Coming home at last!

Last December fighting drove the people of the village of Munene (near Uvira) into the forests and across Lake Tanganyika to Burundi. After harrowing trials (and rape), those in the forest got home on foot, but the ones in Burundi could not afford transportation. This summer, thanks to the Hayes family, the 40+ stranded in Burundi were able to return.

The boats were pretty crowded, and pretty small! But they finally got home and were warmly welcomed back.

    One widow fell ill in Burundi and died, leaving 4 children, who have been taken in by another family. That family will move into one of the new houses which the village has been building.

Training for Health in Kinshasa

Many people in Congo have never really learned how to maintain a safe environment. Even in the cities, the poor do not have running water or electricity, the floors of their homes may be only pounded earth, and sanitation is often a constant challenge.

FEBA offers seminars on preventing common ills like typhoid, Ebola, etc. This was the second seminar because it is more effective to teach in smaller groups. Obviously the participants here are glad for the opportunity to learn and practice a new way to cope.

Another seminar dealt with rabies prevention. Very few Congolese can afford to own pets, but many have watch dogs. Often these are not vaccinated against rabies because people have so few resources for their own medical care. The class explained how serious that omission can be and urged participants to act and share what they learned.

Exciting News for CRADLE’s Future

Thanks to a wonderful initiative by Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher and Anne Wright, our no-longer-so-little nonprofit is moving forward toward a sustainable future!

     Since our founding in Feb. 2013, as a tiny handful of friends with a small budget and one partner in Congo, Woman, Cradle of Abundance has grown into a more secure and stable situation, with two partners and a much larger budget and many cherished friends. We passed the ten-year mark in 2023 with flying colors.

     We have continued, however, to be an all-volunteer organization, devoting almost all our budget to supporting our partners in Congo. Our amazing friends have helped so much, and we are more than grateful. We are aware, though, that we cannot grow further without some professional help, especially in fundraising, to find new sources of income to sustain the work as, one by one, those who have led are getting older and moving on…

    The Wrights have very generously offered to fund a part-time contract position in Development, Fundraising, and Grant Writing, for three years! We are thrilled! And busy: the process of gathering resumes and interviewing has begun, and we hope to have a new colleague in place by the beginning of January 2027.

  THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH, WRIGHT FAMILY! For your vision, for your generosity, for your will to see this ministry continue and grow!

Grim News from Goma

The situation on the ground in Goma is worse. Prices were sky-high and they have gone up. But the former dictator-president Joseph Kabila has become the new head of the rebels, M23 and Alliance Fleuve Congo now joined as FRM (Refoundation of the Nation). Several years ago the government of Congo declared Kabila a traitor for joining the rebels. It is not clear how these new developments will play out, but our partners in Goma have become afraid to say anything at all about their situation. We can still send support, but it does not go as far, and we do not know what threats they face.

   In addition, the Ebola epidemic (once reported as coming under control) is spreading more quickly and reaching further. So far none of our partners has been infected, but there is growing fear.

New Houses!!!

In floods in 2022-23, over 150 families of rape victims in Munene village near Uvira lost their homes. Thanks to a beautiful partnership between villagers (local materials and labor) and the Hayes family in Princeton (for items like cement or roofing which must be purchased), each year since 2023 new houses have been built.

This year part of the Hayes’ grant served to bring home the villagers stranded in Burundi, but still 13 new houses have been added to the 60 of the past three years.

Wall plaques mark that the houses were built by partnership (with Woman, Cradle of Abundance, our eastern Congo partner CENEDI and the Hayes) and identify the purpose: to improve the lives of vulnerable women, victims of sexual violence and natural disaster. Each plaque indicates the phase of development in rebuilding:

I for 2023, II for 2024, III for 2025, IV for 2026.

THANK YOU, Hayes Family!!!