Annual Report: 20 Years active in the DR Congo
20 Years active in the DR Congo
Here are some Highlights of what ADH members and friends were able to accomplish between 2004 and 2024:
- Humanitarian aid items for a 40ft container were personally collected, sorted, shipped and distributed to the most needy in the Kinshasa area. - Hundreds of orphans were fed, clothed and young people trained in life skills and values. - Two schools (details below) with emphasis on agriculture were built and are operating in the countryside.From the year 2010 onwards, our focus switched from humanitarian aid in Kinshasa towards the development of the rural areas where the need is the greatest and the infrastructure the weakest. This led to the construction and running of two schools: - Primary school in MUSHAPO with 500 pupils, 1000 km southeast of the capital Kinshasa, near the Angolan border - Agro-Veterinary Institute in MABALA with 300 students, 500 km northeast of Kinshasa
News from Mabala
Gilbert reports: The Mai-Ndombe province is very happy with the quality of education provided in our school. After the 2023 final exams, 44 students received their diploma. In spite of 80% unemployment, 17 of them could ensure a paying job! Our students have the priority for the recruitment due to the high level of training. Some of them want to continue at the University.
NSIONI PROJECT
New project on a 15,000 hectare farm in the village Nsioni – 500 km west of Kinshasa.
Goal
Our plan is to organize a vocational training program for young people of this region who have no job possibilities otherwise. The long-term goal is to build classrooms and eventually even dormitories to be able to make training available to young people from that region. After about a year of scholastic and practical training, the students will go back to their villages with seeds and a baby animal to develop the countryside and earn a living.
Already accomplished
- Electric wires and poles were bought and installed. Electricity was brought to the main building on the farm. - Electric wires and poles were bought and installed. Electricity was brought to the main building on the farm. - Planting and cultivating of fruits and vegetables, fish and chicken breeding. - The first five students are trained in agriculture and fish farming.
Building a well
To get anything done in this country, especially in the countryside, is nothing short of a miracle. Here is a report from Joseph how a well was built, starting with transporting material from Kinshasa to Nsioni: Despite many obstacles, we arrived at the farm on Monday morning at 4 o’clock. We spent three days on the road (500 km!) because of traffic jams between Kinshasa and Matadi. Unfortunately, between Boma and Nsioni, precisely in the village of Muenge, we had an accident with our small trailer where the axel broke because of the bad roads. However, we quickly found a solution, with God’s help. It is truly admirable how resilient people in these areas, including Joseph, can be.
Next, as recommended by the well builder, 1500 bricks were made, burned and transported to the farm from a place 6 km outside of Nsioni. Fine sand from a river 5 km away, which filters the water in the well, was brought to the farm. The workers dug 7 meters deep. The well is 2 x 2 m wide.
School curriculum
Joseph had several meetings with Professor Alex Mulongo Mbuya of the UPN University in Kinshasa, who is working on a curriculum for our school which will include training in agriculture, fish farming and animal husbandry.
Anderes
Besides fundraising for the project in the Congo, work on his new book and a myriad of other things, Wolfgang had another interview, this time with “Radio Berliner Morgenröte” in Berlin. Lenka is communicating with Joseph and Madlen in the Congo, continues her weekly online meetings with her Bible students, and together with Zdenek keeps improving her new Czech website. ADH members held their yearly meeting, as usual online, as we live separate in four different countries.