Help Severine's charity save lives in the Congo

Severine Kipili is a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes & St Peter Chanel Church, Hull. She came to live in the UK in 2006 as a refugee with her husband and three children after living in refugee camps in Zambia since

1998 when she fled the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The family has settled well in the UK but has always felt the need to help her country, whose people are still being affected by food and water shortages, sexual violence and exploitation of the country’s natural resources, such as minerals and diamonds.

The situation is desperate, with about 27m people, including under-fives, facing severe hunger, lack of medical care and violence.

With this in mind, Severine and fellow refugees started a charity to help the country she grew up in called Bora Shabaa Refugee Community Organisation, which is registered as a charity in the UK and also in the Congo. Bora Shabaa means “quality not quantity”.

The charity aims to raise funds to help the needy in the Congo. It is currently trying desperately to raise funds for seven-year-old

Eune Edourd, who is blind in one eye and unless he receives urgent treatment will lose sight in the other eye.

Among its greater aims is to operate throughout the Congo, helping all those affected by war and famine.

Bora Shabaa has started a fundraising page at gofund.me/7dfa8a1c. They will gratefully accept any donations to help the people of the Congo, no matter how small or large. Please help Severine help Eune and others who are in urgent need.

For more information, visit borashabaa.org.uk.