Gertler Family Foundation Provides Emergency Humanitarian Assistance to Congolese Expelled from the Republic of Congo

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, June 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The Gertler Family Foundation (GFF) has distributed three tons of emergency humanitarian supplies to some of the most vulnerable among the more than 130,000 Congolese recently expelled from neighboring Republic of Congo.

During the past seven weeks, government authorities in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, have daily forced out of the country some 5,000 Congolese suspected of being of origin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While the expulsions have slowed, the newly arrived Congolese, nearly all of whom are in poor physical condition and have no personal possessions, continue to struggle in makeshift camps in and around Kinshasa, the DRC capital.

The GFF, working in coordination with the Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC) and DRC Ministry of Social Affairs, provided drinking water, rice, flour, fish, beans, vegetables, cooking oil and other supplies to some 5,500 people living in a makeshift camp in Maluku, 40miles (60km) outside of Kinshasa. The majority of the camps residents are women and children, including unaccompanied minors.

"This camp had exhausted its already limited food supply and the entire displaced population was truly suffering," said Dieudonné Kayembe, GFF Communications Specialist. "Working with the camp director, the director of the PNC and staff from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the GFF contributed exactly what the displaced population needed and enabled camp officials to restart food distributions."

Mr. Dan Gertler is a co-founder of the GFF. One of the DRC's biggest foundations, the GFF is committed to helping meet the needs of vulnerable Congolese. Since its inception in 2004, the GFF has invested millions of dollars in health, education, agriculture, emergency relief, infrastructure, culture and other projects across the DRC.

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