KITUMBA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – The muddy road twists, laden with boulders, rocks and abandoned vehicles, turns upwards, sideways and plunges, over rivers, through rivers, up and over mountains, hills, into forests and out of them, and finally, onto a sprawling flatland covered with bright green jungle. Kitumba. At night a thousand fireflies shimmer brightly, set against a star splashed, deeply dark sky. By day the searing equatorial sun illuminates the long empty fields. During the better part of 10 years, the two wars in the DRC forced people to abandon their homes for refuge from the fighting. Today, recovering from years of decimation is a slow climb to bounty. Alacha, a pastor in Kitumba, sat poised, surrounded by children, an infectious amicability coming from his smile. When the war reached Kitumba in 1997, Alacha and his family fled into the jungle, hoping to hide from the conflict between the rebels and the Congolese Government, during which countless civilians were killed. The jungle is a thick tangle of vines, ferns, trees, flowers, rivers, rain and heat. There are no clearings for planting crops and no shelter. Alacha and his family of eight subsisted on what they could pick from trees, they drank river water, covered themselves with tree branches at night to camouflage themselves, and tried to fight off the rampant disease that took the lives of many who fled to the jungle, including two of Alacha’s children. In 2004, Alacha returned to Kitumba to rebuild his life. Alacha and his family had spent seven years surviving in the jungle.But returning to nearly nothing, Alacha found himself unable to provide enough food for his wife and children and saw their health and well-being plummet. Sickness ensued.

FH began holding seed fairs in Alacha’s community to fight against the rampant inaccessibility to proper nutrition and help families like Alacha’s recover from years of displacement. A seed fair involves local seed vendors giving their seeds to vulnerable widows, orphans and families. FH then reimburses their sale.

Alacha was given enough seed to plant for a full harvest, and sat reflecting on the war, what love is and if peace can ever really come to Congo. “I love 1 John. It’s all about love. If we could just love each other, the war would end,” Alacha mused.

He took his hands and opened them, eyes scanning the people around him, but clearly looking at something beyond, “what would happen,” he began, “if we really did love each other?”