Due to the Canada Post strike, your copy of Breaking Bread may still be at the post office. While you wait, enjoy an early preview of one of the stories featured in this fall’s edition!
When Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo erupted in 2021, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, losing their homes, livelihoods, and assets. Many displaced families faced emergency levels of food insecurity, including 70-year old PelePele Muhindo, his wife Rebecca Muhawe (63 years old), and their family.
For the next two and a half years, they lived in a camp in Kibati, where Mennonite Central Committee’s local partner Ministry of the Churches for Refugees and Emergencies (ECC MERU) provided ten monthly food baskets for 393 internally displaced families (2,005 people), with funding from Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
By October 2023, conflict between the government and an armed rebel group was driving mass displacement, and the DRC government wanted to free up space at Kibati camp to house the increasing numbers of people fleeing the conflict.
Because of this, families like Rebecca’s who had been displaced years earlier by the eruption were evicted from the camp, and the government allowed them to return to Kabaya – which had previously been off limits due to dangerous volcanic gases in the soil.
But although they had returned to their home village, there was no house, income, or assets waiting for them, and to add to their affliction, PelePele passed away shortly afterwards from a short illness.
To further rehabilitate families like Rebecca’s towards self-reliance, ECC-MERU provided another six months of food assistance, as well as mentorship, livelihoods training, and a start-up grant of $150 USD (approx. $200 CAD) in January 2024 to help them develop income-generating activities. “With these funds, I purchased and raised chicks, an endeavour that continues successfully,” says Rebecca.
“Despite facing some challenges, particularly with covering the school fees for my seven children following the loss of my husband, we are doing well,” says Rebecca Muhawe, pictured with her late husband PelePele Muhindo. (Photo: Elijah Muweza Sehene)
While overcoming financial instability was difficult, the establishment of village savings and loans groups in Kabaya, and Rebecca’s participation in financial training, helped to build a food-secure future for Rebecca and her family.
“My hopes for the future are anchored in the success of my chicken-breeding business,” says Rebecca. “With this venture, I dream of fully funding my children’s education, ensuring they have [the] opportunity to succeed, providing a steady supply of food for my family so that we do not go hungry, and meeting our other basic needs. I believe this business will pave [the] way for a brighter, more secure future for my family.”
