Action Kivu Needs Help For Socially Responsible Project in the Congo

In the Eastern Congo, one quarter of the children who die before their fifth birthday die from a preventable disease such as diarrhea resulting from cholera. This is largely due to lack of proper sanitation and disposal of human waste, which leads to the contamination of local water sources, spreading bacteria, parasites and viruses.

Some people are working to change this, though. Amani Matabaro, a Congolese man, started Action pour le Bien- être de la Femme et de l'Enfant au Kivu, a non-profit organization to educate women and children in Eastern Congo. He has succeeded in fulfilling his dream of building a Peace Market where the community near the Congolese and Rwandan borders could come together to work towards a stronger, healthier economy.

But the project has got stuck because funds ran out before Mr. Matabaro could build a latrine for the market. He's been left with a 30-foot hole that is both a health and safety hazard, a potential rain-filled breeding ground for malaria and cholera.

What seems like a most basic concern for most westerners, in fact is a global crisis. World's Toilet Crisis, a program webcast on Vanguard TV, revealed that more than two million people die from complications of chronic diarrhea.

One of the simple solutions to the problem is to create sustainable, sanitary latrines, which puts an end to open defecation. This is where Rebecca Snavely and Cate Haight come in. The two U.S.-based activists founded Action Kivu, a non-profit project that works in partnership to support local non-profits in the Congo. They are working with Mr. Matabaro to help him complete the market. Best of all, the latrine he wants to build is a biogas one, so that it could also provide alternative energy to the community.

"This isn't just any latrine. This would fill a gaping, 30-foot hole that was dug in eastern Congo, dug to build the Peace Market, a dream of Amani Mataboro's to provide a place of commerce and community near the border", said Rebecca.

Her organization has launched an initiative to raise US$4,500 to build the latrine, plus another US$4,500 to add the biogas element that will recycle waste into energy.

The latrine will serve an area of 26 villages and up to 42,000 people. It also will benefit villages from the Walungu territory, as well as some communities on the Rwandan side of the Ruzizi River.

"The market is the best site for a sanitary latrine, since it is a focal point for the local economy. Without action, it could become the breeding ground for a cholera epidemic, but now it will be a success case for demonstrating healthy practices," said Mr. Mataboro.

At the time of writing this blog post, Action Kivu had managed to raise US$905. Here's to hoping they will hit their target soon.

Image credit: Action Kivu