Help for refugees in Goma in the DR Congo through the social centre

War has been raging in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo for 30 years, resulting in around 7 million internally displaced persons. One million of them in the city of Goma. The current conflict with the occupation of the city of Goma by the M23 has exacerbated the already difficult situation and led to a humanitarian catastrophe. The training and production centre (CENTRE FOCOLARI Pere Quintard) is located in the middle of a new refugee camp. At the moment, normal activities have been halted and we are trying to provide humanitarian aid, for example by distributing drinking water. As soon as we are able to do more, we will start distributing water canisters, clothing and food again.
Our project has been supporting refugees since 2020. We want to help them secure their future. We have built a training and production centre. Our normal activities are training in: Sewing and tailoring apprenticeships, cookery training, horticulture, small animal husbandry and a basic computer course is also offered. Part of the programme is also a one-week training course in basic finance and small business.  At the end of the training, all those who pass the exam receive a starter kit that enables them to start their profitable activities immediately. During the first few months, this is accompanied and supervised by us. The trained tailors can also join our production centre, which gives them the opportunity to expand their skills by working together and to find a larger sales market to secure their income with which they can feed their families.
By providing a crèche for the young children, who are brought to class by their mothers and thus take away some of the attention they need, we have another tool that improves the success of the women. Trained staff supervise the children and encourage them, and they also receive a protein-rich diet once a day.
In order to further expand the profitable activities, we support the trainees in setting up savings and microcredit groups. We are currently supporting 415 people in 15 savings groups by providing them with supervisors and offering training in finance and small entrepreneurship.
Since April 2024, a cooperative bank has emerged from these groups, which can give even more people access to micro-credits and introduce them to the culture of saving.
As a result, many more people and their families benefit from our project.
The construction of the centre was started in 2021 and the various projects have been supported by different sponsors, such as the BMZ and some German dioceses. The aim is to continue independently over the years. The centre has a number of profitable self-sustaining activities under development.
Help us to continue this project and help many refugees!