9th annual chocolate for congo is a success

In February 2022, 12 Portland-area restaurants and bakeries featured chocolate desserts and pastries to benefit the people of eastern Congo. $1 from each mouth-watering dessert at participating businesses benefited Action Kivu and Eastern Congo Initiative - non-profits investing in the women, children and communities of eastern Congo. Theo Chocolate, who now sources 100% of its chocolate from the Congo, has generously donated the chocolate for the benefit. Desserts were available all of February throughout Portland. The 9th annual Chocolate for Congo also featured a virtual tasting with Theo Chocolate. Between the restaurant donations and the virtual tasting, $6750 was raised! This was distributed equally to Action Kivu and Eastern Congo Initiative.

This money will cover the tuition for 5 students to attend the Congo Peace School - including daily meals, uniforms and supplies, and paying their teachers and staff a living wage. Eastern Congo Initiative, designated a portion to Asili for All, which is a program to cover the costs of healthcare and water for the most vulnerable in the community who can't afford the cost of these services. The other portion was used to create care packages for 142 new mothers and 79 newborns at a remote pediatric and maternal health center. They'll have fabric for mom, food, clothing for the newborns and more.

The 2022 Chocolate for Congo featured these participating restaurants and bakeries:

Arden - Baker and Spice - Cafe Olli
Canard - Coquine - Dame
Lazy Susan - Le Pigeon - Ox - Pie Spot
Republica - Ruddick/Wood

Our partner, Theo Chocolate is a leading organic and fair trade chocolate maker, Theo has proved that you can find success by doing things differently, and that everyone in the bean to bar process can thrive. As of this year, every Theo products directly support the livelihood of over 7,020 cocoa farmers and their 70,200 family members in eastern Congo, enabling them to send their children to school and reinvest in their communities. By sourcing organic and fair trade certified cocoa beans from farmers, Theo invites people to discover a better world through chocolate.

Driven by the belief that locally-lead approaches are the key to a brighter future, Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI) works shoulder to shoulder with communities in Congo as they build health, freedom, and prosperity for life. ECI cultivates public and private partnerships, combined with advocacy, to create new opportunities for the people of eastern Congo. 

ECI envisions an eastern Congo vibrant with abundant opportunities for economic and social development, where a robust civil society can flourish through 4 key pillars: collaborative grantmaking to increase services across sectors; the transformative Asili model providing healthcare, water, and energy in a way that will last for years to come without ongoing philanthropy; strengthened global markets to grow the region’s economy; and powerful advocacy to increase international attention and support in Congo’s most needed areas.

Action Kivu partners with ABFEC, a Congolese owned and operated non-profit. They provide direct assistance to survivors of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo through entrepreneurial training and education projects rooted in peace and equality. They advocate community-based initiatives and sustainable solutions developed by members of the Congolese community that provide pathways for them to be agents for peace as they create a thriving society for all. Their entrepreneurial programs and the Congo Peace School are located in Mumosho, located in eastern Congo.

Led by Action Kivu’s Founding Director Amani Matabaro, the Congo Peace School is a one-of-a-kind school serving 523 students, providing a life changing education rooted in peace and nonviolence. It is a place of healing in a country decimated by war and corruption, where vulnerable children are fed nutritious daily meals and supported by trauma-informed staff. It is an investment in a peaceful future, where students learn computer skills in a lab powered by solar energy, and receive training in sustainable agriculture. It is a model for gender equity and equality, where girls and boys enroll in equal numbers, teachers receive equal pay, and students learn together about the rights of women and girls. It is a revolutionary school in a post-colonial country, providing the space and resources for students to foster their curiosity and ask questions, forming their own theories, and receiving the tools to make this vision of peace a reality.

For more information, contact us at info@neveragaincoalition.org