Child and Youth Care Organization is a voice for vulnerable children in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our mission is to improve their lives through emergency aid in natural disasters, wars, and other conflicts. Funds raised will give children access to an education, by providng schools fees, materials,and uniforms.Additional financial support will help to ensure a community where everyone has access to quality, nutritious food, and understands the consequences of hunger and poor nutrition.

Intensified intercommunal clashes between a group of militias, known as the Mai-Mai, a group

of militias originated from the Bafuliru, Babembe and Banyindu communities .These are the

armed groups which are affiliated only with purpose to fight and kill the Banyamulenge

community .This has severely disrupted social cohesion since year 2017 to now. The Mai-Mai

group of militias who consider themselves as “indigenous” Congolese are fighting the cattle-

herding Banyamulenge community – often labeled as outsiders due to their Rwandan origin.

This community of Rwandaphone Tutsi cattle breeders claims it is being targeted by an

extermination plan, led by the Mai-Mai Ebu-Ela, Aochi, Mulumba and Biloze-Bishambuke

groups, allied with Burundi rebel groups. Continuous violence has led to widespread killings,

looting, burning down of villages and large-scale displacement across South Kivu’s highlands.

Currently; over 75000 people are displaced with no shelter nor food. Half of those are

concentrated in Minembwe center. People have lost lives,their villages have been burnt to ashes

along with their food stores, which were run from their houses; livestock has been destroyed, and

others have been looted.

DRC, and specifically, Minembwew/Southern Kivu, has been caught in a cycle of violence. The

result of a long history of tensions and violence is a profound lack of trust between communities,

and between communities and political authorities. South Kivu in particular, where CYCO’s

work has focused, continue to experience periodic clashes and military confrontations involving

several old and new armed groups and the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique de

Congo (FARDC).

Massive human rights abuses are already underway since 2017 to now in the current tribal

war at all sides Banyamulenge, Babembe and the Bafulero in the Democratic Republic of

Congo. This problem has kept on growing even in the current government where the

current report from human rights watch shows that discrimination and massacres

accounting to 47% still exist against the Banyamulenge ethnicity which calls for special

attention from various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), government bodies, and Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to come together for the purpose of saving lives of

innocent people who are killed and whose their homes are destroyed and many of the victims

still need basic needs for their survival.

Since year 2017 Minembwe in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, sexual violence

against women and girls is rampant and used as a weapon of war by most forces involved

in conflict. Rape and other forms of sexual brutality are integral to the war and often carried out with impunity.

Children are being abandoned by their families leaving them without protection and subject to mistreatment and exploitation.

these are direct consequences of the atrocities toward children in South kivu DRC/CONGO

 Children in rural and urban areas are at risk from malnutrition

 Children and their families have been forced to leave their homes.

 Children who have been displaced or separated from their families may not have

adequate food, clothing, shelter, or access to basic medical care.

 Children are recruited into the armed forces. They make up approximately 50% of the

armed forces in Minembwe rural commune.

 Children have little or no access to school

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