Author: paulevansbutoke

BBC report Fergal Keane

UNICEF is warning that at least 400,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and could die within a year without emergency support. It also estimates that nearly one and half million people have been displaced from their homes. The crisis is centred on the country’s central Kasai region where fighting erupted last year. The UN says the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now as severe as those affecting Yemen and Syria.

One of our trustees, Paul, ran the Yorkshire marathon in 2017 and raised an amazing £2,400 for The Friends of Butoke Charity. Thank you to those of you who donated.

The fighting in Kasai has severely disrupted Butoke’s activities. However they are trying to get things back on track and we recently received this report:

The orphanage: Butoke continues to care for more than 40 orphans. New orphans arrived as a result of the violence in 2017. The orphans had to be evacuated from Tshikaji (usually the main base for Butoke’s operations) to Kananga (the nearest city) for a number of months as a result of the violence, but they have all survived. The situation was far from ideal with up to 20 children and adults having to stay together in a modest sized flat.

Agriculture: villagers who fled because of the fighting have begun to return to their villages. Most farmers were unable to plant in the last two planting seasons (beginning August last year and earlier this year). Butoke hopes to help farmers prepare for the next planting season (beginning August this year). It is seeking to forge partnerships with an agricultural institute and a seed multiplication centre to further its efforts in this regards.

Nutrition: two million people have been displaced in Kasai and so the need for food is considerable. Butoke has been doing what it can to feed the malnourished and dispossessed refugees, along with other small-scale NGOs.

Education: Butoke’s secondary school was closed from December 2016 until May this year. However by the end of June student attendance was back at 86% with students working hard to catch up on the part of the academic year they had missed.

The clinic: Butoke’s clinic has operated over the last year as a public kitchen and shelter as well as medical centre. More recently, it has been able to focus again on being a clinic. Equipment and drugs were stolen and damaged during the unrest. These cost around $1500 to replace.

The sewing machine project: Many girls miss out on an education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Butoke’s school is trying to help young women who were unable to go to school as children, by providing them with a vocational education. The project provides sewing machines and material and aims to provide students with skills which will enable them to make a living by making and repairing clothes.

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo is in crisis. The crisis has gone more or less completely unreported in the western media but the UN estimates that 1 million people have fled their homes and that 731,000 people, the majority of whom are women and children, need humanitarian assistance. The number of people affected generally appears to be over 4 million.

How the crisis has affected Butoke 

The crisis has affected Butoke directly:

• Kananga, the city to which Butoke evacuated its orphans following fighting close to Tshikaji where it is normally based, has now also seen widespread violence. Civilians have been killed.
• Of the thirteen final year students whom Butoke was sponsoring, one was killed in the fighting, five fled their homes, and only seven took their final exams.
• Twenty seven members of the extended family of Butoke’s chief nurse were murdered in a massacre committed by a militia group.
• Butoke has had to close its school in Tshikaji for the time being due to the insecurity all around it.

How is Butoke responding to the crisis? 

Butoke continues to care for its orphans in Kananga. It has got them into a school there but is struggling to pay the fees.

It is providing food to displaced people.

The school, which was closed for several months as a result of the violence and instability, is now open.

In 2017 the Charity’s income was just under £24k. A big ‘thank you’ to everyone whose generosity contributed to that total.

During 2017 we sent just under £26k to Butoke (we had a small surplus at the end of 2016). The majority of that went towards the running costs of the orphanage run by Butoke. However we also sent £2400 towards the cost of new equipment for Butoke’s school.

In 2016 The Friends of Butoke Charity raised over £16,000 . We sent £14,600 to help with the running costs of Butoke’s orphanage. Butoke particularly depends on the Friends of Butoke Charity in the UK and a similar US organisation raising funds for the orphanage because the large aid organisations which have provided funds for other projects run will not fund it. As well as helping with the costs of the orphanage, with your help we raised roughly £2000 to pay for the installation of solar panels to provide electricity for the Clinic run by Butoke. However at the moment the situation in the DRC is too unstable for the installation to take place.