Key points:
- In war-torn eastern Congo, the United Methodist Committee on Relief recently provided food and other support to 200 households.
- Millions are facing food insecurity in the region since M23 rebels seized the cities of Goma and Bukavu earlier this year.
- Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda is calling for both sides to have dialogue and bring an end to the violence and suffering.
The United Methodist Church has provided a lifeline of support for families in war-torn eastern Congo, amid a humanitarian crisis that has millions facing acute hunger.
The conflict, driven by the incursion of March 23 Movement (M23) rebels, has intensified this year with the capture of the cities of Goma and Bukavu. Those towns and surrounding areas have experienced massive displacement of people, soaring malnutrition and the collapse of essential services.
The United Methodist Church, with funding from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, has provided food aid and social support to hundreds of families. This has been done in collaboration with local authorities. UMCOR provided two $10,000 solidarity grants for food distribution in Goma and Bukavu, with each supporting 100 households.
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“This is a relief during this period of war,” said the Rev. Henry Jean Robert Kasongo Numbize, United Methodist district superintendent of Goma.
The $20,000 in solidarity grants are part of a series of grants from UMCOR to address deep needs in Congo. UMCOR has been working with the East Congo Episcopal Disaster Management Office, which operates year-round to respond to both outbreaks of violence and natural disasters. UMCOR staff plan to visit East Congo in July. The disaster management office also is working on a major proposal to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Conflict escalated in January when the rebels took control of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. They continued their advance toward South Kivu, where they seized Bukavu at the beginning of February. These events triggered immense suffering, with thousands of displaced civilians and heavy loss of life.
Foreign ministers from Congo and Rwanda signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal June 27 in Washington. However, fighting still rages in eastern Congo. M23, Uganda and Burundi still have troops in the area.
In Goma, the cost of living is worsening and people are dying every day due to insecurity, Kasongo said. While banks have not yet opened their doors, commercial activities have gradually resumed in Goma, but several schools have not started up again for lack of operating funds, he said.
Dieu Merci Kingombe, a volunteer with UMCOR’s Disaster Management Office in Goma, said the aid consisted of 25-kilogram sacks of rice and maize flour, a can of vegetable oil, beans and cooking salt.
Kingombe pointed out that “the needs are still enormous, but we have just tried to give a little relief to a few United Methodist families who have stayed in the city of Goma, because until now the Goma airport has not yet opened, which poses serious problems.”
Jean Claude Lumbadisha, Goma District lay leader, expressed his gratitude to the church.
“We have nothing left, and every household is scrambling for food these days,” he said. “I don’t know how to express my joy today, because I’ve gone more than three days without eating with the whole family, but today I’ve just received some food.”
Zacky Kabunga, deputy in charge of projects in the Kivu Conference, said famine had caused the deaths of many people in his neighborhood.
“People were starting to die because of the famine, and today the church, through UMCOR, has just donated food. It’s a big step,” he said. Four local churches in the Goma circuit helped serve food, he said.
Moise Mwango, with the church’s emergency office for the Bukavu District, said UMCOR’s aid also constitutes social evangelism. Of the 100 households served in Bukavu, at least 50 were non-Methodist households, selected based on their degree of vulnerability, Mwango said.
The Rev. Esther Furaha Kachiko, Bukavu District superintendent, launched the distribution in Bukavu. “The food we receive today comes from people of good will and faith who have put their means to help people in distress around the world,” she said. “Let us also have love for others by sharing the little we have received from the church.”
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Janvier Murhula, representative of the Focal Point of the Commune of Ibanda and Nyalukemba neighborhood chief, said, “The United Methodist Church is a model church in its love because during these difficult times, few churches perform acts of charity. I’m amazed to see that people who fled the war and were living in schools in Bukavu are among the beneficiaries of this aid. May God bless this church and its legal representative, Bishop Gabriel Unda Yemba.”
Unda, who leads the Eastern Congo Episcopal Area, had requested the UMCOR solidarity grants, said Jean Tshomba, coordinator of the Disaster Management Office in Eastern Congo. He said his office would continue to help other survivors of the war.
Goma has had no water or electricity, Kasongo noted, but the church is coming to the aid of this population in distress and traumatized by war. He added that this action is a way for the church to put biblical teachings into practice by helping those who are suffering.
Olive Bushu, a war-displaced woman with six children living in a room at Amani Local United Methodist Church, testified: “I thank the church for its hospitality because I hadn’t known where to go with my six children, and today, I’ve just received help with food. I’m at a loss for words. God bless this church.”
During the Council of Bishops meeting held in Chicago in late April and early May, the United Methodist bishops issued an appeal to Congolese leaders. The bishops urged United Methodists to follow the example set by the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ in Congo, working to restore peace in the country.
Unda reiterated his message of peace to all the people victimized by the war.
“The killings will pass one day, and true peace will be established in the region. I invite the two conflicting parties to give priority to dialogue to bring about peace, and to take account of the suffering, especially of the population.”
Kituka Lolonga is a communicator of the Kivu Annual Conference.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer, news editor, [email protected] or 615-742-5469. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.
