Our message has been heard, now it's time to do the work

Our colleague from the DRC, Aimee Manimani, came to London last week for the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign, and spoke to more than 3,000 people about her first-hand experiences of hunger. In this post she shares what your support and the IF campaign has achieved and why the race to end hunger isn’t over yet.

By Aimee Manimani, Senior Communications Manager, World Vision DRC

Coming to the UK this week, I felt like I was not alone in the fight.

I arrived in London at the same time the world leaders from the G8 were meeting here to discuss international standards on tax and transparency. There is concern around the world that millions of children are dying of malnutrition despite the presence of trillions of dollars worth of mineral reserves in my country alone. For supporters of the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign who’d been fighting to have these issues heard, our moment had arrived.

The IF campaign’s main aim has been to engage the public, but especially these eight world leaders who were participating in talks at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland. They need to address the lack of transparency over who owns which mines in poor countries, such as my own, the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have seen for myself how these mines can rob children of their future, and so I was lucky enough to find myself in London with World Vision UK for this campaign to share these experiences.

Children's dreams

On a recent trip to a gold mining village in a place called Yedi I met Lionel, a 10-year-old 'little digger' working in the mines. He told me: “If am lucky enough to get a kilogram of gold I could buy clothes for myself and my mum, a TV and I could marry a woman and eat well.”

Lionel isn’t alone in his dream. It’s shared by thousands of children like him who arrive at these mining towns across the Congo. Hunger often drives them here – more than 43% of children in the DRC are chronically malnourished. They hope of better things to come if they can make their fortune digging.

However what I also know is that the DR Congo is sitting on £15 trillion of mineral wealth. This should be used to help to improve the lives of children, mothers and men; to build basic infrastructure and end poverty. Sadly, it isn’t.

Anyone who benefits from a mine should register their interest officially, and the poorest in DRC should know who owns what, and those who benefit should pay their fare share in taxes. I learned that this was not negotiable; that this was a citizen’s right, and the governments should make it happen.

Enough food for everyone IF

That motivated me enough to stand in front of 3000 people and talk about the issues that my country is facing, as one of the poorest countries whose population cannot benefit properly from its wealth.

The IF Church Service at Westminster Central Hall was a first step to the rest of the activities which ended up at a rally in Hyde Park on the same day that the 'Hunger Summit' was taking place. Here many journalists interviewed me about the situation back home, what lack of transparency and tax revenues are like and how it affects the lives of ordinary Congolese people.

I saw famous people such as world renowned businessman, Bill Gates, giving his message to the world about the hunger.

It was just amazing, for me as an ordinary Congolese woman, and victim of the injustice in my country, to hear these messages. I felt supported by the world and on that day we all had a same and unique goal, Enough Food For Everyone around the world.

Creating visible change

I wish I could see the change, I wish that the leaders who met in Northern Ireland could hear the call made by small voices of parents who are tired of the unfair share, and from kids who are very hungry but strong enough to go to school so that they can get an education.

I met one of World Vision’s key supporters while I was here in London, who said on his visit to the DRC in 2011: “I was amazed to see how women could agree to not eat but send their kids at school.”

Such sacrifices and courage should be encouraged and these people’s cause deserves international support.

And G8 leaders can change or at least influence the global dynamic of the world.

David Cameron said last Saturday at the Open for Growth conference. “Trade, tax and transparency are vital factors in the global effort to eradicate poverty… Illicit flows out of African countries outweighs foreign aid”

Our message had been heard.

In order for the G8’s commitments on greater tax transparency to truly benefit children, like those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we need to see these ideas made real. Mining can bring in important tax revenue for governments to fund health and education, but corruption and a lack of governance can mean the benefits of this aren’t felt by the communities most affected.

A lot more work needs to be done with governments of developing countries, to see this change. And, most importantly, communities must be enabled to hold their governments to account.

For children like Lionel, the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign has offered real hope. However now David Cameron and the other G8 leaders need to finish what they started at the Northern Ireland summit to really make a difference.

We want to thank Aimee for being so willing and open to sharing her story to help people understand what life is like for people living and working in the world's poorest countries. Everyone who heard Aimee speak at the church service commented on how powerful her personal story was.

What strikes you most about Aimee's story and the success of the IF campaign in making a real mark in leaders' minds? Share your thoughts with us on our Facebook page.