Running for Family, Event Helps Women in the Congo

RIO GRANDE – Brittany Cameron will be exercising her passion to help others when she joins 12 like-minded individuals from across the U.S. to run seven marathons in seven days in May along the shores of Lake Kivu, raising funds and awareness for gender equality in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Runners will traverse the African Great Lakes region and include stops in farming communities with whom On The Ground has existing relationships, including coffee cooperatives and local officials.
As part of the On The Ground Global Organization, Project Congo helps train and equip women farmers, farming families and cooperatives across eastern DRC to gain financial independence and stability to support their families.
“Two years ago, we adopted my son who is from the DRC,” said Cameron. “I am passionate about running. When I saw an ad about this event, I emailed them to get some information. After I was interviewed, they told me they would save a spot on the team for me.
“It’s not often you get to do things you are passionate about,” she said, referring to her son and running, “and help others at the same time. I am running for family.”
As a member of the U.S. team, Cameron needs to raise $15,000 that will be used to purchase land and provide training opportunities for the women in eastern DRC communities. “The Congo is coming out of a Civil War,” she explained, “where a lot of men were killed. Many women now have the responsibility of providing for their families. Culturally, men there often do not want to do business with females, so this event is going to help raise awareness and support to show that by buying from the females in one’s community, you are helping the entire village.”
The DRC is the second largest country in Africa with over 77 million people. Located in central Africa, civil war began in 1996. There have been 5.4 million deaths since 1998, over half of them children who have died from disease, famine, malaria and other unsanitary or unsafe conditions. Because of the political strife and lack of infrastructure in the country, there has been limited development and extraction of the rich natural resources found there.
Project Congo concentrates on gender equality and raising awareness about the key issues faced by coffee farming families in eastern DRC. According to On The Ground Global’s website (www.onthegroundglobal.org), initiatives will promote peace and gender equality aimed to “break the chains of poverty and conflict while supporting women empowerment groups in coffee communities.
“Women play a crucial agricultural role in Africa, providing the majority of the labor,” according to Project Congo. “But their contributions are often invisible since women are excluded from delivering and selling the crop. These realities are exacerbated by gender-based violence used to destabilize communities.”
Funds raised by the marathon runners as a part of Project Congo will provide opportunities by introducing practical initiatives supporting women’s empowerment and educating female farmers to become entrepreneurs, taking control of their lives and creating a brighter future in the war-torn communities.
The 13-member U.S. marathon team includes people of all ages from across the country. “We’ll be running 26.2 miles every day,” Cameron said about the 185-mile event, “and staying with Congolese families in different farming villages every night. I’m excited to see where my son came from.”
Cameron said the event sponsors will provide security and supplies for the team. “I’m not really worried about safety because the sponsors will provide that,” she said. “I’m more concerned about twisting an ankle or worse because of the dirt roads. I’m used to running in the heat because we lived in Puerto Rico for a couple of years, although the elevation of the DRC is higher than Cape May, of course.”
Cameron and her family lived in Puerto Rico while her husband was in the Coast Guard. Originally from Michigan, they settled in Lower Township because her husband had an opportunity to work in a civilian job at the Coast Guard Training Center. Their son, Kai, 4, was adopted just prior to their move to the area.
“Kai has sickle cell anemia,” Cameron said. “It is difficult to get treatment in the DRC. His mother put him up for adoption knowing that he needed to receive treatment for this life-long blood disorder. He is being treated now and doing well.
“The Congo became part of our family,” she said. “Running is a great way to advocate for any cause. With a sustainable business such as coffee farming, women there can feed their families, send their children to school and pay for medical care. They can become empowered.”
Anyone interested in donating to Project Congo in support of Cameron’s efforts can do so at http://goo.gl/3ikGUo (case sensitive). On The Ground is a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.