WHAT WE DO
PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES.
Discover the impact of our programs and initiatives aimed at empowering women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Learn how we are providing safety, education, and economic independence to those in need.
Empowerment Programs
FEBA helps women imagine new worlds beyond the circumstances of patriarchal traditions, it supports them in realizing dreams. Every month they gather to share fellowship, to tell their stories, learn their rights as people and as women. Women of CENEDI in our partner villages can meet more easily, but they also sometimes plan special celebrations. Learn more
Financial Independence
FEBA provides its members with microloans, a place for micro savings, tools (like sewing machines and computers) for graduates starting small businesses Women of CENEDI have a farm to support their families and contribute to their communities. FEBA has a large farm and animal husbandry project to provide food and income to support its other projects.
Community Engagement
Our partners demonstrate to their communities the value of gender equality and the gifts and strength of women. They serve as a beacon of hope for orphans and other children, to show that education and initiative are paths to a better future. They also reach out beyond their own com-munities to offer counsel or respond to needs of refugees.
Education Support
Education projects are multi-generational, formal and professional. CENEDI runs a free school for orphans and other destitute children. FEBA supports children and youth with uniforms, school supplies, and fees for state exams. FEBA teaches poor young women literacy and career skills: sewing, cosmetology, computers. FEBA also teaches women financial literacy.
Health and Safety
Poverty and violence, especially gender violence, are fundamental realities for the great majority of women, girls, and children in Congo. Our partners provide refuge and counsel for rape and other forms of violence, food and medical support to their communities, presence and comfort in times of illness and death, of natural and manmade disaster. For FEBA
For CENEDI
Educational Advocacy
Our USA nonprofit seeks to engage our North American friends to learn more about life in the neglected continent of Africa and to advocate for addressing systemic issues, including climate change, and creating sustainable change for women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Invite us to speak to your group!
Where We Work
Congo's Geography and Languages
GEOGRAPHY: The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second largest country in Africa, about 905,370 square miles. It is equivalent to the size of the USA east of the Mississippi, or more than one quarter of the contiguous continental USA.
Congo’s single most significant geographic feature is the Congo River, which is the second largest in the world after the Amazon. The Congo River is broken by three series of rapids which long protected the interior of central Africa from colonial powers. This river and its tributaries provide the main highways throughout the country. The country of Congo has a wide range of topographical features: mountains in the northeast, east, and southwest; tropical rainforest in the Congo River basin; a large central plateau with scattered forests and much savannah.
Although mostly land-locked, Congo has a narrow finger of land extending along the Congo River to the Atlantic Ocean where its major seaport, Matadi, is located. Map i public domain, color added.
LANGUAGES: The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to about 250 languages. The four traditional trade languages are Kikongo (west), Lingala (originally in the north but now widespread because it is the language of the army), KiSwahili/ Swahili (east and southeast), and Tshiluba (the central area). These were the first to become written languages.
Since colonial rule, French was introduced as the main language across all the ethnic areas, but until recent times French was only spoken by people with a secondary school education – a very small fraction of the population.
The Modern History of the Democratic Republic of CONGO
Modern Congo’s history begins in the 19th century. (The rich earlier history can be traced in the Kongo, Lunda, and Luba kingdoms or empires; check them out!) What is now the nation-state of the Democratic Republic of Congo or Congo-Kinshasa has existed under several names from colonial days to the present.
(Note: there are two countries called Congo, distinguished by the names of their capitals: Congo-Kinshasa for the larger, Congo-Brazzaville for the smaller.) [Map from public domain, color added.]
The “Congo Free State” (1884-1908) - free trade, not freedom - was the private fiefdom of King Leopold II of Belgium. The period was a nightmare for the Congolese, a genocide in the service of economic greed. Reformers, most notably (African) American Presbyterian missionary William Sheppard, brought this scandal to international public knowledge, which led to the land being turned over to Belgium as the Belgian Congo (1908-1960).
The Belgian Congo (1908-1960) brought changes. Colonial rule was paternalistic but a great improvement on the previous situation. Belgians developed the infrastructure of roads, railroads, etc. They encouraged opening schools and providing healthcare, but left these largely in the hands of Roman Catholic or Protestant missionaries. A chief's necklace and belt, collected by G. T. McKee c. 1925-35 [Photos by C. Sthreshley]
After World War II, the Pan-African movement swept the continent; colonies demanded independence. Ghana was first to achieve this in 1957, others soon followed. Independence came to the (Democratic) Republic of Congo on June 30, 1960. But there had been no preparation for self-government, there were only about 200 high school graduates and perhaps two dozen university graduates, and the enormous majority of the people could not communicate with their fellow citizens in different parts of the country. It should be noted that almost all who were educated beyond primary school were male, and many girls and women remained illiterate all their lives. Photo of flag public domain.
In the early 1960s, Congo was torn by civil strife. Its component ethnic groups spoke different languages and some had traditional rivalries. The elected leaders, Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Kasavubu, came from very different political perspectives and competed with each other. Some groups located in regions with significant mineral wealth (temporarily) seceded.
In November 1965 the army under Colonel Mobutu seized power; they stopped the civil war but did not keep their promise to return to civilian rule. Benefiting from being a US ally in the Cold War, President Mobutu became one of the richest men in the world while ordinary Congolese remained among the poorest. He engaged in border conflicts with neighbors like Rwanda, changed the country’s name to Zaire and produced a new flag, required all citizens to give up their non-African names, and worked to make their identity as Zairian/ Congolese more important than ethnic or regional identities. Flag photo in public domain.
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The Rwandan genocide in 1994 had a very significant impact on Zaire/Congo. A number of ethnic groups, especially Tutsi, had members on both sides of the border, so the war spilled over into Congo. In this context Lawrence Kabila came to power, leading his troops across Congo to topple Mobutu in 1997 and changed the name back to the Democratic Republic of Congo. After Lawrence’s assassination in 2001, his entourage put his adopted son Joseph in power in Kinshasa. Joseph’s mother was Rwandan and ties with that country remained close. Joseph Kabila ruled until elections were held in 2018 and Felix Tshisekedi became president in January 2019.
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In the most recent elections in December 2023, Felix Tshisekedi was re-elected by a large margin. Among the many challenges the new democratic government faces some are structural: the fact that many of Kabila’s supporters have remained in strategic places and that international economic contracts of the Kabila era with multinational corporations and foreign governments have limited the efforts to reclaim control of Congo’s finances. Some challenges are more immediate: a recent upsurge in the long-running conflicts in eastern Congo, and widespread disasters from climate change. Photo from United States State department, public domain.
Who Helps Us? YOU!
Woman, Cradle of Abundance is a small - and growing! - nonprofit. Our success in supporting our partners in Congo is directly proportional to your generosity and caring. Here are a FEW of your grants and special gifts that we celebrate.
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Capital Campaign for the Women's Center, 2014-18, plus additions 2023-24
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Education for 32 Starfish in Uvira, 2009-18
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Farm for FEBA, now 66 acres, 2017-2023
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Farm of 5 acres for women near Uvira, 2020
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Land for Community Charity School and garden, Goma, 2020
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Twenty treadle sewing machines for FEBA, 2023
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Computer Science Program for FEBA, 2023
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Forty new houses for rape-flood victims near Uvira, 2023-24
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Microloans for FEBA, 2024
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Cosmetology Program for FEBA, 2024
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Double knee replacement surgery for Maman Monique, 2024
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AND SO MUCH MORE!
Perhaps most important, you have made it possible for us to support our partners in "ordinary" ways, such as assuring their small salaries, paying rent or water and electric bills, supplying material to keep the school and vocational programs running, and helping us meet illness and disaster with medicine, food, and hope.
