When you think of the type of work of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), there are two basic aims; relief and reconciliation. A huge number of NGOs working in developing nations are relief based. This means something has happened that has left a group of people in need of some sort of help, and they aim to be that help, relieve that need. Work like this is incredibly valuable and serves millions of people per year. For example, an organization that donates clothes to those that don’t have any, doctors that treat people wounded by war, or the providing of water for victims of floods and earthquakes. The other basic aim is that of reconciliation; reconciliation of lack of education, reconciliation of suppressed people, reconciliation of neglect and/or exploitation. While there are gray areas and combinations of the two, most NGOs fall into one of these two categories. Sports4HOPE has chosen reconciliation.
Relief is the obvious undertaking for an NGO for a couple reasons. One, relief is always needed. In 2003 almost 300 people were massacred in Bogoro, a small village outside of Bunia in which we are working. Many times more than that were left injured and in need of medical attention. Doctors and medical staff came from all over the world to help. You can see the same situation in Haiti after the earthquake. Disasters happen, and no matter what kind of infrastructure and economy the country has in place (Tsunami in Tokyo, Hurricane Katrina in the USA), people are in desperate need of aid. Two, relief can produce immediate results. Due to the nature of relief based projects, gratification is often instant, and a long term commitment is not always needed. Residents of a Nicaraguan refugee camp just across the border into Costa Rica are sick from drinking unclean water or no water at all. A mission based group goes in for 30 days, drills two wells, and sets in place a system that will provide clean, potable drinking water for 15 families. This is tremendous work, it serves many people, and the results are instantaneous. Three, fundraising for a relief project is quite different, and often easier, than for that of reconciliation. A shoe company starts up and says, buy one pair of our shoes and we will provide a pair to a child without any. Print ads and brochures show pictures of orphans starving in Malaysia due to drought and food shortages: “one dollar a day will provide this child with food and a bed in which to sleep.” There is always a need, the results are instant, and donors can have a direct impact.
Reconciliation, on the other hand, is different animal all together. While needed at the same magnitude as relief, reconciliation efforts rarely provide instant results, and sometimes results are never achieved. Reconciliation work often takes years or an entire lifetime of dedication and commitment to a project. Here in Congo, Sports4HOPE is in the process of immersing the youth of three previously and currently conflicted villages in soccer and volleyball leagues, developing a passion for the friendships a team brings. Through being part of teams they can learn teamwork, leadership, problem solving, honesty, integrity, fair play, how to win and lose graciously, and many other life lessons. They also have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the youth playing on teams from the neighboring villages. The players will also be taught peace education through school and “Peace Clubs” in which the kids will serve the village, as well as learn the value of being in community with each other. The Lendu, Hema, and Ngiti tribes have been warring off and on for the past 20 years and a sustained peace will not come easily or quickly. However one day the youth of these villages will be the leaders. We believe, and models all over the world have proved, that people involved with peace based sports programs are significantly less likely to be involved conflict. So the work of a reconciliation based NGO is not fast and it’s not easy. It’s a tougher model to present for fundraising, and an even tougher sell to possible donors. Why support an organization that can’t guarantee anything when you have another established organization that for a small price can provide instant relief?
The answer to this question can explained through contrasting initiatives here in Bogoro, where hunger has always been a problem. In times of crisis a handful of international NGOs bring food into the area to feed the villagers. This food lasts only as long as as the NGOs are there to give it. Once the crisis is over and the village is no longer in a state of emergency the NGOs pack up and move on to another area where the huger is needed more. However Synergie Simama, a local NGO has other ideas. Their money is not spent on buying up food in mass quantities to feed the hungry. For the past 3 years, since the official end of Africa’s World War, Synergie Simama has been teaching the Hema people of Bogoro to farm. A native Hema agronomist is on hand in the village and the nutrient rich soil of the surrounding mountains is being utilized in the form of a 35 acre farm. All the maintenance and work is done by the villagers and multiple times a year the crops are harvested. Some of the food goes to feed the Hema people of Bogoro and what is left is sold to neighboring villages. A portion of the profits are used to subsidize the Bogoro markets with food that is not grown on the farm, while the rest pays for the upkeep and expansion of the farm. Now the villagers of Bogoro have developed a skill and resource that will help to sustain them on an ongoing basis.
Another way to look at it is aloe vs sunscreen. Aloe relieves the skin after a burn, while sunscreen prevents the the skin from being burned in the first place. Sports4HOPE aims to be the sunscreen.
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