JRS Great Lakes

Number of people served in 2020: 133,319

With a regional office in Goma, JRS Great Lakes coordinates the provision of education, housing, psychosocial support, and livelihoods projects to vulnerable refugees and other forcibly displaced in the region.

The JRS Great Lakes region was set up in 1995 in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and other widespread ethnic violence. The first team was dispatched to Bukavu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and JRS quickly spread to other parts of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. Since then, JRS teams have accompanied people uprooted by violence that is largely due to the exploitation of ethnic identity and the struggle over land and precious natural resources.

JRS is currently present in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Tanzania.

Countries

Burundi

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Tanzania

See Our Work

A JRS teacher training class for Math instructors in Mweso, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Don Doll, SJ)
Children in the Jesuit Refugee Service nursery in Masisi. (Jesuit Refugee Service)
Swavis Nzeyimana with her 7 months-old child beside the dishes she dries in the sun, a lesson she learned at JRS family management classes in Kibimba (Danilo Giannese/Jesuit Refugee Service)
JRS staff member Marie-Grâce Mukanyiligira organizes the distribution within the parish grounds of Gatumba (Pádraic MacOireachtaigh/Jesuit Refugee Service)
Congo, Sr Regina MISSANGAFr. visits with Cecilia who JRS help with her shelter which cost about $29 in Kalinga camp.

Stories





JRS Stands with People Displaced by Volcanic Disaster in DRC 27 May 2021
news
Burundi: Informal Education Promotes Community Development 10 May 2019
story
Education – The Light at the End of the Tunnel 03 Oct 2018
story

Contact

Regional Office:

Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo

+24 399 018 9794

Regional Director:

Eric Goeh-Akue, SJ