Congo projects from 2002-2008, over 500 hundred children benefited from our children's ministry training. Feeding programs at five feeding sites which always included a Bible Lesson.
Over 300 seed packets were distributed to widows especially manioc plants and beans. These seeds were durable for the tropics and have a high protein content. Our Widow Assistance project partnered with two nonprofits in Kinshasa serving widows and these organizations were lead by well-educated, Spirit-filled Christian women. FLRC/CRVF assisted 50 widows to start or to expand their small businesses in order to provide for their children.
Widow training and assistance is a critical component of our work with orphans and street children–stopping the hemorrhage to the streets because the children are hungry due to various difficulties, diseases and war!
David's House of Refuge in 2004 we transitioned the feeding sites into a home for the street boys. David's House of Refuge began in January, with 24 boys.
Many children did not want the lack of freedom and roaming that a home represented.
Some of the older teenage boys would not accept the discipline and structure and many boys were returned to their families.
The Home was a blend of a private home and a boarding school. The main Home had 15-20 boys and two older boys at one small extension home.David's House of Refuge due to various difficulties of health, war and ongoing violence had to dismantle for this season and the children are cared for in individual Family Homes where they are a viable part of the family they live with. Expenses for food and school fees are paid by FLRC.
Operation Congo in 2009 we moved our work to the far southeast corner of DR Congo to a small village Kipushi. This is near the Zimbabwe border and primarily in the bush area.
Through contacts in Jerusalem with a Federal Court judge, we made contacts with dire poor families and widows working in the stone quarries.
We began a small project, OPERATION CONGO which serves 9 families and their 32 children with food supplies and school fees, uniforms, and all school supplies. This project is ongoing and desires to help more families and children. Income is $15-35 a month for these poor widows and families!