International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Starting over in Congo

Photos: 
This woman is arranging pagne, a waxed cotton fabric women use for dresses.
A staff member checks the IDs of people arriving at the fair.
A woman exults when she receives a $75 voucher.
A woman carrying her baby on her back looks at a bolt of fabric.
A man selects three corrugated metal panels to build a home.
A boy gives a vendor a coupon in exchange for a flashlight and batteries.
A woman carries a travel bag, a washing basin and a rolled corrugated sheet.
Two people carry mattresses they purchased at the fair over their heads.
An IRC staff member checks merchandise of visitors who have cashed in coupons.
A fair-goer carries bundles of goods home on a motorbike.
Vendors exchange the vouchers they have collected for credit with the IRC.
A woman with the washing basins she bought at the fair.
Photo: Sinziana Demian/IRC

Last year, the IRC organized three fairs in Congo’s South Kivu Province, which continues to be marred by insecurity and large population displacements. More than 5,000 families—some who were forced from home by violence, others who have been sharing their homes with the uprooted—exchanged IRC vouchers for basic items they need to rebuild their lives.  The fairs, sponsored by UNICEF, also gave local merchants business, providing an important economic boost to the region.