democratic republic of congo Archives

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Women’s Heavy Burden: CARE’s Crisis Work in the Congo

May 7, 2013

In the Democratic Republic of Congo it is more dangerous to be a woman than it is a solider. Since 1996 a series of wars, rebellions, and flareups in the East have caused over 2.6 million people to be displaced from their homes. In the ensuing crises, it is women and girls who have suffered the most, most especially as survivors of sexual or gender-based violence. This video, a reminder of the conflict that is seemingly forgotten by the international community, tells the story of these women. In the DRC, CARE works to bring about lasting transformation in the lives of women through psycho-social support and economic empowerment programs. However, the organization also works with men in order to dismantle unhealthy cultural biases toward women while building communities in which girls can grow up with the same rights and protection men experience. CARE is also working to provide emergency food[…]

Camping Out in DRC

March 27, 2013

While I’m in the Democratic Republic of Congo primarily to produce a video (coming soon) for CARE, I’ve still managed to nab a few good stills of life in the IDP camps. Up until a few weeks these places were a no-go thanks to the M-23 and various other militias wandering eastern DRC. The humanitarian crisis continues…

Product of Rwanda

April 18, 2011

After years of foreign aid pouring into the East African country of Rwanda following its 1994 civil war and genocide, its citizens are used to receiving help from those on the outside. Those tables could finally be turning, however. Recently I documented the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative, a program wherein food aid for Africa is bought, not from a farmer in Iowa or Australia and shipped thousands of miles to its destination, but from right here in Africa. Rwanda is home to some 55,000 refugees, most of whom are sheltering from ongoing turmoil in the Democratic Republic of Congo, its neighbor to the west. Most of these refugees are landless and unable to provide for themselves and their families. Consequently they’re reliant on food aid. Above, children race a homemade scooter through the streets of Kaziba refugee camp along the shores of Lake Kivu[…]

Saving Grace

September 13, 2010

Two weeks ago, Grace seemed like any other nine year old girl in northeastern Uganda’s Amuria District. She was attending school and helping her mother around the house. Suddenly she was unable to hold down food. The medicine her mother bought at the local clinic was of no help. Now Grace hasn’t eaten in over two weeks and weighs just 13 kilos (28 pounds). Sores on her lips and mouth make any ingestion of food far too painful to bear. Grace’s mother, Sarah Kembi (27), found out that her daughter was HIV positive only two years ago. Since that time Grace has been taking Septrin, a stabilizer drug that, while not an ARV, still reduces the chances of opportunistic infections. Sarah’s husband, Grace’s father, succumbed to AIDS around the same time Mrs. Kembi figured she had better get her daughter tested. Though Grace was likely healthy enough to forgo ARV[…]