services to those in need of humanitarian assistance.”
Amani shares that this training built upon his 2010 HELP (Health Emergencies in Large Populations) training from Johns Hopkins University, and was an incredible month of reading and connecting with the trainers and other participants for intensive learning and sharing. The only Congolese participant, Amani says some of the key takeaways for him, that he will now use in leadership training in the community and with CPS staff:
The difference between authority and leadership:
Authority gives direction - Go do it.
Leadership points to a problem and says - Let’s do it.
Amani looks forward to continuing to mobilize people, to lead with a trauma lens, and practice “the more you observe, the better you understand.” It fits with his training and practice from the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, to always be empathetic, nonjudgmental.
It is education for life, healing, and resilience, said Amani. He shared, “I like the sentence, ‘When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.’”
The Democratic Republic of Congo is often looked at as beyond hope – a place of violence against women, of warring militias. While (as in many places) there are many deep-rooted problems that stem from violence, from colonization to exploitation, Congo is a country of visionaries, of artists, of peace-builders, of hope.
Through your contribution in support of education rooted in peace and equality, you are changing the way the world looks at Congo.
Thank you for your giving and connection to the people of Congo, and please share these stories that inspire you that we are in an unbroken web of life.