In the Democratic Republic of the Congo hidden and virtually unknown are the tallest waterfalls of Africa; the breathtaking Lovoï Falls, from which our name derives. When I came upon this awesome sight, the power of this waterfall infused me with its strength, and the birth of a movement began, a movement of solutions, healing, and positive help for Mother Africa. Although I left my home in Lubumbashi as a teen, I’ ve always had my heart and mind on helping my people. For many years, this came in the form of helping my immediate and very large family; however, as I’ ve grown older and wiser, I now understand exactly what my people need. The problems of Africa cannot be fixed with handouts, but by helping people help themselves. The old adage “ Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day; teach him how to fish, and he’ ll eat forever,” is true. As I watched the river winding, pushing, molding, and forming its way through the mountain, I realized that this is how to truly make a difference in my country. The waters gushed through, awakening new life in a place that was once dormant. My goals are to help inspire people to know how to help themselves as they take care of all that Nature has to offer in a sustainable fashion.

Lovoï Sustainable Villages is committed to breaking the poverty cycle forever through the empowering principles of permaculture, an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies, which in turn reduces a society’ s reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that have fundamentally and systematically destroyed Earth’ s natural ecosystems. The first village we are developing is Mwapoleni Village with the Mwapoleni Sanctuary Project in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. At this time, the government is redistributing the land away from the indigenous people with the intentions of selling the land to build lucrative housing projects. This land is important to its inhabitants for spiritual and ancestral reasons ; its loss, can truly destroy the spirit of a whole people. The only thing that will stop this is if we are able to show that the land is capable of generating income through agriculture. Truthfully, the inhabitants have been trying to do this; however, they can only work as hard as their resources allow them to. Without water and tools, hardworking people are merely running in place. We are bridging the gap by helping people reap the fruitions of their labor by providing basic necessities, which will in turn allow them to both keep their land, and help their people for generations to come.

Over sixty percent of the population in the Democratic Republic of Congo is under the age of 16. With this in mind, our first goal is to help women by teaching them entrepreneurship through micro-financing in organic agriculture and other income-generating opportunities. Since most food is currently being imported, it is essential to create food security by cultivating the land which will not only benefit the surrounding area (12 kilometers from Mwapoleni to the large city of Lubumbashi with a population of 2 million), but be a much healthier and cheaper alternative to what is currently available. This will also stop the people from having their land taken from them.

Second, we are building a public school for the children to get free education and adults to take advantage of classes in different trades. We will be teaching classes in adult literacy, primary healthcare, community involvement, brick-making, jewelry-making, soap-making, beekeeping, tilapia farming and many other skills. The idea is to create a place where the diligent can keep working and thinking after the sun goes down. In turn, we are instilling pride in a people who have been abandoned and left desolate. By teaching principles of self preservation and acknowledging traditional creations such as the Papa Yambi (traditional chairs) we hope to build a strong foundation with a higher standard of living for generations to come. These classes will not only benefit the children and the mothers that take care of them, but the many disabled people unable to obtain employment due to their physical limitations.

LSV Inc. is already working on the procurement of water and getting ready to build latrines. We intend to carry out the development of an entire country, village by village. This is not where it ends. With your assistance, we can help people help themselves grow and become a part of the global economy. This will cascade into their values mentally, spiritually, culturally, and artistically with the respect and protection of Nature in mind. As the Lovoi Falls and her surrounding rocks, trees, and rivers become one, so shall we.