00:06At Kanyarutshinya village north of Goma, women are mixing household and agricultural waste.
00:12After sorting and drying, the product is carbonized at over 360 degrees Celsius.
00:17It's then ground and mixed with boiling water to form briquets, which they can use for cooking.
00:22It's something very new for them.
00:25Previously, they would have to go into local forests to fetch firewood and charcoal.
00:30A dangerous journey at the best of times.
00:32But a non-governmental organization, Network of Women Entrepreneurs of the Great Lakes, taught them this new technique.
00:40They produce 750 kilograms of briquets per month.
00:44Most of this, they use themselves.
00:47What's left over is sold for a profit.
00:52Here, we already know how to look after ourselves without having to wander the streets or risk our lives in
00:58the bush.
00:59We call on others to join us, so that they too can learn how to become self-reliant and independent,
01:06rather than remaining idle as so many are.
01:10Goma is controlled by the M23 rebels, whose hideouts are mainly in the forest.
01:16This made the women feel vulnerable when they went to fetch for firewood.
01:20The organization feels there is a need for more interventions towards empowering these women.
01:27We would really like to organize these women into cooperatives or economic interest groups, forming groups of five to ten
01:36women and providing them with production equipment so that they can increase their output and so that they can also
01:43meet market demand, because currently there is demand, but production is still low, given the equipment we have.
01:55Before, we used to go into the bush to collect wood, where we were subjected to a lot of abuse.
02:00We would sell some of our wood for 500 francs.
02:04RFEGL came to raise our awareness about this project.
02:08We were happy and relieved.
02:09We learned to protect our environment by making these briquets.
02:15The group has five men who assist in making improved stoves that use less charcoal.
02:22Organizers say the project in the long run will also help in the preservation of the local forests.
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