War, hunger and disease have killed more than Ten million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1998. One child in every five dies before reaching their fifth birthday.

Families and children in the DRC remain at grave risk of mass atrocities. There hasn't been prolonged peace and stability in the eastern Congo since the end of the 1998-2003 war, and armed groups have continued to carry out attacks on communities throughout the region.

Before the most recent crisis in September 2013, there were more than 2.2 million displaced people and tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries.

• 5.4 million people, mostly civilians, have been killed in fighting since 1998; there are 1,000 rapes every month.

• One in five children die before the age of five – a quarter of them before they’re a month old.

Because of these heart-wrenching reasons, BSM Connections is working hard to reach tens of thousands of people with our critical, life-saving health, child protection and education mission:

Establish, support and promote free education

A large number of the population live in excessive poverty and the future of those children is compromised. As a result, parents focus on the daily struggle to feed their children and have to abandon their pursuit to provide them an education. Therefore, having free schools within the community will help to secure the future of a great many disadvantaged children, particularly that of vulnerable young girls. This will be a huge relief for the parents who want to see their children returning to school.

Organise medical centres which will provide free medication

With people dying from lack of basic medicines such as paracetamol and quinine, some of our funds are invested to create medical centres to provide free drugs and medical consultations.

Support the members of the community individually

BSM Connections work alongside the members of different communities and local non-profit organisations to identify individual cases which will need assistance and therefore, benefit from funding.

At the same time supporting cultural, social and health activities of the members of the community in the UK and DRC.