Meet JD Stier, Action Kivu's New Board Member

When Amani first introduced us to JD Stier, the Campaign Manager for Enough Project's Raise Hope for Congo, we were excited to have another friend and ally in our work in eastern Congo, especially one with so much experience.  Little did we know what the future would hold.

JD's enthusiasm knows no bounds, and his heart for Amani, Action Kivu and the women and children of Congo have been evident through his own work and his unending support of Action Kivu.  JD oversaw the creation of Enough's "I am Congo" video series which so beautifully shares Amani's story and his life's work.

We are honored to have JD join our board, and welcome his insight, intelligence, and compassion in leading and partnering with Action Kivu this new year! 

JD Stier (right) with Amani (left) and Fidel (middle) in Amani's ABFEK offices in Bukavu, DRC.

Born in Georgia, USA to a civil rights attorney father and a mother deeply connected to her church, JD was raised with a respect for social justice and fighting inequality. JD has fought for social justice, environmental protection, and youth affected by gangs and drugs throughout his life.

While studying at the University of Wisconsin, he traveled to Africa with his housemate and friend Kou, a former Lost Boy from Sudan, on his homecoming trip in 2002. Through that and numerous trips back to east and central Africa, JD grew to know and increasingly fight for the people he came to call friends and the communities he now considers an extension of his home.

JD has held leadership positions within numerous campaigns, including the 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign, leading to a Presidential Appointment in the White House in 2009.

After serving in the White House JD was tapped to lead the Enough Project's Raise Hope for Congo Campaign. Under his leadership, the campaign increased public pressure on the electronic industry to further address their role in cleaning the conflict minerals supply chain. In 2012, Raise Hope for Congo highlighted Congolese activists, including Amani, in the I Am Congo documentary series. The campaign also initiated a gold campaign calling on the jewelry industry to lead the way to a clean gold sector in eastern Congo.

He is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post, advocating for solutions to the crisis in eastern Congo. He asked Apple for increased leadership addressing conflict minerals; partnered to raise awareness of the crisis in Congo; and asked President Obama to increase his engagement in eastern Congo.

JD has forged a friendship and partnership with Amani, spending time together throughout eastern Congo as well as in Washington, D.C. JD holds Action Kivu and Amani in the highest regards and is deeply passionate about supporting Action Kivu's life-saving community-building work.

Top of the Class: Girls Sent to School by Action Kivu Supporters

As school begins again this January, Amani wrote that three of the top students at Horebu Elementary are supported by Action Kivu. And that they are girls, which is a great success in a region where girls are often not sent to school solely because of their gender.

Amani, with three of the top students at Horebu Elementary

From the right, meet Feza, who lost both her parents to HIV/AIDS. With your financial support, Feza is now in grade 5 of elementary school, although at 15, she should be in grade 3 of secondary school. After her parents died, she moved in with her grandmother, who is a widow and has had no means to pay for Feza's school. She likes mathematics and is determined to become a medical doctor.

Second from the right is Asifiwe, who is 13 and is in grade 4. Asifiwe and her six siblings lost their father, who died in the conflict. She is the only child of the seven in her family who goes to school.

And on Amani's left is Mapenzi, who is 10 and is in grade 2. Mapenzi also lost her father. At the top of her class, Amani notes she is extremely intelligent with 92% average in school.

Amani included this group shot of many of the children at Horebu Elementary, signing his email: "I love these kids and they give me hope!"

Reading these words from Amani, and reading Brené Brown's new book Daring Greatly,  a previous blog post came to mind, on the definition of hope:

Dr. Brené Brown discovered that "hope is not an emotion, it's a way of thinking or a cognitive process." She quotes the research of C.R. Snyder, who defines hope as a trilogy of goals, pathways, and agency. " 

Hope happens when:

• We have the ability to set realistic goals.

• We are able to figure out how to achieve those goals, including the ability to stay flexible and develop alternative routes.

• We believe in ourselves.

Amani is the face of hope in Congo. In partnering with him, we have witnessed him set realistic goals, find the necessary resources, move with grace and flexibility through the obstacles he faces from both people and the physical terrain. He not only believes in himself, he believes in the power of the people of the Congo, particularly women and girls, translating that hope and belief into their lives.

By partnering with the women and children in Congo, you're telling them their stories matter, and you believe in them, too.

(For more student stories, click here to read "Back to School Stories: Hope and Thanks from Congo)

We Belong to Each Other: Aime's Dreams of Sharing her Sewing Skills

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.   ~Mother Teresa

The eldest of six, with four sisters and one brother, Aime and her siblings had to leave their home in Kinshasa, Congo's capital city, and move 940 miles east to Bukavu. Both their parents had died, and the six children had to move to the eastern city to stay with Aime's father’s family.

Moving was very difficult. “I am having a tough time here, because nobody is taking care of us. In Kinshasa it was okay because we had parents who were taking care of us,”  Aime told us in a small office behind the Bukavu Sewing Workshop.

"I went to school, but in the third year of secondary school, I had to quit, I was not able to keep going.  When I was in school, I dreamed of becoming somebody who could help other people."

Aime discovered the Sewing Workshop in Bukavu when she saw a group of women together on the street talking.  Curious as to why they were gathered, she approached them, and met Amini, Amani's wife and the lead trainer at the workshop.  When Aime learned that girls and women were being trained as seamstresses, for no charge, to be able to earn their own income, she asked to join the program. No, it was too late in the term, Amini told her. But, "When I explained my problems, when I explained my situation, that I had come from Kinshasa, that I had lost my parents, she [Amini] welcomed me, even though it was a little bit late."

Aime is 25, and some of the girls in the sewing workshop are as young as 15.  "In the program, [age does not matter] older, younger, we are all one, we are all friends," Aime explained.

She was eager to share her goals with us, dreams that had not changed since she was a secondary school student, her hopes for an education to share with others.  "As soon as I graduate from this program, I am going to gather all the orphans and other people around me who are unable to take care of themselves, and help them, to create conditions where I am able to help them.  I don’t want to keep what I’m learning for myself, I want to make sure I train other people who have difficulties."

To many, Aime seems to have nothing, but to her, an education and vocational training has empowered her to live her dream of serving others with her knowledge.  With her generous spirit, she's always thinking of others, even when asked what she would say to you, the partners of the workshop through Action Kivu:  "Thank you. We love you. [You] should not keep on helping only this group, but think of other people who are suffering, too." 

To help women like Aime realize these goals, please consider a donation to Action Kivu today! 

(Photo by Cate Haight)

In the midst of oppression and fear, dance for peace and justice

While the M23 rebels moved just kilometers outside Goma in preparation for negotiations, a tense and perhaps temporary peace settled into the towns and villages in North and South Kivu. But as a recent Los Angeles Times article reports, the region, "swept up in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. ... has become the scene of one of the great tragedies of the last century: Wars fueled by a toxic blend of resource riches, ethnic hatred and interfering neighbors have killed 5 million people.

"In recent years, the area settled into a fragile peace. But militias still drain the country's wealth. There now are fears that eastern Congo could spiral into another long and bloody conflict."

Now, more than ever, is the time to educate and empower the people Action Kivu serves, to help them stand for peace.  The work is even more important with the recent wave of violence in eastern Congo. The programs there tell the women and children that their stories matter, and gives them the hope and the actual tools to change their home life, their villages, and eventually their country from a very personal place of empowerment and knowledge.

Early this December, the local Catholic church organized a demonstration for peace and justice in South Kivu, inviting Action Kivu's partner ABFEK to participate as one of the most active groups working toward peace and a civil society. Gathering just outside the Peace Market, women and men, the young and the elderly, danced traditional dances, imploring peace.

"Together with no weapons but as ONE, we are stronger than those shooting bombs innocently against us, dispersing us like a herd whose shepherd is almost non-existent, sending us to exile unwillingly, forcing us to become homeless, raping our daughters, sisters, and mothers, pillaging our resources …destroying the entire fabric of our society! The truth will triumph, but only when we stand up and shout against whosoever is against peace, those who are not honest with themselves and with us."

"The white color symbolizes Peace, these children do not want AK47s, but need to learn about their rights and how to make their country and the globe a better place for everyone to live."

Will you join in the dance?  This holiday season, consider giving a gift to the women and children through Action Kivu - $10/month sends a secondary student to school with a uniform and supplies. A recurring donation helps programs like the sewing workshops move forward, training women in the skills necessary to earn an income and provide for her family, supplying her with a sewing machine upon graduation to start her own business. 

Clothes for Christmas: School Kids at Play

When we traveled to Congo in January, we met so many kids, at their schools and at the annual New Year celebration Amani holds for the children of Mumosho. Shy girls stepped forward to show us local games they play, using stones and dances. Amani recently sent us these photos of the kids at Burhembo secondary school, near the border of Rwanda. The kids change out of their uniforms to protect them while they “jump the rope,” for what equates as gym class where this is little place to play.

They take such pride in their uniforms, and the children whom we send to school via your support recently told Papa Amani, as they call him, that they have nothing else to wear other than the school uniforms that we supply for the whole year. They feel badly that they have to wear them all the time, making them less presentable for school. Your partnership not only sends kids to school and provides them with that uniform, but with your donations, we’re able to send an extra $650 for a Christmas gift of “play” clothes and shoes (for the many children who are barefoot) for approximately 100 children. Thank you, as always for your partnership! There are so many needs to meet, and many more thousands of children to clothe and send to school, and you’re making a difference.

Read more school stories here!

A Congo Massage - Riding the Roads of Eastern Congo

Amani, who founded ABFEK, Action Kivu’s partner in Congo, and is a true community builder, responding to the needs of the women and children with innovative programs. To do his work safely and sustainably, Amani needs an SUV.

Action Kivu’s founders Cate Haight and Rebecca Snavely visited Amani and ABFEK’s wonderful work in January 2012, and witnessed, first hand, the danger of driving during rainy season in the overcrowded vans that serve as buses. After nearly sliding off a mountain road, Cate and Rebecca hired an SUV for the rest of the trip. But that expense is too much for ABFEK to handle on a daily basis.

To monitor the programs in Bukavu and the surrounding villages, Amani and his staff wait on dirt roads overcrowded with people, trucks and buses. The heavy, humid air is filled with dust from the dirt road and exhaust from the cars and trucks that narrowly miss people's sandal-clad feet. The women wear long skirts in bright colors and beautifully busy patterns, carry fruit, a jerrycan of water or a basket on their heads, and wait for overcrowded buses that have no schedule to run on. When it's muddy during the rainy season, the buses slip-slide through the sludge, getting stuck in the ruts, skidding sideways and putting passengers' lives in jeopardy. This is their reality, and without a 4x4, when the roads are rain-washed, plans are canceled and work comes to a grinding halt.

Take a look at one of our many rides, lovingly nicknamed a "Congo massage," through Bukavu, on the road to Panzi hospital, out to the even rougher roads on our way to Mumosho. Amani narrates:

Celebrating Fall Harvest - Women Hold Up Far More Than Half of Agriculture in Africa

The women who learn from and work the soil of the Action Kivu / ABFEK shared farm carefully cart their harvest to sell at the Peace Market in Mumosho, the bright reds and greens of tomatoes, cabbages, eggplants and amaranth displayed with pride.

Harvest for sale at the Peace Market

Do you know the percentage of Africa's food that the women produce?"Women are the backbone of agriculture and food production in Africa, working its arable land and feeding its population by producing 80% of its food. But African women farmers’ perspectives are excluded from conversations that determine agricultural policies and priorities, while discriminatory laws and practices deprive them of their land, their rights, and their livelihoods." - Global Fund for WomenWhen you support Action Kivu, you partner with the women who are learning sustainable farming in Mumosho.

Finding shade for an afternoon break.

Learn more about the shared teaching farm here!"Beans Green and Yellow"In fall it is mushroomsgathered from dampnessunder the pines:in spring I have knownthe taste of the lambfull of milk and spring grass;today it is beans green and yellowand lettuce and basil from my friends’ garden —how calmly, as though it were an ordinary thing,we eat the blessed earth.~ Mary Oliver

An Education: Kabibi or Kabwana?

Kabibi and her brother Kabwana stood before their school principal, silent while their mother explained to the headmaster why Kabibi must drop out of school. With seven children to feed, earning a dollar a day working on her neighbor’s farms, their mother cannot afford to send both teens to secondary school. She chose to pay for Kabwana’s education, because he is a boy.

Kabibi, left, and Kabwana.

At 18, Kabibi is three years older than her little brother Kabwana, and should be finishing secondary school in grade 6. But, like many children in eastern Congo, because her family wasn’t financially able to send her to school consistently, she’s behind in her studies. Domestic violence is common in the community, and after years of suffering, Kabibi’s mother was abandoned, publically rejected by her husband at her own church service, and left with nothing but her seven children to care for.

The headmaster told her that Kabibi has always been more intelligent than Kabwana. In tears, Kabibi’s mother replied that Kabibi has to stop simply because she is a girl. Kabibi also cried in front of other students and teachers.

What does it do to a girl’s thinking, to be told that because she is female, she is not worthy to be educated? For a month after being forced to leave school, Kabibi was showing signs of depression, isolating herself from others. When a representative of ABFEK (Action Kivu’s partner in Congo) arrived for a school visit, Kabibi asked if there was any way to find a sponsor to pay for her education. It was too late, as ABFEK had already used all the funds to enroll students this school year, but a friend visiting with ABFEK heard her story, and gave the money for Kabibi to attend the first half of the school year.

Amani wrote: “Kabibi had spent the whole last month with no smile, but after it was announced that someone has donated for half a school year for her, she is smiling!”

Kabibi at school

"I want to become a medical doctor if I have chance to go to University," Kabibi says.

Would you like to pay for the other half of Kabibi’s school year? It only costs $50, and if you set up a recurring donation of $10 / month, your dedicated giving will cover her school fees for the following year.

There are hundreds of children like Kabibi, whose families cannot afford to send them to school. Please consider a recurring monthly donation; $10 a month tells them they are important, their stories matter, and they’re not alone.

“What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well.”
— Secretary of State and former First Lady Hilary Clinton

Literacy Training: Rewriting the Future

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Asking the women of eastern Congo what their hopes and dreams are for the future proved to be a difficult question. They must focus on today, Amani explained. On finding food and feeding their children today. On where they will sleep tonight.

A heartbreaking revelation for those of us, so comfortable in our today that we make plans for years ahead, and read self-help books to help us live in the present moment. The women we met in Mumosho and Bukavu didn't have the time or the emotional capacity to answer that question.

That is changing, however. As the women see their daughters excelling in school, thanks to Action Kivu's education assistance, they begin to hope for the future of their children. That hope ignites a spark of what could be in their own lives. As we previously shared one mama's words from the Sewing Workshop graduation: "I am very proud of my daughter," said one of the mothers present at the ceremony. "This sewing certificate is a symbol of victory and respect. And I will be the first to register in the literacy program because I was not happy with the last November 2011 presidential elections, when I asked people to help me vote but they did it according to their own will. I want to make sure next time I am able to read the name of the candidate of my own choice."

Other women echo her drive, and are now learning to read and write in Mumosho, where there are now three literacy classes, with a total of 80 students.  At age 17, Tumaini wasn't sent to school because she is a girl. "I am proud to be part of this group," she says. "I want to learn how to read and write. Many times I have difficulty taking medicines because I cannot read,I always need someone to explain them to me." She is dedicated to her studies, especially to be able to vote a leader of her own choice.

This is a group of very determined young girls, forced to drop out because they did not have money to pay for school. Some were victims of domestic and gender-based violence, and chances were given to boys in their families. They want ABFEK | Action Kivu to help them learn to read and write, to fulfill their dreams of passing the primary school tests to begin secondary school.

Action Kivu is currently able to send only $1500 USD a month to support all these programs that ABFEK runs in eastern Congo - and your donation will help us sustain the current programs, and the more we raise, the more girls we can send to school, the more women we can teach to read and write, the more women we can include in the sewing workshops to learn a trade.  Please consider a monthly donation. 

We're excited to share the women's stories and progress with you here, and to ask you to partner with them. If you have words of encouragement, please share them here in the comments, or via e-mail to actionkivu@gmail.com, and we will forward them to Amani, to share with the students! If you'd like to include a photo of yourself, please do, and Amani will post with your note, reminding the women and children that they are not alone.

Sowing Seeds of Presence and Partnership: Shared Farm

The women, who range in age from older teens to grandmothers, sit in a group, fanning themselves.  They make jokes and smile often, taking a much-needed break. One returns from a walk with a black plastic grocery bag filled with water from some unseen source, and they take turns balancing the bag for a refreshing drink. A rare dry day in rainy season in Congo, the sun is relentless on the floor of this valley, stalks and flowers grow taller than our heads, and no wind blows. Everything seems brighter than usual, the blue of the sky against the surrounding mountains, the colorful prints of the women's dresses with the bright yellow flowers and the greens of growth, the reds and greens of the eggplants, are piled before us. The women have gathered specifically for this, so we could witness the harvest of vegetables growing on the shared farm Action Kivu supports.

We meet the women and the agronomist who teaches them about sustainable agriculture. The women chose this project, Amani tells us. "[The ideas] come from them. What I am doing is just to facilitate. I am a bridge. I am a bridge between these community members and the other people who are willing, generous to help these women. The projects come from them, they say, we need this. If it is possible, we do it. ... For example, there is a serious problem of malnutrition. Acute malnutrition. The women expressed a need for agriculture, and to combine it with animal husbandry. The waste from the goats, helps provide compost [for the farm], and [the women] produce vegetables, they take them to market to sell, and they eat part [of the harvest]." They grow cabbages, onions, carrots and eggplants.Amani bites into one of the eggplants, proclaims it tasty. They are a local species of eggplant (they look like bell peppers) that people like very much. "The red ones are overripe," he explains, "and they are not useful for food anymore, but they are used to make new seeds, and to make sure the women we are working with can get new seeds without buying them. The seeds are very expensive, a kilo of eggplants (seed) is about 40, 50 dollars. Very expensive. The idea behind [the farm] is not only to eat [what is grown], but also, and mainly, to produce seeds and distribute to the community, to fight malnutrition."The women talk to Amani about their needs, for more farm tools to use both at the teaching farm and at home. He promises to bring a few hoes the next time he comes, and to look into finding funds for the other tools they need. They want to expand the small space they rent, to grow more food.  "They need rubber boots, too," Amani translates, "for the rainy season."As we offer thanks for their time and say our goodbyes, Amani translates once again. "They are saying that they are very happy to have you here. They are always sad to hear that people have visited the sewing center, the microloan group, but do not come to see them."Because of your partnership with these women and children in Mumosho and Bukavu, they feel seen. That their lives, their need for nutritious food to feed their families, for education to give them hope for a better future, are full of meaning. Because of your support, they feel seen, heard, which is what we all want, isn't it? To connect at a deeper level, to know we're not alone.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” -Leo Buscaalia