Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Polio Survivors in Kinshasa

Much has been said and written about the survivors in Congo. Typically, it's survivors of the Africa's first world war in eastern Congo. But there are many other survivors to tell their stories. Here's a documentary film, 'Benda Bilili!', about survivors of the cruel, crippling, and deadly disease of polio.

Polio has left its mark throughout the world. It has long been eradicated in the developed world. However, it still makes a deadly appearance in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Congo.
Rotary International backed by the Gates Foundation and WHO is fighting daily battle.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/movies/movie-listings-for-oct-7-13.xml

★ 'Benda Bilili!' (PG-13, 1:25, in French and Lingala) This documentary of years in the life of Staff Benda Bilili, an intergenerational band of polio survivors and street youth, offers intimate, and rare, access to the urban misery of Kinshasa, Congo, as well as this group's can-do optimism -which, in this lucky case, pays off with international success. The filmmakers Renaud Barret and Florent De la Tullaye have an eye for revelation and entertainment. (David DeWitt)

UNCDF Supports the Expansion of Opportunity International’s Network of Community Banks into the Democratic Republic of Congo

A pledge of US$2.5 million from the UN Capital Development Fund is helping to bring safe and affordable access to financial services to the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries, where only 1% of the population has access to a bank account

via www.opportunity.org

Although only 1% of the Congolese have access to a bank account, the actual number with accounts is just a few thousands. In Kananga, I know of very few with accounts.

Drip Irrigation Is Needed

When it is dry, we water our gardens and yards.  In places like the Congo and other African countries, they do not grow garden during the dry season.

Girls are too busy getting water for cooking and drinking.  They do not have enough time to get water for agricultural needs.  So people are malnourished and malnutrition is rampant.  The weak, children and older people, become vulnerable many diseases and die.

Drip Irrigation could save thousands of lives each year.

via www.sustainableenergyforall.org

For the first time, farmers in the rural villages of Bessassi and Dunkassa in Benin are able to grow fruits and vegetables all year round. With help from the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a non-profit, solar drip irrigation has made it possible.

Prior to the introduction of the new innovative solar technology, during the dry season the land was so parched that little could grow on its arid soils, leading to widespread malnutrition in the community. This all changed with the introduction of a community solar-powered drip irrigation system, which pumps water for food crops when rainfall is scarce.

Solar Entrepreneurs' Needed

There is a great opportunity for solar entrepreneurs in Africa and India.  Solar energy can be the oil industry in the developing world.  This developing world will never have a western world type electrical-grid.

But they have a need for electricity for business, development, health, and education.  Without electricity, the developing countries like Congo will remain in poverty forever.

via www.miller-mccune.com

Having seen well-intentioned but unsuccessful attempts to bring alternative energy to the developing world, several NGO founders suggest a more collaborative approach.

Solar power has taken root — not in the U.S. where it supplies but 1 percent of the power generated only from renewable sources — but in energy-deprived villages of the developing world.

Because costs for electricity in the U.S. are already low, unlike in rural India and Africa, the incentive to turn over to solar is lower for American households. But in poor areas around the world, some communities have skipped an entire generation of coal-powered electricity.

Despite the attractiveness of solar cells and solar concentrators lighting up and heating poor villages, solar brings its own problems. If not implemented right, a technology touted as clean and green can become an unnecessary burden for technologically unsophisticated communities. But the size of the need, and of the market, has led some groups — having learned from earlier initiatives — to push on in bringing solar to undeveloped areas.

A Fix for a Broken Congo Agricultural Sector

Starving children in Congo is common. But it should not be. Lack of water for agricultural needs and fighting are the two major causes. Congo imports most of its food items.
Will an agricultural framework help?

http://www.africanagricultureblog.com/2011/07/dr-congo-passes-first-agriculture.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+africanagricultureblog%2FNaEx+%28African+Agriculture%29

"Seventy percent of the Congolese population depends on agriculture. No other sector contributes more to the gross national product. However, in Congo farming is not yet perceived as a fully-fledged job."

"The lack of a cohesive agriculture policy is costing the country tons of money. Yearly, 640,000 tons of food have to be imported from abroad to feed the Congolese population."

After 85 killed in crash, Congo yanks license of troubled airline

Hewa Bora's operation license was canceled.

But I'm not sure what the Cogolese government can and will do to correct the problem.  Do the government have the necessary skills?  Or will they just fine the airlines?

via www.washingtonpost.com

Congo’s ministry of transport has canceled the license of the country’s largest airline after a crash last week killed 85 people.

A ministry communique read on state TV late Thursday said that Hewa Bora’s license “has been suspended until further notice” while the government investigates the crash.

Congo has one of the worst air safety records in the world. Few passable roads traverse the country after decades of war, forcing the population to rely on ill-maintained planes and boats.

Urban farming takes root

Urban farming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is providing a livelihood for thousands of city dwellers, with vegetables bringing in good money for small growers and helping to alleviate high levels of malnutrition nationally, agricultural officials say.

The demand for vegetables and the high prices they command in DRC cities - up to US$4 per kilo - has pushed many jobless residents into becoming small-scale growers.

via www.irinnews.org

This a good news story! People giving up low-paying desk jobs to farm and much more money.

How Old Are You?

You would think that determining one's age is easy.  Just get a copy of your birth records.  But if you were born in Congo, you may have a problem.  Most Congolese do not have birth records.  You may not have been born in a hospital or health clinic.  Even so, most of them do not issue a birth record to the parents.  

With the No. 7 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Bobcats selected Congolese forward-center Bismack Biyombo. The Bobcats acquired the pick from the Sacramento Kings in a draft day trade.

Biyombo was 2011's prospect almost no one had heard of in 2010. Hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Biyombo zipped from the Yemeni pro leagues to Spain's top division (the ACB) in just months, knocking down every hurdle in his way with what's reported as uncanny maturity, leadership and -- of course -- outrageous athleticism and length. In April, Biyombo became the first player to ever register a triple-double at the Nike Hoop Summit, as the big man rejected 10 shots attempted by American high schoolers.

Questions about Biyombo's age have circulated, but his agent had made results of a bone age study available, allaying most serious concerns that Biyombo was 22 or older instead of his listed 18.

via www.sbnation.com

The Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice Is Meaningless

Today is the either the longest or shortest day depending upon where you live.  In Congo, the Summer Solstice is meaningless.

June Solstice (Winter Solstice) is on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 6:16 PM in Kinshasa, DR Congo. In locations south of Equator, the shortest day of the year occurs in June.  It's the opposite of us here in northern hemisphere.  But what is remarkable, the shortest day is 11 hours 52 minutes and 25 seconds.  Conversely, the longest day is 12 hours 22 minutes and 28 seconds.

A deeper meaning could be a near farmer's utopia.  An equal growing season of 365 days a year due to moderate temperature.  Unfortunately, most African countries are importers of food due to the lack of technology (knowledge and practices) and resources.

ONE says, 'Roughly 1 billion people, 265 million who live in sub-Saharan Africa, rely on agriculture for their livelihoods or more simply a source of work and income for all their needs.' 

 

Congo Water Project at Rotary International

Lots of visitors are stopping by booth 1119 at the Rotary International Convention's House of Friendship, New Orleans, LA.
Visit www.CongoWater.org for details on our water projects.