KINSHASA, October 8, 2009—In the city of Goma, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, child victims of Congo’s armed conflict are receiving care and support through a World Bank-supported rehabilitation center and home.
Millions of people were displaced during Congo’s conflict, among them children who endured sexual violence. The Bethsaida Missionary Center of Congo(Centre Missionnaire Bethsaida du Congo, CMBC), a local shelter founded by university professor and Reverend Kabutu Biriange, is coming to their aid.
Caring for the Most Vulnerable
Approximately 50 girls, all rape victims, live at the center, along with 70 orphans, some 40 former child soldiers, and other street children who have been accused of witchcraft. The children generally come from poverty-afflicted backgrounds and have to be educated, as well as housed and fed, at the center.
According to Biriange, it was the rape of a three-year-old child that prompted him to establish Bethsaida, located in Goma’s Kyeshero neighborhood.
“I was deeply shocked by the rape of that little girl,” he said. “It was then that I decided to establish the center.”
Center residents generally come from Goma and the territories of Masisi and Rutshuru, although a number of them, including 57 women from the Kalehe territory, come from farther away. In addition to receiving psychological support and medical care through a partnership between the center and a local clinic, residents also receive an education and vocational training before being reintegrated into society.
“I have had to create a traditional primary school for these children in order to give them a basic education,” Biriange said. When they leave the center, he said, they possess the knowledge needed to engage in small-scale, income-generating activities.
World Bank Support to Bethsaida and DRC
Initially a group of wooden shacks, the Bethsaida Missionary Center now boasts buildings constructed of durable materials. The construction was carried out by DR Congo’s Central Coordination Office (BCECO), which is also implementing the project for the government and providing food support to the center.
At Bethsaida, the World Bank provided financing for two social service buildings, a vocational training center, four classrooms and an eight-stall sanitary facility. All the facilities include electricity and running water. The Bank also helped equip the center with furniture. World Bank support, totaling US$50,000, has increased the center’s visibility and enabled it to attract other aid organizations.
World Bank support for Bethsaida falls under its Emergency Multisectoral Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Program (PMURR). The program covers five areas under its social component—agriculture, health, education, community development, and social protection. The latter area of activity provides support to vulnerable persons by financing small projects and strengthening the capacity of DR Congo’s Ministry of Social Affairs through the formulation of a policy aimed to protect vulnerable groups.
Target beneficiaries are persons at risk― street children, adolescent prostitutes, children subjected to abusive labor practices, children accused of practicing witchcraft, orphans under the age of 16, girl heads of household, physically and mentally disabled persons, natural disaster victims, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and widows with minor children, who are victims of AIDS or other diseases.
Totaling US$9 million, the program’s social component has financed 364 small projects across DR Congo, including approximately 30 projects, such as Bethsaida, for vulnerable persons in North Kivu.
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