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About the Congo

Train and Equip

Progress

Graduate Classes

The Graduates at each Satellite Location

Theology of Work


The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

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The former Zaire, is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Here are a few facts about the DRC:

- A country that has suffered from political and economic instability since its independence from Belgium in 1960.

- A nation mired in poverty and a lack of productivity fueled by systemic corruption and a paternal mindset.

- A country in which the electrical, water, sewage, transportation, security, economic, education, and health care delivery systems have all collapsed.

- A nation of 70 million people in which 85% of the population have no gainful employment, although it is the fourth richest nation with regard to mineral deposits and natural resources.

- A country that struggles to recover from a five year war at a cost of over 5 million lives, and continued civil unrest that has resulted in unspeakable horrors of assault, rape, and mutilation of the country’s women.

- At independence it was one of the most industrialized countries in Africa, second only to South Africa, but today is one of the least industrialized.


                                                              An abbreviated timeline

1870s - Belgian King Leopold II sets about colonizing the area as his private holding.

1908 - Congo Free State placed under Belgian rule following outrage over treatment of Congolese.

1960 - Independence, followed by civil war and temporary fragmentation of country.

1965 - Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power.

1997 - Rebels oust Mobutu. Laurent Kabila becomes president.

1997-2003 - Civil war, which draws in several neighbouring countries (Africa's first world war).

2003 - Present - Conflict persists in the east.

2006 - Joseph Kabila elected in first democratic presidential elections.

2010 - Joseph Kabila re-elected in second democratic presidential.

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Belgian King Leopold II
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President Mobutu Sese Seko
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President Laurent Kabila
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President Joseph Kabila

A few statistics about the DRC:
  • Life expectancy is 48 years
  • Infant mortality rate is 10.9%
  • Inflation rate is 22%
  • 70% of the population lives on less than $1 a day
  • In 2008, the DRC was ranked as the poorest country in the world (Ulloa, Kast & Kekeh, 2009)
  • DRC came in last in the UN’s index of human development
  • 71% of its population is below the poverty line
  • Over 3 million people displaced due to conflict
  • Over 5 million people have died either directly or indirectly due to war since 1998

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DRC is as large as the eastern United States yet has almost no paved roads.
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Typical roads deep in the jungle.
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Typical bridge in the interior.

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