Photo by Derek Huber
Lauren Blanco (far left) and Charles Davidson (far right) of Fayetteville-based nonprofit organization Forgottensong stand (from left) with Thierry Basimise, Neema Ngurakahai, Kalagirwa Mutwali and David Bubasha of AJDC, a Democratic Republic of Congo group dedicated to removing children from the local militias. Forgottensong recently partnered with the group and invested $3,300 in goats for the group’s village they operate in.
After 96 hours of traveling through Ethiopia and Rwanda, tightly packed in various vehicles in central Africa’s humid heat, we walked across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The second we stepped into the country, it was clear this country was far different than the countries we traveled through to arrive there.
This was two months ago in March, when I was traveling with Forgottensong, a Fayetteville, Ark.-based nonprofit that operates in war-torn communities and forms partnerships with local humanitarian aid organizations to implement self-sustainable, locally led businesses for communities to meet nutritional and vocational needs. I was there as a photographer alongside Charles Davidson, Forgottensong’s founder, and Associate Director Lauren Blanco.
For this trip, Forgottensong was there to meet AJDC — a French acronym that translates to Youth Association for Community Development. Their primary focus is removing all children from the militia, who are often under threat of violence.
In my time in Congo, it wasn’t uncommon to see armed Congolese soldiers and trucks from the United Nations passing by. Although Rwanda is a nation with struggles of its own, the immediate difference in infrastructure is evident the moment you cross the boarder.
Current estimates by research institutions, multilateral and non-governmental organizations, and individual analysts indicate a myriad of over 50 armed groups of all sorts and shapes across the Kivu provinces, Maniema, Orientale, and Katanga throughout Congo, according to political analyst Christoph Vogel.
Forgottensong’s business practice operates as a social investment firm. When looking for partners in war-torn countries, they seek out local organizations that have already been successful on some scale. AJDC, for example, was already operating and has been successful in recruiting children away from the militia, engaging in dialogue with rebel leaders and rehabilitating former child soldiers. This rehabilitation includes education and vocational training as well as psychological treatment and medical treatment. Many of these children have no family to return to.
Courtesy Photo
Thierry Basimise of AJDC — a French acronym for Youth Association for Community Development — stands with child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The AJDC works to remove children from militias and support them through rehabilitation care programs.
At times, the child soldiers have some assistance from the UN, which provides AJDC leaders with opportunities to scan the landscape via helicopter to scout for militia presence and take data on the presence of child soldiers. This is an organization run by Congolese for Congolese, but also, it’s run by former child soldiers — David Bubasha and Thierry Basimise — now looking to change the tide in their country on the practice of recruiting children into the militia.
While in the country, we had the opportunity to travel to the village of Lubarika where AJDC operates at the base of the Mitumba Chain of Mountains in the Kivu region. David and Thierry often refer to bringing kids off the mountains, and it is these mountains where the militias operate. It is in these mountains where the leaders of AJDC must scout, create dialogue, and hopefully find favor with rebel leaders. They don’t always succeed, David said.
“Sometimes we are forced to flee our home village, team members are abducted, and girls of the team have been even raped,” he said.
David and Thierry both sat down with me and shared their stories from when they were child soldiers. They explained how often children are not abducted, but are recruited. Once a child joins the militia, they are not able to freely leave.
Thierry recalled stories of being beaten very badly for not working fast enough while a child in the military.
Worldwide estimates suggest that females may account for between 10 and 30 percent of children in fighting forces. Females are used to performing similar tasks to boys in both combat and non-combat roles, according to Child Soldiers International.
Female child soldiers are especially vulnerable to sexual violence. They are raped, made to be sex slaves, and to serve as wives for the combatants. David says the rebel leaders believe that what they do is good. They believe they are training future leaders and giving these children skills to protect their home village. This is often how children are recruited — with the promise of income, food, and stability.
Photo by Derek Huber
Lauren Blanco (center) herds the newly purchased goats for the community of Lubarika, D.R.C. This provides the children with the first ever opportunity to learn a vocation, provide an income for themselves, and help support the services that AJDC provides.
The challenge of ending the practice of child recruitment in the D.R.C. is compounded by the fact that the government itself offers no support. Bridges are collapsed, roads have been destroyed, and travel from one side of the country to the other is impossible. Even in an “urban” area like Uvira, there is no running water, and if there is power, it is only on intermittently.
We were lucky to have power four hours out of the day and running water was a distant memory by day four. It took a few days to realize just how difficult living in the Congo can be, and we only scratched the surface.
Government soldiers and rebel groups combat over mines leaving a path of destruction, violence, and exploitation. It is partly because of this as well as a wide-scale lack of security that there are so many roaming militias.
AJDC fights an uphill battle, with the help of a few donors, former child soldiers who refuse to take pay from the organization, and a work ethic hard to fathom. David doesn’t care that they can only support 50 children now, because his goal is to have all children out of the militia by the time AJDC (founded in 2010) reaches 20 years as an organization.
Thierry has absolutely no fear. He continues to go into the mountains to meet with rebel leaders and negotiate for the release of child soldiers in what could be considered a life-threatening sales pitch.
There was a time in our visit where we were hauled to the intelligence office and made to pay a bribe to remain in the country. It was a tense experience because we weren’t given much information, just told we had to come immediately. The intelligence office was nothing more than a plywood box surrounded by concrete blocks with a tin roof. There were holes everywhere letting in random rays of sunshine and watching the light dance across the darkness made my imagination turn on me. The only comforting factor was Thierry’s lack of concern.
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Photo by Derek Huber
The village of Lubarika, where AJDC is based, is at the base of the Mitumba Chain of Mountains in the Kivu region. AJDC members seek out child soldiers in militias in the mountains.
Forgottensong works in a way that all their projects can be sustainable and reproducible. The organization works to set up a system of opportunity rather than dependency. The way the group operates is like a social investment firm, like a venture capitalist or angel investor.
The only thing Forgottensong asks in return from its partners is for accurate and routine reporting. AJDC is committed to tracking the children they bring off the mountains because they need to know what works and what does not work. To this date, no child that AJDC has worked with has ever returned to the militia.
Forgottensong recently made an investment of $3,330 to purchase goats for AJDC. As a measure of good faith and to start the partnership, six goats were purchased while we were still on site. Another $420.00 will be provided monthly for the next six months to cover all veterinary care of the goats.
Thanks to Forgottensong’s goats, each family will receive two goats with training on how to care for the goats along with veterinarian care. Because of the number of families and goats, a breeding program can be established whereby the program can grow with proper care of the animals.
The program is set up so that the first offspring goes to the family to be sold to fund the care of the child, or kept to grow the investment.
The next offspring goes to AJDC to be sold to pay for administrative cost and resources to help bring more children off the mountain and into the program. This provides the children with the first ever opportunity to learn a vocation, provide an income for themselves, and help support the services that AJDC provides. The cost of education coupled with the cost of providing years of therapy, food, shelter, taxes, and fuel, has limited how many children AJDC can serve.
The children often return to their families once recruited away from the militia, if they are alive or can be located. If not, they are then placed in foster homes within the village.
But this goat program, if successful, will continue to grow upon itself for the benefit of more child soldiers. Many of these children voiced that they desire an education, and this program will allow more of them to go to school longer and develop a skill-set outside of the art of war.
For more information about Forgottensong and its international community partners, visit www.forgottensong.org.
