from JEAN KASSONGO in Kinshasa, DRC
KINSHASA, (CAJ News) – MORE than 70 young ex-combatants are enjoying a new lease of life through a project aimed at shielding youth from armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The individuals include young girls and women who were collateral victims of community violence volatile region.
Through a programme run by the Salesian Missions in Goma, 74 ex-combatants and the women have since August been trained to become plumbers, bricklayers, hairdressers and beauticians.
Officials said the goal was to give young men a chance at a prosperous future through legitimate means so that they did not enlist with rebel groups to earn a living.
Young girls and women are given a second chance at life after being victims of violence.
At the end of the three months of training, it is anticipated these students will also be agents of reconciliation, peace and development.
“Peace through reconciliation is first and foremost a spiritual matter,” said Fondong Julius from the office of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO).
He was speaking at the Don Bosco Ngangi Centre where the individuals are receiving training.
“This faith-promoting center must help you to return to your inner-self to reconcile with yourself, with your family and with your community,” Julius encouraged them.
Salesian missionaries have been working in the DRC, formerly Belgian Congo, for more than a century.
The vast country of over 90 million people has been in perennial chaos since independence in 1960.
Ongoing strife and violence have left more than 8,5 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
More than 4,1 million Congolese are displaced.
Over than half-a-million are seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.
DRC’s vast mineral wealth is a source of conflict.
– CAJ News