At-risk communities in the conflict plagued Democratic Republic of Congo received a glimmer of hope today, as a new humanitarian effort pledged to build ten new water wells in rural villages and expand access to safe water for nearly 60,000 people.
More than 33 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo lack access to a safe water supply, drastically impacting their health and livelihood. The crisis is particularly acute for women and girls, many of whom survive by hand-digging wells and collecting water from sources miles and miles away from home – occupying hours of the day and diminishing their capacity to earn an income or go to school. The newly created infrastructure – engineered with heavy machinery that drills 330 feet deep and installs cutting-edge pipes and pumps – will protect these vulnerable populations from devastating water-borne diseases and malnutrition, as well as create new pathways for education and economic mobility.
Spearheading the humanitarian effort for hard-hit Congolese communities is Dr. and Master Zhi Gang Sha, founder of the non-profit Love Peace Harmony Foundation and 11x New York Times bestselling author, and Queen Diambi Kabatusuila. Queen Diambi leads more than 1.5 million Bakwa Luntu people in the Central Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was recently featured in Netflix’s African Queens: Njinga, a new docudrama series executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith.
“Rural communities in the Congo have been devastated by the clean water crisis, and we are humbly doing what we can to help them heal themselves,” said Dr. and Master Zhi Gang Sha. “For 15 years, the Love Peace Harmony Foundation’s mission has been to empower individuals and transform communities, which we’ve accomplished on the global stage through replanting 100,000 trees in fragile ecosystems in Latin America and the Pacific, supporting Afghan refugees relocating in America, helping children access education in Bhutan, and many other impactful programs.”
“For hundreds of years, one of the most challenging problems my people continuously face is access to clean drinking water,” said Queen Diambi Kabatusuila.
“The only solution was for women and girls to travel far away from our villages to find and collect water for their families one cup at a time. When I received the news that 10 additional villages – home to nearly 60,000 residents – were going to have their own working well, I felt an explosion of joy, knowing that good health and opportunities for my people are on the way.”
This commitment builds on the Love Peace Harmony Foundation’s success of installing a single well in the village of Tshiole in 2022. The first of the next ten wells will be built in the village of Bakwa Indu.
To see a video of Queen Diambi discussing the well building effort, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx8gkpsWi4U