Visiting Hansen and his family in the provincial capital of Bukavu in South Kivu in eastern Congo. I brought along the card game UNO and IQ-Puzzlers. We have a lot of fun. Three weeks later we return to his family and Grant, one of his sons, has solved all the IQ-Puzzlers challenges – wow!

The family lives very simply in a small house for rent. Life in the Congo is difficult. Very few people have running water, electricity only occasionally. The space is cramped. And expensive: Hansen has to pay the equivalent of $50 for rent. And as a government employee, he earns just $80 a month. That leaves $30 for food and drink, electricity, water and soap, school fees, clothes and everyday living. And not everyone has a steady job like him. Some earn less. You don’t have to do the maths to work out that it doesn’t add up.

Hansen earns some extra money when he can, for example by working as a translator or coordinator for one of the international aid organisations in the city. But this is not usually possible on a permanent basis.

And despite this real predicament, he and the others volunteer with our organisation and help those who are much worse off. ‘We have to start somewhere to lead our country out of the spiral of poverty and suffering. That’s what I’m committed to. Maybe others will follow us, that would help everyone. In any case, I want to be part of the change!“ he says.