Democratic Republic of Congo – Don Bosco Centre in Bukavu damaged by floods

31 March 2022

(ANS - Bukavu) – Savage deforestation and building on the hills of Bukavu, as well as the lack of a general waste collection system, have caused considerable damage to the city's Salesian work: on March 16, heavy rain transformed the industrial avenue on which the work stands into a destructive torrent.

The city of Bukavu is overpopulated and has only one rainwater drainage channel, the Gauwa. There is no general garbage collection system and all kinds of debris is dumped into the canal. The rain has carried away plastic bottles, rags, pieces of wood... This debris blocks and overloads the canal and the muddy water overflows, invades roads and lanes, enters houses and causes a lot of damage - and when it reaches Lake Kivu, the debris can block the turbines of the hydroelectric plant.

On March 16, heavy rains hit the city of Bukavu and caused serious consequences, starting with the death of 6 people and continuing with the landslides of stretches of hillside, the collapse of houses, several vehicles carried away by the rainwater...

The Don Bosco Center in Bukavu, which is located along the city's industrial boulevard and has the Gauwa flowing alongside it, was also heavily impacted. Water ripped out the railings of a bridge adjoining the center and brought a lot of mud and soil inside the Salesian school.

The masonry workshop at the Don Bosco Centre in Bukavu, on the other hand, was totally damaged: the water entered the hangar, rose up to a height of 3 metres, leaving its traces on the walls, knocked down the boundary wall, broke down the door of the workshop, which was invaded by mud; then, it completely destroyed the garage that served as a storage room, the janitor's house, the toilets and part of the teachers' office.

In the warehouse there was a very large space for masonry students' exercises and two smaller rooms that had been rented to carpenters. Unfortunately, one of them was caught in the flood and was swept away in the water and mud.

Reconstruction work is urgent: the masonry apprentices need their premises back in order to complete their training and regularly finish the school year. They are showing their good will, working with the means at their disposal to clean up their shed from all the mud and other debris - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMm3df4Pyuo).

"Our small catastrophe joins the immense catastrophe of the war in Ukraine and the endless catastrophe of the guerrilla warfare in the East of the Congo. We ask the Lord to deliver us from all evil, certain that every Station of the Cross results in the Resurrection," comments Fr Piero Gavioli, the work’s Rector.

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ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

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