Today is #GivingTuesday! On the flip side of #BlackFriday, #SmallBusinessSaturday, and #CyberMonday, #GivingTuesday is a chance to kick off the holiday season by giving back. As you reflect on your many options today, we hope you will consider making a donation to Congo Restoration to continue the wonderful work you have helped us do for many years.

We have two areas of need we’re hoping you can help with on this #GivingTuesday. Just click here before midnight CST on Tuesday, Nov. 29, to help us get started on our exciting 2017 plans.

How much should you give? We have two urgent needs in Eastern Congo right now:

1. Christmas for our 30 orphans: A donation of $25 will provide a much-needed article of clothing for each of our children, plus a special meal of chicken and rice for the extended family that has taken this child. Add $10 for a total donation of $35 and you will have paid school fees for the rest of the year.
2. Pigs for our 2017 program and sewing machines for our January 2017 graduates: A donation of $150 will provide a sewing machine to one of our 40 sewing school graduates OR a pig for our new pig program. Upon graduating from our eight-month program, we help the women in our sewing school start their own businesses, allowing them to support themselves, their children, and earn respect within the village. Our next graduation is at the end of January. We are also starting a pig farm. Pigs are vital to Congo and to have a pig is to have a means to support your family. Congo Restoration has started a small pig farm in Eastern Congo and and hopes this farm eventually will help us become a self-sustaining organization.

Thanks for investing in the women and children of Eastern Congo!

Our kids head back to school this month. Help them start the year right by donating to our Back-to-School Fundraiser!

We have a wonderful opportunity to ship much-needed items from the Dallas area to Eastern Congo via donated space in a shipping container. Here are all the details. We need items by July 7. Let us know if you have something to donate! Please email Dawn McMullan at dmcmullan@sbcglobal.net for more information.

How can a pig help a child?

First, a little background. In November of 2008, rebels attacked the village of Kanyola in Eastern Congo, a result of long-term conflict in the region, partly involving the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda. When Congo Restoration Founder Gorethy Nabushosi returned to her home in Bukavu, Eastern Congo, in early 2009 — a decade after she fled with her family — she visited a hospital helping women had been raped in the conflict. The women asked her to go to see what had become of their village, Kanyola. 

So Gorethy went. She found hundreds of children who had no families anymore. One boy, Mushaga, lost his parents and five siblings that day. He was 7.

Gorethy took 30 children, including Mushaga. And so began Congo Restoration. 

Today, Mushaga and the 29 other children live with extended family members, supported by Gorethy and Congo Restoration. These 30 children have homes, a village of support — locally and in the United States through Congo Restoration! — go to school, and have regular health care. 

By donating a pig to each of these families, we will provide them with long-term financial stability. It may be difficult to understand living in the United States, but owning a pig as a dream come true for these families.

Mushaga, now 15, with Congo Restoration Chair of the Board Dawn McMullan, in Bukavu one year ago. Mushaga is at the top of his class and plans to go to university.

In Congo, a pig means status and stability. Mushaga and the other children from Kanyola have seen far too little of that in their young years. 

So hurray for pigs! And hurray for you! 

Thanks for everything. Stay tuned for upcoming pig pictures as we get this program going!

Click here to donate.

Do you like wine?

Do you like your friends?

Do you need a couple of hours to tap into your creative brain?

Have you heard that adult coloring parties are a thing now?

Do you like doing good in the world?

You’re in luck. Join us at Times Ten Cellars for a wonderful evening with Creative Coach Jill Allison Bryan to raise money for 10 new sewing machines for our sewing school. Click here to RSVP.

We raised $2,368— our second biggest amount yet! A huge thanks to all the youth groups who came out to have fun and support children in the Congo. You guys rock! And an enormous shout out to the kids at Team Texas Youth Climbing Team. We couldn’t do it without you! Can’t wait to see everyone again next year!

Thanks to all the youth groups who attended: First UMC Allen, Greenland Hills UMC, Northpark Presbyterian, Ridgewood Park UMC, and Suncreek UMC. You guys are the best!

With our first class of students graduated and working on their own businesses (upstairs from our newest students so they can pitch in when necessary), our second class of students has been chosen. Looking forward to working with these ladies over the next several months!

We opened our sewing school just outside of Bukavu in the summer of 2014. This month, 30 women graduated after six months of training and a two-month internship. Their final project was to sew their graduation outfits. Everything about the day was beautiful. Thanks to everyone who helped make this day happen!

The Congo Restoration Sewing School in Bukavu is officially open for education! We welcome our 30 new students and can’t wait to see what they do! The students will graduate in February with skills that will pull them out of poverty and shame. Stay tuned for updates on their progress!

Our first class of students!

Founder Gorethy Nabushosi and our new teachers.

Now that we have the funds, the building, the teachers, all we need are students. Founder Gorethy Nabushosi is interviewing candidates and will choose 30 to be the first class of the Congo Restoration Sewing School Bukavu.

Stay tuned!

Gorethy with perspective students.

Women lined up outside the school to interview.

Our new school!