Radio Kahuzi is a Light in the Darkness...

YOU Can Help Us Shine His Light.

A PLEA FOR THE CHILDREN OF KALEHE

130 orphaned children. One camp. Urgent need for your support

Greetings from Rich and Kathy,

On the night of May 4, 2023, floodwaters tore through the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in Kalehe Territory, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 5,000 people perished. Entire families were swept away. Houses, fields, schools — gone.

What the waters left behind were the children.

Who Are These Children?

Today, 130 orphaned children — ages 3 to 16 — live in the Cibanda Lwako Camp, a former airstrip 58 kilometers north of Bukavu. They are there because they have nowhere else to go. Their parents are dead. Their homes no longer exist.

130 Orphans 52 Girls 78 Boys 10 Camp Deaths

Among them, 63 are of primary school age and 58 are of secondary or vocational training age. Nine are toddlers, between 3 and 5 years old, who have never known anything but life in this camp.

Life in the Camp

These children face hunger, malnutrition, and illness every day. Ten have already died from illness and malnutrition since arriving at the camp. Many have developed mumps — a painful, fever-causing viral infection — with 10 currently affected, three of them severely.

They sleep crowded together on thin mats. Their clothes are torn. When the rains come — and they come often — the children are cold, sick, and terrified. They dream of landslides coming to bury them in their sleep.

"In this house, I sleep in a small room with my younger brothers on a small mat, often waking up in the morning with stomach pain. Our clothes are torn. When it rains, we are cold and suffer from headaches. At night, I have nightmares that the landslides will return to bury us here." — Ombeni, age 10

Without sponsorship or income, the children have no access to school. Some are forced by hunger into domestic labor in strangers’ homes, performing heavy chores in exchange for food — a cycle of exploitation that deepens their trauma and cuts them off from any hope of a normal future.

Surveys conducted at the camp have confirmed serious psychological trauma: grief, anxiety, and stress that, left unaddressed, will impair these children’s development for years to come.

What Radio Kahuzi Has Already Done

A Message from the Smiths

Radio Kahuzi Bukavu (BESI) has not stood by. With very limited local resources, our team — led by journalist Danny Magadju and his wife — has provided rice, beans, and porridge to the camp, organized medical care for the most critically ill children, and brought a Christmas celebration to the camp each December so these children can experience a moment of joy and dignity.

Three children with severe mumps received $50 worth of medication, funded by Radio Kahuzi. But our resources are exhausted. The need far exceeds what we can provide alone.

What Your Support Will Do

We are asking for your help to launch two income-generating projects that will provide sustainable food security for these children, along with continued access to schooling, healthcare, and psychosocial support.

Danny's Project 1: Mini Piggery

A small pig farm — 12 piglets, a wooden sty, and six months of feed — will provide these children with a sustainable source of protein and income. Space is already available at the camp site.

Construction of wooden pigsty

Purchase of 12 piglets $480 + $36

Feed for 6 months (oilcakes) $1,500

Equipment (cans, buckets) + contingency $174

TOTAL START-UP COST $2,590

Danny's Project 2: Family Fish Pond

A tilapia fish pond (100m x 60m) will provide a second source of nutrition and income. Land is available. Fingerlings will be sourced from a neighboring country and transported to Kalehe.

Digging the fish pond $350

Materials (pipes, nets, tools) $180

9,000 fingerlings + transportation $1,700

Fish feed for 6 months $500

Maintenance + contingency $294

TOTAL START-UP COST $3,024

Together, these two projects are projected to cover approximately 65% of the children’s food and basic needs — reducing dependence on external aid and giving these children a foundation for the future.

The Bigger Picture

Kalehe Territory sits in the heart of South Kivu, a region that has faced both natural disaster and armed conflict. The floods of 2023 killed over 5,000 people in a territory of fewer than half a million inhabitants. The armed conflict of early 2025 has only deepened the humanitarian crisis — and the suffering of the most vulnerable: the children.

These 130 orphans have lost everything — their parents, their homes, their schools, their childhoods. They have survived floods, conflict, illness, and hunger. They are resilient. But resilience alone is not enough without support.

The Bible tells us: "Pure and undefiled religion before God is to visit orphans in their suffering" (James 1:27). We take that seriously. We hope you will too.

Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement, and your steadfast support of Richard & Kathy and the entire BESI / Radio Kahuzi family.

Until we see Him Face to Face in the Heavenlies,

Keep Looking UP!

Harold D. Smith, and our

BESI Board of Directors

"A child who smiles is a child who heals and learns."

Danny caring for his orphans

Pressing Needs:

McDonald's and Radio Staff Family

Living Under M23

$10,000

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,

especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Galatians 6: 10

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(BESI) Believer's Express Service Inc.

PO Box 110173

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TEL: 941.746.1974

Email: radiokahuzi.besi@gmail.com

www.besi.org / www.radiokahuzi.com / www.radiokahuzi.blogspot.com

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