2023 CSC-Play 4 Peace and Mental health support (P4PM Club)

The Community Support Center in DR Congo, held an inaugural sports extravaganza on November 24th, 2023. This will be an an annual day for the Community Support Center that celebrates the birthday of our founder, Byolenganya Olo Bernoulli and our happiness at being able to work with the community.

We celebrate:

The children (and their families) who participate in our P4PM Clubs
The ability to participate in sports with other people
The opportunity to process trauma and move forward with our lives

Here's a link to more pictures of the event

Why Sports? (Why P4PM Clubs)

Community Support Center uses P4PM Clubs (Play 4 Peace and Mental health support) as a tool to facilitate healing from trauma, Improve peace building, social inclusion and cohesion, conflict resolution, child rights and well-being. Traumatized young people find community and begin their journey of healing as they participate in sporting activities with their peers. Then, in conjunction with the sporting activities, therapy services are provided. This deepens the healing experience and allows the young person to come to terms with what has happened to them.

Why DR Congo needs P4PM Clubs

DR Congo is a country where accumulated stories of violence and conflict have been piling up on top of one another for decades. It is nearly impossible for someone to live in the eastern region of DR Congo and not be affected by the prevalence of violence. Many people in DR Congo live with long-term trauma, especially women and children. P4PM is the way to heal community trouble and bring people to live peacefully with one another.

Description of Activities

The Kitundu / CSC-Asbl Celebration Day was supposed to be on November 24th but was postponed until the 26th of November due unforeseen circumstances.

The celebretion began the day before, on November 25th, when we made porridge and donuts for all of the children. Then, when we arrived at Kitundu Camp the morning of November 26th, the children ate breakfast before we began the day. We brought porridge, donuts and juice for the children.

We kicked the day off with welcoming words from local leaders, Kitundu's President and also from CSC-Asbl staff members. CSC-Asbl was warmly welcomed by everyone. 450 were present while we sang songs together. Of the 450 children, approximately 250 children sang. Parents and CSC-Asbl staff members sang along too. Of the 250 children, 135 were girls and 115 were boys. One of the songs that we sang is a CSC-Asbl song composed by displaced children living in Kitundu Camp. We sang "CSC is smart, CSC is beautiful."

The next activity was Kang. There were 25 children among them 18 girls and 7 boys who played Kang. It was a lot of fun for everybody involved.

Then we did art and drawing. There were 87 children, 50 girls and 37 boys who took part in the art and drawing. There was a lot of excitement and the children were eager to show off what they had done. After everyone was finished with their drawings the children played Kaloke together. 24 children played Kaloke with 20 girls and 4 boys. The children were paired up and each pair had one kaloke.

During the day we heard a report from one young man who participated in the celebration. A 13-year-old boy we will call "O," reported that "every Saturday and Sunday, he goes to different neighborhoods to beg. He asks for help from people with good hearts. By going to ask, he goes through a lot of difficulties because he risks trampling on pieces of glass bottles, pieces of metal and needles. The risk is huge because he walks without shoes. Quite often he walks under the hot sun without finding anything. "O" reported to the staff members that:

He has no water or food to eat while he is out in the different neighborhoods. "O" thanks CSC-Asbl for coming and keeping him busy and also for bringing him food to eat. He said the day we spent together kept him from going to the different neighborhoods in search of food. It is striking that "O" must take his own initiative due to the lack of help or support his community receives from the outside world

25 children (18 girls and 7 boys) participated in Jump Rope. We had two ropes available but it turned out that everybody wanted to participate all together. While one person jumped, everybody else chanted and sang to support them.

For the soccer competition we rented uniforms which the children had a good time using. The match was friendly. We had same gendered games and mixed gendered games all going on. We grouped the teams according to age. 55 children under age 13 played the mixed gender games, 22 children between the ages of 14 and 17 played. We had a good mix of boys and girls playing soccer with at least 5 girls playing on each mixed gender team.

CSC-P4PM Activities in Kitundu Displaced Camp

We so grateful to all of our donors who made this day possible. Without your help we wouldn't be able to offer support to the people of Kitundu Camp. As you know, our efforts in Kitundu Camp are ongoing, as is the rest of our work in other parts of South Kivu, DR Congo. Please stay connected with us to hear about our activities. If you know of someone else who would be interested in hearing about Community Support Center / CSC-Asbl, please let them know about our website. we look forward to partnering again in the future