J1132N Schooling for Peace & Health DRC

The Situation

Every child deserves a chance to learn – with self-respect and hope for a peaceful future, with health care and enough to eat – but many Congolese children miss out.

Schooling for Peace & Health DRC brings opportunities to the children of Kadutu. This poor neighbourhood in Bukavu is home to many survivors of violence and displacement: orphans, ostracized unmarried mothers, rape victims, families without income. Almost half the population is under fifteen.

 In 2011, determined to build a better future, community members created a non-profit, grass-roots initiative to promote peace via a network of schools. Three years later, in a crumbling rented building, they opened the first Peace School, but all too soon the landlord wanted to sell. The community pushed on, led by Dr Aembe Bwimana, with supporters in the USA, UK, Netherlands, and Friends of the Peace School in Australia. A fire burnt their annex, Covid struck, bad weather delayed construction, the price of building materials sky-rocketed… Despite all these challenges, the Peace School now educates hundreds of students in a new building on its own block of land.

The Objectives

1. Provide a mug of porridge a day for students and staff
2. Run a health clinic and pharmacy for the school and local community
3. Operate a curriculum focused on peace and human values
4. Provide training and fair work conditions for teachers
5. Enable classroom furniture, equipment, teaching and library materials
6. Provide a generator for self-reliance (solar panels in the future)
7. Free scholarships for the most disadvantaged children