Pisa, 01/15/2026

Dear friends and supporters,

I am writing to you at the beginning of the New Year to wish you, albeit belatedly, a Happy New Year and to thank each of you who during 2025 have enabled us, with your help, to continue the children's shelter and other activities that have developed around Maison Msaada, Mwenga Centre.

The year that has just ended was very hard, with many challenges that we still managed to face without succumbing, because of the war I have already written a bit about. Although the situation has not improved, in fact it has worsened, we must continue to hope for a better year!

It has been almost a year since I had to leave the country (it was early February), and I never imagined that I would be away from the Children's Home for so long.

Unfortunately, there are still no signs of peace. The year-end report of the U.N. Panel of Experts shows great concern about the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the region, with escalating violence against civilians, both by the occupiers (M23/ Alleance Fleuve Congo) and Congolese forces and wazalendo, becoming more widespread and systematic.

In late November-early December, the war raged in the Mwenga region with further advance of the M23 armies toward Kamituga, almost to the gates of Mwenga Centre, where they are now stationed, and many civilian casualties, also caused by shelling of population centers (e.g. Kasika, about 20 km from Mwenga). All these events caused a mass flight of the panicked population to nearby forests, which also involved most of our workers. Since the local project manager and educator, Angelo, was traveling to Bukavu during those days, and since the people who were to provide care for the children during his absence had fled, the children were left alone for several days during most of the daylight hours. In the evenings and at night Kumba, one of the caretakers, always ensured their presence. These were very difficult days, in which we had to find where to hide the most valuable things (motorcycle wheels, sewing machines...) in the event of looting, and to think of a plan for temporary evacuation of the center. Fortunately, things then calmed down (relatively) and little by little the workers, as well as the girls taking sewing classes, returned. Angelo had to be absent two weeks longer than planned, the road being closed because of the fighting, and he faced a very hard and dangerous journey to return, walking many kilometers in the mud.

However, the situation in Mwenga remains very delicate and unstable, as it does in many regions of Kivu.

Through it all, the children are nonetheless serene, and they joyfully welcomed Angelo back. Christmas was celebrated in a very simple way, even more so than last year, but the children once again prepared their decorations and built a small nativity scene. And there was no shortage of singing and even a small play.

They also received a visit from a soldier from FARD (the government armies) who had seen them days before in the camps, and brought them a nice piece of roasted meat to eat. In short, they were happy!

Unfortunately, the schools are still closed (since before the end of November now) and the children are doing some classes at the center under Angelo's guidance, and helping in the fields.

Part of our hard-worked land has been occupied by Burundian soldiers. Fortunately, it is not a large portion, and the soldiers themselves provide protection for the center, but when I was told, I felt such sorrow... "It's the collateral damage of war," commented one of my staff members...

Prices of all goods, both local and non-local, continue to rise, and the drastic reduction in the USD-Congolese franc exchange rate is not helping (down from several months 2800-2900 to 2250-2300 FC for one dollar). Let's not mention the difficulties in transporting goods from Bukavu city: some sacks of rice and cassava flour purchased by Angelo in Bukavu in mid-November arrived only earlier today in Kibumba, approx. 15 km from Mwenga, and were just retrieved and transported largely on foot through the mud to the center, with enormous effort and cost....

Despite all this, we are not giving up, we cannot do this, for the children and the community, and we are moving forward. The beginning of the year coincided with the start of work to prepare another camp, a second hectare of land that we rented, again located in the vicinity of Maison Msaada. And the work is progressing, with the hope of having, in time, something to feed the children.

And we are thinking of other small projects for this new year 2026, both in Mwenga Centre and in Kamituga (where Dr Darock is currently located, as director of the respective hospital), with which we can further help the local community, which has become even more needy, and about which I will hopefully be able to tell you in an upcoming Newsletter! We would also like to be able to take in more children and enhance the center's activities. Unfortunately, given the crisis situation in the region, we can only move forward in small steps, with a variable pace according to the continuously fickle local context, but the important thing is to move forward anyway, hoping that we can have that minimum of stability that will allow us to take a more decisive step from time to time and not lose what has already been accomplished. For this we will still need your help!

Thank you again for your valuable support, including from our staff and the children of Maison Msaada !