Congo chess club offers an escape from war

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Transcript

00:00Children at this refugee camp in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have known little but war.

00:08However, the battlefield of a chessboard is helping provide them with some peace of mind.

00:14Once a week, players from a club in the nearby city of Goma come and teach.

00:19Chess in the City founder, Akili Beshige-Luwenda, says growing up in the camps means young minds are shaped by conflict.

00:28We want to break this infernal cycle, firstly by occupying their minds, because chess eliminates stress.

00:34It manages stress. It gives people the opportunity to find peaceful solutions to problems.

00:39So that's why we're much more interested in them, so that chess can bring peace,

00:43and so that they can rediscover themselves, rediscover logic.

00:48Congo's east has been ravaged by violence for decades,

00:51with armed groups fighting over national identity, ethnicity and resources.

00:57Two years of clashes between the army and rebels from the M23 group

01:01have sent hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes for sanctuaries like this one,

01:06the Focus Congo camp in Kabarti.

01:10Claude Brenguet, director of the association that runs the camp,

01:14said the daily lives of children have been transformed by the chess program.

01:20These children were scattered. They were playing dangerous games.

01:24But since we started this activity here, you can see for yourself how very, very concentrated they are.

01:33Luwenda says the ultimate aim is to train young players to take part in major tournaments.

01:38Those who go to compete internationally, he says,

01:41will discover a peace outside the violence we are experiencing.

01:46And he hopes they can return to their communities as peacemakers.