Congo Helping Hands, Inc.

Congo Helping Hands is offering a free book* each month for the next 12 months. 

The book give-away for August 2019 will "Congo Stories: Battling Five Centuries of Exploitation and Greed" by John Pendergast and Fidel Bafilemba. The winner will be randomly selected at midnight, August 31 from our list of current and registered email addresses. You will be notified via your registered email.

You can join the email list by going to our website, www.CongoHelpingHands.org and clicking the join button; or joining by going to our Facebook account, www.Facebook.com/CongoHelpingHands; or send me an email at [email protected].

*The book may change at the beginning of each month. But winners can chose a previous book or request the value of the current book in an Amazon gift card via email.

I'm back from my forced internet diet! The Congolese government asked the mobile phone not working too stop all internet and SMS service. I'm fine. The mobile internet and SMS were blocked from Dec31, 1200 hours to Jan19, 2400 hours. #Internet #Congo #SMS

It's pineapple season in the Kananga. Women walk around pineapple on their head for sale. A pineapple costs 600 Congolese Francs (about 36 cents). Nothing compares! Delicious! #Congo #Kasai #pineapple

I take a moto across town in the mornings. Since we used 3-4 drivers exclusively, it only takes a call. Also, we use them to run errands to pick up grocery items, supplies or other commodities. Then a call in the evening for the ride home. #Congo #Kasai #Kananga #Uber

Congo Helping Hands provide staple foods (cassava flour, corn meal, palm oil, sugar, and salt) to over 500 families in May 2018. On this day, the people was more orderly and constrained due to better planning and execution by the community leader.

The Sisters of Hope requested help to support 65 orphans which arrived at their door in the last week. #Congo #Kasai #orphans

Do you need to know about this travel advisory for Congo? I didn't! Reconsider travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to crime and civil unrest. Some areas have increased risk. Read the entire Travel Advisory. Do not travel to: Eastern DRC and the three Kasai provinces due to armed conflict. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, armed home invasion, sexual assault, and physical assault, is common. Assailants may pose as police or security agents. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious crime. In the video, December 14, they were running to meet their candidate for president. https://www.newsaboutcongo.com/2018/1... #Congo #Kasai #2018Elections

Today, I got a question from a friend in the states via text. "Is your house ready for santa ie. Milk & cookies for the jolly old elf." My response: "Ready for Christmas! House, no. Neighborhood, no. Kananga, no! Friends' house, no,no,... Milk, yes if powdered milk counts. Cookies, James may bake some if he finds eggs in town. We are not in America!" Don't stop by Santa, James didn't find any eggs in town so we may be low on treats. #Congo #Kananga #eggs

Congolese don't eat a lot of meats and almost no diary. However, they eat peanuts when in season. But they supplement these protein sources with grubs from decaying palm trees, grasshoppers during migrating, termites, and flying ants during their season. I have tried them all. Would you try one of the exotic foods? Also what exotic non-meat have you eaten? Leave your answers below. #Congo #Kasai #food

This is a pilot project to restore farms to increase good production in the Kananga area. Farmer stopped farming for three seasons for to violence in the area. The displacement of farmers and people created an humanitarian crisis in the Kasai. 500,000 children are at risk to stunting, malnutrition, and starvation. #Congo #Kasai #crisis