It is so hard to hear that peace negotiations have stalled in Goma in the last few days.

And this NY Times article highlights how little has changed in Congo, in spite of the war officially ending five years ago.

“Five years after Congo’s catastrophic war officially ended, the rate at which people are dying in the country remains virtually unchanged, according to a new survey, despite the efforts of the world’s largest peacekeeping force, billions of dollars in international aid and a historic election that revived democracy after decades of violence and despotism.

The survey, released Tuesday, estimated that 45,000 people continue to die every month, about the same pace as in 2004, when the international push to rebuild the country had scarcely begun. Almost all the deaths come from hunger and disease, signs that the country is still grappling with the aftermath of a war that gutted its infrastructure, forced millions to flee and flattened its economy.”

Challenges on that unimaginable scale make it hard to even think about doing tiny, grassroots work like GSF. At the same time, I find myself unsure of how to think about affecting change on any other scale and gain hope from the way that our school staff has been working with the local community, with the guidance of the HEAL Africa hospital, to create our most successful school yet.