After nearly a decade of political and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ADRA is helping displaced families rebuild their lives. Officials in ADRA DRC report that much of the need is concentrated in South Kivu province in Eastern Congo, the area of origin of the greatest number of refugees and internally displaced people from the Second Congo War. "A lot of displacement took place in this territory," said Andrew Njoke, ADRA DRC's Executive Director. "Presently, families are returning into the region with little or no assistance . . . housing and farm lands are in ruins as many homes were destroyed and uninhabited. . . . Returning families are living in plastic sheeting, or in hastily erected grass huts or crowded in host families."

Each family will receive a kitchen kit containing eating utensils, plates, cups, and cooking pots; two 20-litre jerry cans for water; a hygiene kit comprised of bath soap, laundry soap, and a treated mosquito net, as well as blankets and shoes for the children. As it did with the initial 900 families, ADRA is providing the additional 60 families with shelter kits containing construction materials, such as galvanized roofing sheets, roofing and carpentry nails, doors, and windows. ADRA will help construct the two-bedroom homes with unbaked mud bricks supplied by the beneficiaries.

ADRA Denmark office provides funding to assist the original 900 families, and ADRA Canada and the ADRA International office are providing funding for the additional 60 families. The expanded 60-family project is worth an estimated $70,000.