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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Free from the militias, a fresh start

More than 1,000 children are running and playing at our Child Friendly Space in Tshimbulu town, the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai Central province. An exuberant group of musicians and dancers are shaking and smiling at the back, and to the right a mass of toddlers sit and play with dolls. Some adolescent girls are painting rocks and making mini replicas of cars with bits of discarded plastic, and a scrum of children are playing multiple football matches at the entrance to the field. It’s a picture of organised and joyful chaos.

Children at Child Friendly Spaces learn local handicrafts as a form of art therapy

Free from the militias, a fresh start

More than 1,000 children are running and playing at our Child Friendly Space in Tshimbulu town, the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo...

World Vision is fighting malnutrition in Kasai Central, DRC

The slippery slope to malnutrition in Kasais

For many of the children who have fallen victim to severe malnutrition in Dibaya territory of Kasai Central, it wasn’t directly the conflict that put them...

nutrition in emergencies

Nursing children back to health in Kasai Central

There’s a certain smell to the severely malnourished children in the hospital ward as the nurses gather them for the morning ‘appetite test.’ They’re...

World Vision and Global Affairs Canada are working to improve nutrition, protection and livelihoods in Tshikula health zone, Dibaya, Kasai Central.

Cultivating hope in Dibaya

As you drive through the hills of Dibaya territory in Kasai Central it’s hard to imagine there are people struggling to eat. The earth is green and lush...

David works as the accountant for World Vision's Kasais Emergency Response

A humanitarian in Kananga shares his story

David had always dreamed of working for a humanitarian organisation, driven by his passion to help others. On World Humanitarian day, he reflects on what...

Meet the Kasais team | Celebrating our staff ahead of World Humanitarian Day

There are over 60 members of staff working for World Vision's Humanitarian Response in the Kasais. Many of them are far away from home, while others are...

Albert* plays football with other children at World Vision's Child Friendly Space

A former child soldier finds peace at World Vision's Child Friendly Space in Kasai Central

By Olivia Omwenge, Operations Manager, Kasais Emergency Response “My name is Albert, I am 15-years-old. Before the conflict, I was going to school but now...

Christine lost her father in the conflict in the Kasais provinces of DRC, and spent months hiding in the bush with her family

Caught up in the chaos in Kasais | 15-year-old Christine tells her story

After a relatively short drive from Kananga we arrive at a sun-drenched soccer pitch at one of World Vision’s Child Friendly Spaces in Kasai Central, in...

Marie worries about the militias in Kasai Central restarting

Marie is playing for the future in Kazumba, Kasai Central, DRC

When I first meet Marie she’s playing football with other teenage girls at a World Vision Child Friendly Space, an hour and a half drive from the regional...

Thérèse lost her father and grandfather in the crisis in Kasais, DRC

Losing a father to militia violence and grandfather to hunger in the Kasais

For 12-year-old Thérèse, the violence that swept Kasai Central between 2016-2017 also cost her her family. Her father used to work In Tshikapa, a mining...

Patuakamuena, is a 12-year-old girl who lives in Kasai, Democratic Republic of Congo. Due to war and poverty, young girls like her are at risk of getting married at an early stage. “I hope peace will return in my area."

Poverty threatening the future of young girls in Kasai, Democratic Republic of Congo

“My name is Patuakamuena. I am 12 years old. I stopped going to school when I was in grade 4. My parents had no money to pay for my school fees. My parents...

Ndibu, is a 13-year-old boy from Kasai, Democratic Republic of Congo. During the Kasai war, Ndibu’s father died after being shot and his school was destroyed. Ndibu is asking leaders to build new schools in his community and give children education.

Build us schools. Give us education | Child needs in Kasais, DRC

“My name is Ndibu. I am 13-years-old. I am the first born child in a family of two children. I live with my mother and a brother. I go to school and I am...

Ngalula, an 11-year-old girl from Kasai, shares her future dreams. She wants leaders to provide solutions to water problems in her community. “Every day, I help my aunt to wash dishes. I also help her to fetch drinking water from the stream.

I want clean water in my village | voices from children in Kasai Central

“My name is Ngalula. I am 12 years old. I am the second born in a family of four children. I stopped going to school last year because of war. I was in...

Mphutu Makebu, 22, is a mother of three children and one of the beneficiaries. She says “I feel relieved to receive this food. My children will have something to eat. I wish this could go on until we start harvesting our own food.”

A gleam of hope as aid gets to Kasai

The people of Tshimbu, in Kasai Central in the Democratic Republic of Congo, can breathe a sigh of relief. World Vision and the World Food Programme (WFP)...

Alphonsine Kamvanya a volunteer at a Child Friendly Space in Kasai.

Fighting malnutrition at Child Friendly Spaces in Kasai Central, DRC

It is almost 11 o’clock in the morning and the number of children making their way to a Child Friendly Space in one of the rural communities in Kasai...

Ngala* was playing with friends at home when the war erupted. At just eight years old, the budding conflict in his home of Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo turned his life upside down, as he lost his father and was then forced to join the militia

Investing in children affected by war | World Vision responds to the needs in Kasais, DRC

Ngala* was playing with friends at home when the war erupted. At the age of just eight, the budding conflict in his home of Kasai in the Democratic...

Bridget plays with children at the Child Friendly Space. Different activities for example soccer, sing and dancing are organised to keep the children happy and help them deal with negative thoughts

A Kasai mother battles for the future of conflict affected children

In the Kasai region in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mother is working hard to normalise the lives of children in her community...

Boys play soccer at World Vision's Child Friendly Space in Kasai

Healing the wounds of conflict through sports - Soccer uniting children in Kasai

Pointen Nshaki decided to leave his teaching job to support children affected by war. In October 2017, he joined a local non-governmental organisation that...

World Vision declares global emergency in Kasais, DRC

13.1 million people across DRC now in need of humanitarian assistance World Vision reached over 100,000 people in the Kasais with food aid, education, and...

My name is Matthieu. I’m 13 years old, and I was in 5th grade before the crisis. I have a five-year-old sister and a little brother who’s seven. I used to have two older brothers, but the oldest one was killed in the conflict.

What happened in the Kasais, DRC? Matthieu, 13, tells his story

My name is Matthieu. I’m 13 years old, and I was in 5th grade before the crisis. I have a five-year-old sister and a little brother who’s seven. I used to...

Maria sits with her daughters Joelle and Jeanette in a village in Dibaya territory. The girls walked for three months to get to Kasai Central from Tshikapa, where they grew up.

Fleeing from Tshikapa to Dibaya to escape ethnic violence in the DRC | Maria and Joelle tell their story

At the height of the crisis in the Kasai provinces of central DRC, 1.6 million people fled their homes. Most people in Kasai Central returned home in...

Ngalula, 12, was forcibly recruited into militias in Kasai Central and is desperate to go back to school.

Hope for the future from an ex-child soldier | Kasais Crisis DRC

Ngalula is a mischievous 12-year-old with a great big smile. She’s also spent the past few months living at a centre for demobilized children in Kasai...

Pauline is 15, and grew up in the heart of Dibaya territory in Kasai Central. The region is incredibly poor, but was previously peaceful, until a conflict between a local hereditary leader and the government spiralled into widespread violence.

We need peace in the Kasais, DRC | Pauline, 15

War is at the root of all the troubles. The fighting started in August 2016, and it was March when they attacked us. Now, they tell us that we have peace...

Rebecca grew up in Kasai Province in the center of the Democratic Republic of Congo. One morning this spring in Rebecca’s hometown, the ethnic militia began burning the houses of everyone whose origins could be traced to Kasai Central.

Rebecca's flight | a child story from Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo

One morning this spring in Rebecca’s hometown, the ethnic militia began burning the houses of everyone whose origins could be traced to Kasai Central...