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Give Peace

While peace is intangible, it is the result of some very physical realities: being safe from conflict and having one's basic needs met. Those of us who are blessed enough to have more than our daily needs met have the awesome ability to give peace to members of the One Global Family who need our help, through tangible support.

Give Peace to Students in the Congo

Our current Give Peace recipient is Good Samaritan for Education Organization (GSEO) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), our peace partner for Student Peace Workshops. I have been friends with its founder, William Omonde Mutimanwa, since 2019, when we first started brainstorming peace projects at University of Goma. He is CryPeace's trusted partner to train university students as peace ambassadors throughout North Kivu province.

Our fundraising goal is to raise funds for four 3-day workshops to train 15 peace ambassadors each. Then, GSEO will help them train and engage other students on their campuses through Positive Youth Development clubs. Five of the universities, which share facilities at the over-crowded University of Goma campus shown in the photo, have experienced frequent violent riots, which almost became deadly last March. If its students are the future, radical change is needed.

Since we started this campaign, William has made significant strides engaging more student leaders on more campuses. Our expanded goal is to train 4,000 on every campus in North Kivu. Phase One will cost $5,000 US.

Fundraising Goal (US$)

As of September 11, 2021

 

Meet William

I first met William in Goma in 2019, when I was working there for World Vision. Over the months, I learned about his NGO which supported children's educational needs. One day, I asked him why so many windows at the University of Goma were broken and not being replaced. He told me that the damage was due to frequent battles that erupted between various universities which shared the campus, and that the administration had stopped fixing them because they would soon be broken again. He had already approached the administration to discuss peace initiatives. We brainstormed for days about potential campus peace projects.

In October 2020, we held our first webinar for student leaders. I shared from Toronto while William hosted them at GSEO's office in Goma. They were excited about transforming their conflict-ridden campus into a more peaceful place.

But these youth grew up in the Eastern DRC, where conflict has impacted their entire lives. The historical and societal influences to solve differences through violence were strong, and a terrible riot broke out in March 2021. In April, the volcano that glowed red every evening, but which hadn't erupted since 2003, erupted again, throwing the city into chaos. In November 2021, soldiers started patrolling Goma and neighbouring towns as rebel activity increased violently.

 

How you can help

Donate via CryPeace

You can support student peace workshops in the Congo by sending your secure donation via Paypal or credit card. 
We are also collecting a special gift for William to replace the laptop and smartphone that he was violently robbed of in November 2021. 

If you would like to make a monthly contribution, please consider designating your contribution to:

  • Student Peace Workshops in the Congo
  • CryPeace projects, including distributing a peace curriculum through schools in East Africa

Thank you very much for your generous support!

Photos:

  • University of Goma campus, which inspired the peace initiative
  • William speaking animatedly to five students, with GSEO volunteer, Sage, to his left

 

Previous Give Peace Recipients