This is Balemba. It has been one year since the gorilla massacre in the Virunga Park. The Alliance thought it could commemorate it with a tournament to raise awareness about local critically endangered species (mountain gorillas and chimpanzees).
Four teams from nearby villages will take part at the event: FC Gorille from the Southern Virunga, AS Okapi from Rumangabo, FC Nyuki ‘Bee’ from the IDP Camp and FC Mbundu ‘Chimpanzee’ from Buvunga. Players from the age of 8 to 13 years old and spectators will be educated through football and the Gorilla will be symbolic mascot for the tournament. “The ball may be made of plastic bags or not even be round at all, the goals may be made of wood or bamboo poles, but the passion for the game is the same. The ground may be dusty or bumpy; the players may be barefoot or dressed in ragged clothing, but the spirit in the same.”
Every team will also be an ambassador of a different animal. There will be gifts or cups by category: one for the tournament’s winner, second for the fair play team, third for the best loser and an award for the team with the best spectators. The Alliance ensures that funds raised will go directly to the tournament. Thank you everyone for your support so far.
This is Balemba. Last week saw the creation of an agreement between the Virunga Youth Alliance and Promo Jeune Basketball Goma. PJB Goma is also a non profit organisation which reaches disprivileged young people (especially in the city) through basketball, drama and art. With a great understanding of the power of sports in the region, our twin projects have decided to raise funds and awareness about education and conservation of local biodiversity (gorilla, chimpanzee, volcanoes, baboons, forest…) through tournaments (”Score for Gorilla,” for instance), and exchange programs between villagers and city youth. Nowadays, we are realizing that sports is a valuable socialisation tool that perfectly promotes values (love, respect, courage and capacity to go beyond) among young people living in the conflict region.
You can find out more about PJB Goma on their website. It is in French, but they hope to translate it into English very soon…
Dario Merlo from PJB Goma and Myself Agree on a Collaboration We hope to bring together individuals with very different backgrounds and we really believe that sport is a great vehicle for such inspiration. We aim to involve young people in a common sustainable future and a more viable protection of our wildlife. Thank you everyone for your support so far.
This is Balemba. I would like to tell you why I became a Youth Activist. When I was growing up with my 6 brothers and 3 sisters I loved playing games, especially soccer. After my studies, I got a job at Virunga National Park, the oldest park in Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was shocked to see how the children and youth were living around the emblematic park so famous for its mountain gorillas. Here most of the youth joined gangs and armed groups living and operating from within the park. The idea came to me to start a youth club bringing children and conservation together through sports.
Soccer game at Rumangabo in Virunga Park Sport is a universal activity that draws countries and people together in a unique way. The key to sports is relationships. Friendships will be forged during the sports and games, the small group activities, the informal chats, the warm atmosphere of fun and acceptance. Some children will be amazed to find adults who want to take the time to get to know them and who enjoy being with them. I also thought that these children definitely need to look forward to having something positive in their lives. Playing together will hopefully help them stay together and help these beautiful children improve their lives and come of out the darkness of war. I have listened to children who were enrolled by force in militias or sexually abused and who are now back in their communitis. Slowly attitudes are changing among the youth, and maybe, just maybe, we will be able to build trust and hope in their lives.
Providing training sessions is one of the Alliance objectives. On Thursday, May 22nd, the Alliance through its delegates from Rumangabo and Kibumba participated in leadership training at Gisiza Primary School. Eleven delegates (seven boys and 4 girls) took part. It wasn’t easy for girls: it is currently a school break, so most are busy working on the farm at this time. We went door to door in the village explaining to their parents about the purpose of the training. They have learned about peace building and creating a climate for change among post-conflict communities. By creating change they discovered four levels in leadership: 1. The music inside (integrity, attitude, total wellness) 2. Make personal changes in the neighbourhood or village 3. Develop trust and facilitate a change-friendly meeting 4. Give people the ownership of the change and encourage influencers to follow-up.
Each youth leader now has to identify ten people from the age of 14-30 years old in the village. The objective is to start his/her own club in which they’ll have to report back about peace building and creating a climate for change in their communities. I found it all amazing because the area suffers of a lack of ’true’ leaders.
Every April 22nd, the world celebrates the International Earth Day and the Alliance seized the occasion to capitalize that opportunity. The Alliance, through Muomba a local coordinator, organized a meeting at the Primary School of Kibumba, entitled ‘Kibumba, my land my nature‘. The objective was to raise awareness about local nature advantages and the nowadays real danger of pressure on the park from local community.
Participants have noticed something that caught my attention: Kibumba is considered abandoned by conservationists. It has never benefited from the park, like to rehabilitate or build schools, hospitals, or even a water supply -they drink rain water.
The Alliance at Kibumba Kibumba is located on the border of the Southern Virunga National Park and well known for its local cultivation (vegetables) furnished on local market (goma and Musanze, former Ruhengeri, in Rwanda). Most of the youth didn’t reach high school but busy with subsistence cultivation and the trade of charcoal at the age of 12 years old. Planting trees close to an IDP camp. However, the Alliance/Rumangabo planted 130 trees in partnership with WWF local office. 10 girls and 23 boys attended the event. We expected more participants but it rained the whole day, although those that came made a great impact: Amazing!
The Southern Virunga National Park is part of local community life and conservationists are called to sustain the area by financing some micro-projects, donations… for instance. To be unaware about contributes slowly to severe environmental repercussions on the wildlife in the area, in particular the gorilla.
Congo is well known for its wealth of natural resources, but to some extent many people tend to consider it as a geological abnormality: do Congolese people really deserve such natural resources they inquire! The outstanding words to qualify what’s going on is more likely to be a ‘geological disaster’ due to the damage it has caused to humanity. Katanga province bears great minerals such as cobalt, uranium and diamonds, which are exploited by multi-nationals and the illegal cobalt traffic at Tenke Fungurume site. In most mining companies there are thousands of children (boys and girls) who are not only caught in the kind of situation that applies to Katanga, but also in many other provinces of DR Congo. In the East (North Kivu where we are), the columbite-tantaline mineral, known as coltan, is used for electronic products such as cell phones, DVD players and computers. This should denote that the many troubles we have seen here in the East are more due to the search of this precious mineral. The Austrian journalist Klaus Werner has produced a documentary on multinational companies involved in the coltan trafficking in the Great Lakes Region. Moreover, Johan Hari published a book on the link between the mineral exploitation and the genocides in the region. The coltan mining area is within one of the main ranges of threatened Eastern Lowland Gorilla. It is also alleged that coltan mining could have severe environmental repercussions on the forests and wildlife in the area, in particular the gorilla. Wherever they live, children are the most affected by this horrifying situation since they are very vulnerable. They’re so innocent and easy to manipulate; actually they are forced and they have no protection. In Tenke Fungurume Mines, Katanga Province, children are enrolled as ‘local craft mineral exploiters’. Last year the mine was affected by a tragedy: a boy, aged 12 years old, died from suffocation, because of the strong poisons. Children encounter serious problems which need our total attention: in their families, at school and in the community, they are subject to ill treatment. There are few, if not any, policies that are in place to protect their rights. Both humanitarian and social situations are so unacceptable in Katanga mines that it needs to be called to the authorities’ consciousness to provide appropriate solutions. This calls to the heart of all well intended persons, as it really depicts all the troubles that children are facing in Katanga, North Kivu, and a way out of this way of life must be made available to all. Congolese children need your support.
On Friday, the Alliance team from Rumangabo met with displaced pupils at Virunga Primary School. The objective was to build a long-standing partnership with the school by providing sports clinics and introducing the Alliance to children. In the future, the team intends to share with children about the importance of nature conservation (of trees, gorillas, baboons…) which belongs to them. The head master testified: These children have an innocent soul which isn’t corrupted yet by the society. Teaching, and providing days out for discovery for them can be can a super way to save the nature. I’m 56 years old and living on the border of the park but I’ve never seen the gorilla. Why? I don’t know its importance. I know only it’s for foreign visitors.
From the testimony above, I noticed that gorillas run a high risk in its habitat. Which one? To be killed by sabotages, destroying their habitat because the local community hasn’t been taught or educated enough about its importance. Children were divided into small groups in the school field, and led by youth leaders.
The open space really caught their attention. Some groups were more creative. A group improvised playing cards.
Another group sung a song which was like a war/battle song. It reminded me the All black, rugby team from New Zealand.
Kanyere, a little girl, was more curious. She came straight to me and asked me to take a photograph. When she looked at it, she was surprised to discover how she smiles. Even me, I found it wonderful. This girl is war displaced living under a canvas cover in Rumangabo.
The Anuarite’s testimony has become the Alliance slogan: With the Alliance the future becomes possible. Thank you every one for your support so far. Balemba
Saturday February 8th was in effervescence around the Southern Virunga. This day gave another face in comparison to problems that girls, ladies are dealing with in the area. Many of them are victims of sexual violence (rape, child abuse) or carrying heavy load.
Here also suffering from HIV is like a curse in the community, we hope the Alliance to become an open space to talk about all that can concern youth. It will be a response to the slogan ‘healthy youth for healthy nature’. However, the day started by girls presenting a play inside the Virunga Primary School.
Afterwards, participants were invited to visit tree planted on the
We noticed that many trees were crushed by cattle that belong to war displaced but we plan to replant at rain season in April. The ceremony were closed by a soccer match in the afternoon. The game opposed boys from two teams (FC Gorille versus FC Gisiza). The
Anuarite Nyirasabimana, vice-president of Rumangabo Alliance and Ranger’s daughter said: “With the Alliance the future becomes possible”. Thank you everyone for your support so far.
Sitting in my office an idea came to me to share… I’ve a short break two weeks ago and seized the occasion to reach Uvira City for countryside discovery. Uvira is a multicultural city that is located in the South-East of the DRCongo. Not far from Burundi, the whole city, sandy, hot and crowded, is stretched along the beach of Tanganyika Lake.
It reminded me of Pattaya’s beach in Thailand. Walking on the beach in the afternoon looking for coolness, i met kids playing soccer, and I was also surprised to see kids playing beach volley.
Also an interest sight was the picture of a young girl riding a bicycle.
After a short introduction with the kids, the games became much more interesting. When the kids discovered that I was foreign in the area, (asking many questions, unaccustomed look…) they improvised a show to welcome me.
The afternoon ended with everyone together swimming in the Lake, but with caution because it shelters crocodiles and hippos.
I noticed that there is local custom that can save endangered species… The local legend says: ‘Don’t eat hippo. You’ll stink for ever’. Thank you every one for your support so far.
Bonane Sekafumbiri, ‘Rasta Bob’ to his friends, is 25 years old born at Rubare Village beside the Southern Virunga National Park. He is the first born of a family of two boys. He lost his father ‘Musema’ when the civil war started in 1996. Rasta Bob was 13 years old. From that, his family began struggling. Musema was the pillar of the entire clan through his business. Alivera, Bob’s mother, couldn’t support them after her husband’s death. She died later from inadequate nutrition. At sixteen, Bob became a street kid and became a hard/soft drug addict. In childhood, he had dreamt to become a teacher like his aunt.
I met him in december 2006, wandering around the southern park and together we had a long discussion about his life. From that meeting, we became very close friend. Nowadays, he lives at my house in Rumangabo helping with some jobs (sweeping, washing…) and earns $15 per month. The money helps him to buy clothes, shoes and to feed his young brother.
Youth like Bob are so many in the Southern Park. Some of them joined gangs and group armies living and operating from the park. However, to try and target these youths and keep their lives on track, we took part in sports clinics in Unicef-Camp in Rutshuru. The game involved displaced girls from Jomba. It was wonderful to see their faces shinning and hoping after the latest peace talks.
Thank you everyone for your support so far.
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