Rising Tigers

Congo

Free ways to help, and the context behind them.

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Lit places are where the groups, artists, and makers below work or come from. Tap one to jump to them.

Where things stand. Fighting continues in the east. The Washington agreement between the DRC and Rwanda (June 2025) and the Doha framework with M23 (November 2025) have not ended it. In August 2026 the government and M23 agreed a roadmap for talks, and the UN has warned of growing drone use by both sides. An Ebola outbreak declared an international health emergency in May has passed 7,400 confirmed cases and 3,600 deaths, mostly in Ituri and North Kivu (ECDC, 17 September). Checked 21 September 2026. Every link goes to its own source. Download as PDF

Displaced7,000,000+

Each box is 100,000 people, from our article.

Listen

Start with the music.

Streams and album sales pay artists directly. These are starting points, not a canon.

  • Fally Ipupa

    Kinshasa-born rumba and ndombolo star. A good first listen.

  • Congolese rumba

    On UNESCO’s intangible heritage list since 2021. Afropop traces it from rumba to Kinshasa’s newest sounds, including Jupiter & Okwess and Pierre Kwenders.

  • Staff Benda Bilili

    Street musicians from Kinshasa, many of them paraplegic. They contributed to the Enough Project’s Raise Hope for Congo compilation.

  • KOKOKO!

    A Kinshasa collective playing instruments built from scrap.

  • Innoss’B

    Born and raised in Goma. Congolese rhythms with hip-hop and R&B.

  • Lexxus Legal

    Co-founder of Pensée Brute Noire, a pioneer of combative, protest-oriented Congolese rap.

Look

Look at the art.

Painters and sculptors who carry the place with them.

  • Beauté Congo, 1926–2015

    A century of Congolese painting, sculpture, photography, and comics in one exhibition guide, including Sammy Baloji.

  • Chéri Samba

    Founder of Kinshasa’s “popular painting”: bright canvases with text on everyday life, politics, and corruption.

  • Bodys Isek Kingelez

    1948–2015. Built utopian cities from scrap; MoMA gave him a retrospective.

  • Eza Possibles

    A Kinshasa collective founded in 2003 by painters including Pathy Tshindele and Kura Shomali.

Read

Good news, and reporting you can check.

Stories of people building something, then outlets that show their sources.

Good news

  • Small steps toward peace

    In August 2026 the Red Cross helped move 15 prisoners to M23, the first known transfer under the Doha deal. A confidence step, not a settlement.

  • Mountain gorillas are recovering

    From 350 in 1985 to 1,200+ across Uganda, Rwanda, and DR Congo. Virunga’s rangers guard them through violence and an Ebola outbreak (NPR, June 2026).

  • Panzi has treated survivors since 1999

    A Congolese-run hospital and foundation in Bukavu, founded by Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2018 Nobel Peace laureate.

Reporting

Follow

People and pages, close to the ground.

Follow widely and check claims against a second source. Local groups organize mostly on Facebook, X, and WhatsApp; the sites below lead to their pages.

People and pages

Local groups

  • LUCHA

    A youth-led, nonviolent citizen movement founded in Goma in 2012. Front Line Defenders award, 2018.

  • HEAL Africa

    Hospital and community programs in Goma, founded by Congolese surgeon Jo Lusi and Lyn Lusi.

Give

Give where it lands.

We list organizations, not individual crowdfunding pages, which are the hardest to check. Rising Tigers doesn’t handle your money.

Check any charity before you give: Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, and Candid. Be wary of anyone who asks for gift cards, crypto, or a wire transfer.

Buy

Buy from the people who make it.

Buying supports makers. To fund relief, use Give.

  • Congo Clothing Company

    Denim and prints inspired by Kuba patterns. Each jacket sold funds a sewing machine for a Panzi survivor.

  • Equal Exchange coffee

    Coffee from SOPACDI, a Congolese farmers’ co-op. Per Panzi, Equal Exchange gives $2 per bag to Panzi.

  • Panzi jewelry

    Gemstone and wood jewelry made in Panzi’s workshop, part of its ethical-supply work.

  • Zapenda

    Clothing made in Congo by war survivors. Founder Stella Safari also has a store in Detroit.

  • ESIMBI

    A nonprofit by designer Tina Lobondi teaching arts and fashion to children in Congo.

Understand

A short history, with the disputes marked.

Dates and figures come from the sources linked; where sources disagree, the box says so.

1885–1908
King Leopold II runs the Congo Free State as a private colony. Forced labor for rubber kills millions. Belgium takes it over in 1908.
1960
Independence. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is killed in January 1961.
1965–1997
Mobutu Sese Seko rules as president of Zaire.
1994
After the Rwandan genocide, more than a million refugees, including some who carried out the killing, cross into eastern Zaire.
1996–2003
Two wars. The second draws about a dozen armies and 30 armed groups. Estimates of the dead run into the millions and are debated.
2012–2013
The first M23 rebellion takes Goma, then is defeated.
2025
M23 returns and takes Goma (January) and Bukavu (February); the UN counted at least 700 killed in the fight for Goma. Washington agreement between the DRC and Rwanda (27 June), Doha declaration with M23 (19 July), Doha framework (15 November).
2026
Talks continue, with a roadmap agreed in Switzerland in August. Massacres attributed to the ADF continue in Beni and Ituri (Mukwege, June 2026). An Ebola outbreak declared in May has spread through Ituri, North Kivu, and other provinces, amid the fighting.

Start with HRW’s World Report chapter and ACAPS.

Do

Two minutes, no money.

Small, free, specific.

  • Call, don’t post

    Staffers tally calls, not reposts. Say one sentence, then hang up. Find your representatives here.

  • Keep your phone longer

    Phones and laptops rely on Congolese minerals, including coltan from the east. Using a device longer lowers demand. Our article explains the link.

  • Enough Project

    Research and campaigns on conflict minerals and atrocity prevention. It ran Raise Hope for Congo.

  • Read the sources

    Every figure in our article as a plain-text file, with its source and the date we checked it.