JWW Board Member Diana Buckhantz and Director of Policy and Programs Mike Brand are traveling in the Democratic of Republic of Congo’s eastern provinces to work with survivors of the country’s decades-long conflict, which has claimed nearly six million lives. They are meeting with JWW’s partners on the ground, with whom JWW works to create innovative programs and projects that change lives and transform communities. This is Diana’s sixth trip to Congo with JWW, and Mike’s first as a staff member of JWW. For more information on supporting the projects described, please contact Jewish World Watch at info@jww.org.
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As the new Director of Policy and Programs at JWW, this is my first trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and my first opportunity to visit with each of our partner organizations. Having spent so much time living and working in neighboring Rwanda, and researching and writing on DRC issues, it is great to finally be here.
This trip is an amazing opportunity for me to meet in-person with all of the individuals I have been working with remotely from my office in California. While there is much you can learn about a program, a person, and a community from reports, emails, and phone conversations, it is a whole other thing to see everything firsthand.
Our first stop on our week-long trip was Goma, a city in North Kivu. We were in Goma to visit with our partner organization, Africa New Day (AND), which runs two amazing programs that JWW supports, Generation Hope and Sons of Congo.
While there is so much to say about AND, its founders, and the amazing work they are doing, I will try to highlight a few key moments from our visit with Generation Hope here, and in a future post provide some highlights from Sons of Congo.
Upon visiting with Generation Hope students, we were warmly greeted by a room full of inspiring young people. We had a brief conversation about what it means to be a leader and what it means to be a “good” leader. One young woman shared with us an amazing speech that was very motivating. When she stood up to ask if she could present us with her speech she was quite timid at first, meek even. But once she began her speech she was loud, confident, strong, and inspiring. It was clear that she owned the room while talking about Congo’s future, a new Congo. A Congo without violent conflict, without rape, without pain. A Congo at peace.
In her speech, the young woman specifically called out Congo’s leaders. “Where are Congo’s leaders? Why don’t you want to show up? It’s time to put off fear and become fearless leaders in order to give birth to a new story of a transformed Congo.” If you know anything about the DRC, especially Eastern Congo, you know that governance is severely lacking. Corruption is rampant; militia, “big-men”, and mafia-like networks exist throughout the country; and there is little to no leadership to effect change and rid the region of these violent groups. In recent years we’ve seen marginal steps in the right direction, but the country has a long way to go.
If we had left after hearing her speech, we would have felt inspired and hopeful, confident that our partner’s efforts are having a major impact. While a lot in the DRC is changing and there is a tremendous sense of hope for the future, that is not the whole story.
After we heard from many of the youth from Generation Hope, we asked them if they had any questions for us. Among the various questions about what we were doing there and what brought me to work at JWW, a young man stood up with a very different question.
This young man, maybe 15 or 16, asked us a question I don’t think anyone could effectively answer. He said (and I’m paraphrasing), “You know, I come here and you tell me to be a leader, and I learn to be a leader. And we just spoke about the things that make a good leader. But for me, in my home, it is very difficult. With all the rebels, the fighting, the killing. It is very unsafe and I don’t even like to go home to see my family. Sometimes I go and come back as quickly as I can. Sometimes we need to hide in the bush. How can I, at my age, do something? To help change the bad decisions, the bad mentality that these people have? How can I be a leader there at my age? What can you tell me that can help me to change my community, and my country, and to be a leader?”
He was putting himself out there, asking us directly for advice, and unfortunately we didn’t have a lot to offer. I responded as best I could. Telling him that we didn’t have a simple answer for him, that we empathized with what he is going through, what his community is going through, and what his country is going through, and that it is very difficult. I told him it’s very difficult for anyone to change it, but especially someone his age. I believe change happens slowly, and the young people at Generation Hope are a part of that change. I told him I believe in the power of discourse, and that sometimes having an open discussion with someone can be very impactful. For someone making poor decisions, sometimes all it takes is to have someone to speak with them, to share with them a different way, and it can make a big impact. Just like at Generation Hope, many of these students come to the program without the fortitude and forward thinking that they have when they leave the program. And much of that change comes from the discussions the group has.
I told him that I fully recognized that, for someone his age, these discussions could be dangerous; so, I cautioned him in his approach. I emphasized that I believe change happens one generation, even one person at a time, and right now sitting in this room, he and everyone else is a part of that change. The young woman was asking, “Where are Congo’s leaders?” Well today they might be absent, but I can see a future where these kids will be present.
The juxtaposition of the young woman’s speech and the young man’s question is a really effective reminder that while there is a tremendous sense of hope, resilience, and a vision for the future, there is also still despair, and this young man is living in both worlds.