Congolese churches build a new future
Ever since survivors of brutal fighting in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo fled to the city of Kikwit in 2017, the Mennonite Brethren Church has been ministering to them with faith and action. The survivors came with burns, wounds from machetes, and babies about to be born. They were exhausted from…
Congo literacy program in demand
A campaign by Mennonites in the Democratic Republic of Congo to use literacy education as a tool for evangelization is bringing hope to educators and learners alike—and unearthing tales of suffering and repression. In its first two years of operation, the Congo Mennonite Literacy Project, initiated by the leaders of women’s groups, has trained about…
Militia lays down arms in Congo
As truckloads of militia drove into Tshikapa to lay down their arms, Joseph Nkongolo went to meet them. Nkongolo—Coordinator of the Service and Development Department of the Mennonite Church of Congo—spoke of militia members saying they want to re-enter civil life. “Pray for us,” they said to him, “we have done horrible things; forgive us…
Congolese army officer arrested in U.N. murders case
Michael J. Sharp and fellow U.N. sanctions monitor Zaida Catalán of Sweden were abducted and killed in 2017 in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo while monitoring sanctions violations and possible war crimes by the Congolese national army and various militias. The prosecutor overseeing the case told Reuters news agency that Jean de…
Supplying food to people displaced by violence
Agnès Ntumba remembers the day her husband and seven children fled the violence that took over their village in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I saw people being killed. They were coming to kill us, and we had to escape,” Ntumba said. About a year ago, her village of Tshilundu Ndibunu…
Generous love amid war in DRC
Loving the generous people of the Democratic Republic of Congo is not difficult, but evil happening in the rural Kasai region of that lush country is hard to comprehend. In December 2017, survivors of civil war there told a delegation from the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Deacons Commission of surprise attacks on their villages from…
Congo crisis grinds on
“As many as 250,000 children could starve in Kasai in the next few months unless enough nutritious food reaches them quickly,” says David Beasley, World Food Programme’s executive director, in an Oct. 30 release. Kasai is a region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo suffering the aftermath of a gruesome armed conflict that displaced…
Mennonites join to provide food and shelter in DR Congo
Displaced people who recently received food and shelter supplies distributed by Mennonite churches in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) have seen unimaginable horrors. Innoncente Ngandu Tshalu’s husband was murdered by the local militia. Majilu Mulembo’s house was burned down by another armed group. Monique Meta was forced to…
