I returned home less than 40 hours ago.  Images of Congo are still fresh in my mind: the children slaving in the Bunia goldmine, the rape victim who told us how her captors held her down in the field by driving a stake through her foot. I am driving to Wildwood school to report on our trip and our work.  I am still jetlagged; still, in many ways, dazed from the dramatic contrast between my life and theirs.  The images in my mind dance back and forth between the various people we met and the stories they told us.

It is ironic that one week ago I was standing at a gold mine in the very dangerous, remote Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ironic because today I am chaperoning my daughter’s 4th grade trip to Sacramento, our state capital, to learn about the history of our state, including the history of the California gold rush. Of course, a highlight of the trip is visiting inactive gold mines in the region. As I stood with my daughter and her friends deep in the tunnels of the Goldbug mine today, the docent turned out the lights to show how just how dark it is inside of a mine. My daughter said, “Mom it’s so dark I can’t tell if my eyes are opened or closed.” From the mouths of babes. . .

Today we took a very long and difficult ride to visit a gold mine. Mining is prevalent in Eastern Congo and remains a key factor in the tragic exploitation and violence which defines this region.

We didn’t think we’d be back here so soon. It has only been 15 weeks since we last left eastern Congo in November 2009. This time, we’ve come back with a broader coalition of funders, spearheaded by Ben Affleck, to launch our collaborative Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI).   Jewish World Watch was invited to join Affleck’s ECI as a founding member.   ECI aims to help the victims of violence and support the Congolese people in rebuilding their civil society—a society that values the safety and security of all of its members—including women and children.