The DRC is a study in contrasts. While the country is rich in natural resources, having extensive deposits of precious minerals and vast tropical forests, corruption and tribal wars have created extreme poverty and lead to the loss of lives of millions of DRC’s citizens. Often it is the very young who suffer the most.
ICC became aware of the plight of these children through Dr. Barry Wecker, a Canadian. Dr. Wecker had met with the director of an organization in the DRC called PROLASA, which was formed to build and operate medical clinics. At the end of 2001, PROLASA contacted ICC, through Dr. Wecker, to see if there was any possibility that ICC could help care for approximately 200 orphan children.
A short time later, a site was located on the Island of Idjwi in the middle of Lake Kivu, where a children’s village could be constructed as a safe haven for orphaned children. This project is ICC’s largest in terms of numbers of children. The needs are great in this country. As funds allow, ICC will continue to develop this children’s village so that even more orphaned and abandoned children can experience the joy of being a part of the ICC family.
A Child of War Georime never knew her parents. They died in a rebel insurgence when she was only six-months old. During the 1990s and early 2000s, war tormented the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many children received an inheritance of trauma from the ongoing insurgent warfare. Georime felt this trauma Read more…
Uwimana Francine is a orphan-care mother in the D.R. Congo Patmos Children’s Village. With Mother’s Day approaching, will you affirm the work that she and other mothers are doing? “My name’s Uwimana Francine, I am a mother in home 3 and I have 14 children under my care. Being a Read more…
Your outpouring of love and support for the ICC children in the DR Congo is amazing, and the results are fantastic. Sharon and I were able to see this first-hand over New Year during our recent visit to the Patmos Children’s Village on Idjwi Island. Over the next few issues Read more…
Patmos Island Children’s Village – Democratic Republic of Congo What would cause a mother, clutching her small baby, to quietly creep into the dark night, find a secluded spot, release her grasp on the baby and place it all alone on the cold ground before slipping away? One can only Read more…
