CAMME’s story begins with the story of one family.
The ‘AFDL War,’ as Congolese call the 1996-1997 conflict, deposed Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Laurent Kabila to power. In Zaire in the early 1990s, despite rule by a corrupt tyrant who defrauded his country of billions of dollars, there was at least a sense of stability. People lived normal lives, and in some of the larger cities, a true middle class had begun to emerge. Christine Lunanga and her family, part of that middle class at the time, lived in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province. Her parents were both professionals; her mom worked as a maternity nurse, and father was an accountant at Bralima, the local branch of the national brewery. As the conflict approached Bukavu, Christine’s father lost his job, where he’d worked for more than a decade. Looking for another job, he moved his family to Goma, North Kivu province, and left for Kinshasa, the capital, in an unsuccessful attempt to find another job. In 1998, as the conflict spiraled into full-blown civil war, Christine’s family experienced hunger and destitution for the first time. Despite this, they persevered.
Just as their lives were returning to some sort of normalcy, Mt. Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted in January 2002, obliterating the city of Goma. The family fled to neighboring Rwanda as refugees, going without food or water, and sleeping in shelters made of nothing more than plastic sheets. Returning to Goma, they found that the volcano had destroyed their home, leaving nothing behind. Family photos, birth certificates, diplomas and a lifetime of memories had been incinerated in wave of lava, ash, and mud.
In the aftermath of the volcano, Christine’s mother lost her job as a nurse, and struggled to support seven children. Not long after, a new conflict began, led by a rebel leader named Laurent Nkunda. With the constant shocks of disaster and conflict, their once-prosperous family experienced true hardship.
Sleeping outside, not having food to eat, and being unable to pay even basic school fees, at 19, Christine understood the reality confronting vulnerable youth in North Kivu on a daily basis. As she and her family’s living situation slowly stabilized and improved, in 2005, Christine tried to interest people in the idea of creating an organization to help vulnerable children. Christine’s own mother didn’t understand at first. Why, after all they experienced, would they focus on helping the other people in need, and not themselves? Her immediate family believed in the idea though, and CAMME became a reality in 2007. Each of them were working, and with their small salaries each provided a monthly contribution to help children living on the street, and establish an organization to provide food and education for them.
Today, CAMME is a registered Congolese NGO that has supported more than 3,000 children over 10 years in Goma and in nearby Masisi Territory. CAMME continues to support orphaned and abandoned children, former child solders, and victims of sexual exploitation.
In 2013 CAMME opened a new chapter with the founding of Youth Inspirations Academy, a fully-bilingual accredited English and French preschool and primary school. Today more than 300 children attend classes from preschool through 4th grade, and the school is growing every year.
CAMME’s Founders
Christine Lunanga – Founder of CAMME, Director of Outreach and Partnerships
Born in Bukavu, South Kivu in 1985, Christine earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Management and Finance, and after interning at a local organization promoting maternal and child health, she became an auditor in a local microfinance organization in Goma. After two years, she was promoted and became the organization’s deputy director. After growing up in a relatively prosperous family, a series of conflicts and disasters gave her a sense of the reality faced by vulnerable children on a daily basis, and at the age of 22, she created CAMME, with Stewart Lunanga, and Pascal Bashombana joining her soon after.
“I understand what suffering means for a child; I lived it myself. Experiencing this made me want to fight to improve the lives of those who haven’t had the same opportunities as I have.”
Today, Christine serves as CAMME’s Director of Outreach and Partnerships, building relationships with partners and donors around the world. She has represented CAMME at events and conferences such as the 2016 Women Deliver Global Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the African Diaspora Network Forum in San Francisco, the Elmbrook Summer Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Moremi Initiative’s MILEAD Fellows program (2011). Now based overseas, she returns to Congo as often as she can, and continues to work to expand CAMME’s outreach to children in need, while caring for her two sons, and completing a Masters’ program in Sustainable Development at United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya.
Stewart Lunanga – Co-Founder
Originally from Bukavu, Stewart graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Rural Development from the Goma Higher Institute of Rural Development.
“I first experienced war as a child in eastern Congo when refugees came from Rwanda in 1994 and 1995; no child should ever have to see the things I saw during that time. Why should children be victims of things they know nothing about?”
Stewart turned this experience into a desire to make a positive change in the lives of children, children with the same rights to education, food, and health care as children anywhere. He is the founder and director of the Amani Language Initiative, a division of CAMME that operates an adult-education school in Goma that tutors Congolese and foreign students in English, French, and Swahili.
In 2017, in recognition of his work with CAMME, YIA, and the Amani Language Initiative, Stewart was selected for the prestigious Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Mandela Fellowship by the United States Department of State, representing CAMME and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a visiting Fellow at the University of San Diego and in Washington, and manages CAMME and YIA’s daily operations today.