AMANI KWETU · LA PAIX CHEZ NOUS · PEACE IN OUR HOME
A hand held out, from one continent to another
In December 2008, in Ottawa, Congolese living far from home met around a simple conviction: distance does not undo belonging.
Drawing on African wisdom and on the universal principle of solidarity between peoples, they founded a charitable association for community mutual aid. It carries a Swahili name — Amani Kwetu, peace in our home.
Since then we have worked so that children in eastern Congo may learn under a roof, so that families broken by war may find their footing again, and so that those who were lost are not forgotten.
Bikaniro, one year into the work. The walls were raised by the families themselves.
Three commitments
Educate
Rebuild schools, cover school fees, make learning possible in spite of everything. Because to educate a woman is to educate a whole nation.
Stand alongside
Speak up for those who are vulnerable, for the survivors of massacres, for families living in extreme hardship.
Build peace
Work for a lasting peace across the whole of the DRC, and help rebuild the social fabric it has torn.
2008
Founded in Ottawa
8
Classrooms roofed at Bikaniro
194
Pupils at Bikaniro Primary School
30
Pupils whose school fees were covered at Mahano
Our projects
Our work is concentrated in the diocese of Goma, North Kivu. We do nothing for a community without doing it with them.
Bikaniro Primary School
Matanda parish, Masisi territory — North Kivu
Roofing for eight classrooms and an administrative building. The walls themselves were raised by the families: they made the adobe bricks, then did the masonry.
Mahano Institute
Rugari, Rutshuru — repairing windows destroyed by the war, and covering a full year of school fees for thirty pupils.
Community health
Goma — easier access to voluntary HIV testing, in a city marked by decades of crisis.
Make these aims your own
Every gesture carries further than it seems. Become a member, give by Interac e-Transfer, or simply tell others about us.