On the outskirts of Kinshasa, residents spend much of the day walking back and forth from the local river to fill their two watering cans. They seek to install a basic irrigation system for a sustainable agriculture project.

Recently, when I returned from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I wondered how I could possibly bring this humanitarian situation to the attention of people in the Bay Area.

I have been heartened by the recent public awareness that has been generated from the film 'Lumumba,' which recounts the story of the first and last democratically elected Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba. He was murdered and replaced by the U.S.- and Belgian-backed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

I have also been encouraged by the slight increase in media coverage since the shooting death of President Laurent Kabila earlier this year, the rise of his son Joseph to power, and renewed hopes for peace in the country's three-year civil war.

Yet I still fear that this attention has not led to an increase in support for the Congolese people, who so badly need it.

In the Congo, I witnessed a people struggling to survive. Cars lined up behind one of the few stations with gas. Street children known as "qaddafis," affectionately named after the Libyan leader, waited all night to fill their gas cans in the hope of selling their prize on the black market.

Doctors, civil servants and police were working, but not getting paid. When a police officer stopped us on the street, I feared harassment, bribery, even arrest. But he was merely begging for his family. Even for those with an income, it was difficult to imagine how they could keep up: the currency lost nearly half its value in a two-week period.

The situation beyond the main street was worse. Trash and sewage covered the muddy alleyways. The sight of malnourished children wearing garbage bags as clothing was heartbreaking for this father who had left his 2-year-old daughter at home.

Yet, as I describe the suffering, I fear that the overwhelming problems of the Congo will lead readers to throw their hands in the air and proclaim, "There's nothing I can do." I beg you to reconsider.

Analysis of events in the Congo easily falls into cynicism and despair. Given the history of economic plundering of the country, this is not surprising. Yet the focus on geo-political questions leads us to neglect the human element: the suffering of the Congolese people and the fact that we can do something about it.

The Congolese people have suffered from one regime to the next, from the brutal colonization of King Leopold II to Mobutu Sese Seko, to Kabila Sr. and now Kabila Jr. Despite all this, I found the Congolese people to be the most resilient I had ever met. A man in one of the most impoverished areas of Kinshasa summed up this attitude: "Everything is great here, except for the fact that we're starving."

In the face of overwhelming news events, let us not lose hope in the people of the Congo and other developing countries. To support groups at the grassroots level is to contribute to the empowerment of local people in advancing their own human rights. Despite the political "mess," you can help make a difference.

Mark Manashil is Executive Director of The Clarence Foundation. For more information, contact him at (510) 558-7188 or marc@theclarencefoundation.org.