For $30, a child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can attend school for one year, thanks to a unique Solidarity Center partnership with schools, communities, and local and national governments.

		For $30, you can help Félie and thousands of children like him stay out of the mines and in school. Click here to make your tax-deductible donation.

Twelve-year-old Félie is a mineworker in Kolwezi, a town of 21,000 in the southern province of Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. All day long, he hauls heavy bags of rock and dirt from the mouth of a cobalt mine to a water-filled pit  — actually an abandoned industrial site — 100 feet away, where others sift the content through the contaminated water to find the precious ore. The bags are so heavy that it takes two adult men to load them onto his back. The path is slippery with mud, and he must take care not to lose his footing and fall. The ore goes to a middleman, who sells it to a mining company. If he is lucky, Félie will make $2 a day for this hard, dangerous work.

Like thousands of other children in Kolwezi, Félie must work to support himself and his family. The money he earns must put food on the table, buy clothing and other necessities, and pay monthly school fees. He attends school only sporadically. If he does not have the money to pay tuition, he is suspended that month. Then he must go back to the mine to earn the required amount. Without an education, he will probably spend his whole life in the mine.

“The other kids who do not work in the mines say that they are better off,” says Félie. “When that happens, I feel shame.”

The Solidarity Center’s child labor program in the DRC aims to remove children from the mines and make sure that they have the financial means to exercise their right to an education. In a unique partnership with schools, communities, and local and national governments, the Solidarity Center supports improvements to school infrastructure in exchange for tuition forgiveness. The program also provides accelerated learning courses and vocational training for older children. Just $30 will send a child to school full-time for an entire year.

To commemorate this year’s World Day Against Child Labor, the Solidarity Center has launched a fundraising campaign, Send a Child to School. Your generous donation will help ensure that Félie and thousands like him in the Katanga province are no longer barred from their right to education and the hope for a better future. Please click here to make your tax-deductible contribution.

Read more about the Solidarity Center's work with miners in the DRC

Learn more about the terrible situation of child miners in the DRC