#democratic republic of congo

[peachie-keane]

If you want your donations to go the farthest, I recommend donating directly to people in need and local nonprofits. For the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I suggest Goma Actif

Goma Actif is a Congolese nonprofit that has boots on the ground in Goma, DRC, at the Kanyaruchinya displacement camp, providing food to people who have fled the latest offensive by the M23 rebel group.

The Congolese people have expressed frustration that international organizations are slow and fickle when it comes to distributing aid. Goma Actif functions entirely within DRCongo and therefore bypasses international red tape to deliver aid more reliably than external sources.

[yearningforunity]

Congolese woman with children. 1920-1940

[yokohama-crackhouse]

$14,611 USD raised of $20,000 goal

‼️ 5,389 UNTIL THEY REACH THEIR GOAL!!!

‼️ Donations have slowed significantly!! Please donate and share to help the Busimba family, a family of 10 Congolese refugees in currently living in dangerous living circumstances in the states!!!

The father is blind and unable to work, and the mother is unable to work as well, needing to take care of her children and husband. The oldest, who are still in high school, have to work full time jobs in the service industry just to meet ends. Please donate if you can to help support this family!!

[allthegeopolitics]

The African Union’s health watchdog has declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent, saying the move is a “clarion call for action”. The outbreak has swept through several African countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970. “With a heavy heart but with an unyielding commitment to our people, to our African citizens, we declare mpox as public health emergency of continental security,” Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during an online media briefing. “Mpox has now crossed borders, affecting thousands across our continent, families have been torn apart and the pain and suffering have touched every corner of our continent,” he said. [...]

Continue Reading.

[khizuo]

this statistic for the drc's maternal mortality rate comes from this paper about trends in maternal mortality from 2000 to 2020. the estimates in the paper came from the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division (if you want to find this statistic, go to Annex 4.)

this paper published by BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth about maternal mortality in the DRC comes to a conclusion of 620 deaths per 100,000 live births. this study was published in 2022, with data collected from between 2015 and 2020.

[gooogoogaagaaa]

PETITION TO STOP UNETHICAL COBALT MINING IN CONGO!!

Sign and share with as many people as you can!!!!! Many people, including little kids, are mining in unsafe and unethical conditions in Congo. Sign this petition to stop these horrible conditions and violations of human rights and advocate for boycotting companies that profit from these horrible conditions eg. tech companies, vapes etc!!!!!

[dream-world-universe]

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: Kinshasa, formerly named Léopoldville until 30 June 1966, is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of the world's fastest-growing megacities. Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, situated on opposite sides of the Congo River.  Wikipedia

[omgthatdress]

[lizardbytheriver]

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A post shared by Chamar Latanja (@chamarlatanja)

"We need to build new bridges" Congolese Children deserve education. Congolese Children deserve a future. If you want to help Congolese Children and Congolese Teachers, this is your chance. The Future of Congo and Focus Congo are giving-out school supplies, rebuilding classrooms, and supporting educators. We cannot keep neglecting and abusing the DRC. We need to be helping the DRC, including the Congolese Children. Education for all.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

Africa’s top human rights commission said the Democratic Republic of Congo violated the rights of Indigenous Batwa people when it forcibly evicted them from their ancestral territories and imposed a national park on those lands without the original inhabitants’ consent. 

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ordered the DRC to provide the Batwa legal title to their homelands, among more than a dozen other prescribed remedies. 

The decision was decided in 2022 but wasn’t made public until late June of this year. Lawyers involved said publication was delayed because of mistakes made in the text of the French version of the decision, and that the DRC has not taken any action to comply with the decision.

The government’s embassy in D.C. did not respond to a request for comment and also did not participate in the Commission’s proceedings despite requests that it do so.

Since Kahuzi-Biega National Park was established in 1970, the DRC has forced about 6,000 Batwa people, sometimes violently, from an area of rainforest in the eastern DRC the size of West Virginia. Those evictions began on the recommendation of a Congolese conservation organization, according to the Commission’s decision, despite the Batwa having a long and proven track record of protecting and preserving their homelands.

In its decision, the commission sharply criticized the logic behind “fortress conservation,” the removal of Indigenous peoples from their land in the name of protecting nature. That model, born in the United States with the creation of national parks like Yellowstone, has been exported around the world. Increasingly, it is being used in conjunction with some carbon offset programs. 

“If the purpose of creating a park is to protect biodiversity for the good of all, should the way of life, culture and environment of the indigenous populations occupying it not be taken into account?” the commission wrote.

The Batwa’s culture is entirely based on a thriving ecosystem, the commission said, and their removal may have worsened biodiversity in the region because park guards and governmental officials granted forest access to non-Batwa groups that carried out extractive activities including mining and logging, leading to severe deforestation and environmental degradation. The Congo Basin is home to sensitive ecosystems with iconic species, including chimpanzees, forest elephants and critically endangered gorillas. 

[yearningforunity]

Kinshasa, DRC 1941-1942

[yokohama-crackhouse]

$1,917 USD raised of $2,500 goal

‼️ 583 UNTIL GOAL IS MET!!

‼️ Donations gave slowed!! Please donate and share widely to help Mugisha evacuate from the DRC and come to America to live with his uncle Eric!!

Mugisha's father was killed defending his family from the militia, and Mugisha wants to go to college and work in healthcare. Please donate if you can to help Mugisha!!

[thererisesaredstar]

Day of Solidarity with the Congo (1972)

[tomorrowusa]

Another mysterious infectious fatal disease has emerged outside the US.

At least 79 people have died from an unknown disease that is causing flu-like symptoms in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry says. The health ministry says the majority of people who have died are between the ages of 15 and 18. More than 300 people have been infected with patients exhibiting symptoms like fever, headaches, runny noses and coughs, breathing difficulties and anaemia.

If you do the math, this infection has a death rate of over 25%. It also targets young people like the deadly "Spanish Flu" pandemic of 1918-1919. Being "flu-like" means it may be difficult to distinguish from typical seasonal influenza. That also implies that it could easily be transmitted like the flu.

Response teams have been sent to Kwango Province, specifically the Panzi health zone, where the disease is most common, to manage cases and investigate the nature of the disease. Cephorien Manzanza, a civil society leader, told Reuters news agency the situation was worrying as the number of infected people continues to rise. "Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines," he said. A World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa region official told the BBC they have "dispatched a team to the remote area to collect samples for lab investigations". Authorities have urged the population to remain calm and vigilant.

Kwango Province is adjacent to the region where the capital Kinshasa (pop. 17 million) is located.

If the Kwango infection spreads to the US after Trump's inauguration, we would be in even worse shape than when COVID-19 came to the US. Instead of Dr. Anthony Fauci, we'd have anti-vaxxing quacks like RFK Jr. and other clowns running American public health.

Trump himself would try to underplay a new pandemic the way he did in 2020. In case you've forgotten, this was his reaction to the first case of COVID in the US...

Trump waited until March 13th to declare a state of emergency. COVID had already spread to most of the US during the 50 days he hoped the infection would just go away on its own.

Urge your US senator to reject any Trump public health nominee who does not accept standard scientific and medical thinking related to infectious diseases.

In the meantime, it's a good idea to catch up on related vaccinations such as seasonal flu, COVID boosters, and RSV before the December holidays.

[haveyouheardthisband]

[womblegrinch]

André Hallet (1890-1959) - Princesse, Mangbetu

Oil on strong cardboard. 16.1 x 13 inches, 41 x 33 cm.

Estimate: €700-900.

Sold Hotel de Ventes Horta, Brussels, Belgium, 7 Oct 2024 for €700 + B.P.

After travelling widely in Europe, Hallet was sent by the Belgian Ministry of Colonies to the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1934, eventually settling in Kisenyi in what is now Rwanda, until his death.

The Mangbetu people of the northeastern Congo pursued a practice of what they called ��lipombo’. New-born babies had their heads tightly wrapped with cloth and the soft, growing cranium would take on an elongated shape. The deformation didn’t affect the brain. Intracranial pressure remained the same as for a normal person, the brain simply growing into the new shape of the skull.

The Mangbetu believed the elongation denoted majesty, beauty, power and higher intelligence. The practice largely died out in the 1950s with increasing Westernisation and a ban imposed by the colonial authorities.

I've posted another painting by Hallet previously of a mother and child where you can see the binding on the infant's head.