Rapport intermédiaire 2019
Mabala School and Agricultural Project
Mabala School Visit
When Wolfgang arrived at the airport in Nioki, he was greeted by Nioki’s mayor, Mr. Mario, Mama Annie, members of BBK (our partner organization), as well as by teachers and students of our school. The lively local music, the songs and a big banner was their way of expressing their appreciation for this new school. He was especially touched by the heartfelt gift of the students, an artificial bonsai tree.
At the school grounds, 290 pupils, 11 teachers and school Principal Philemon presented beautiful songs, poems and lines the students had learned in French and some even in English.
Our Agro Veterinary School “ITAV ADH Mabala” is officially registered as a governmental school. As is the case with such new schools in Congo, the government is not paying anything to support the school or the teachers. Instead, we not only pay the teachers’ salaries, but on top of that even have to pay taxes for them.
Maize Multiplication Project
To help the poor farmers in the surrounding villages of the Kutu region, we are encouraging maize plantations. You may remember that we brought 500 kg of maize to Mabala 2 years ago. It took a long time for this project to take root, but after we offered the farmers to buy the maize from them, they were encouraged to grow more. Now they even sell the maize to traders who ship it to Kinshasa and sell it there.
We hired agronomist Alain, a young, energetic farmer, to oversee this project. We also gave him money to collect the first 5 tons of maize and bring them to the Fimi River. From there it goes via the Kasai River to the Congo River until Kinshasa, where BBK members will sell it and use the income to support the school. All this is still a pioneer effort and we will have to see how it works out.
Jean’s Agricultural Project
Last year we launched our first Micro Financing Project. We gave a loan to Jean so he could plant sweet potatoes and manioc in the Plateau de Bateke, east of Kinshasa. Here is his report: “The microfinance project received from A.D.H. is a blessing despite some difficulties encountered in the first year. With the results we were able to buy 5 ha of land where we will plant sweet potatoes in September, to be harvested in January 2020.”
Mushapo and Tshikapa Schools
Gilbert and Francois keep in touch with the school directors of our schools in Tshikapa and Mushapo. Some of you know that the fighting in Kasai 2 years ago caused the Tshokwe tribe to chase all other tribes out of the Mushapo area. This split our Mushapo School in two. The majority of the people, students and teachers had to flee to Tshikapa where they now rent an existing school building in which they teach our pupils in the afternoon. The Tshokwe tribe, which remained in Mushapo, uses our school buildings to teach their children. We continue to support the school in Tshikapa from time to time as these people had to flee and start with nothing and have a hard time to make ends meet.
Kinshasa
On top of the regular meetings with ADH Congo and BBK members, Wolfgang had a chance to meet again with Madlen, who continues to faithfully care for the orphans in the Kimbondo orphanage. With the help of one of her influential friends, she hopes to be able to soon start building a school for the small children in her care. Healthwise she is doing relatively well considering her constant fight against cancer. ADH supports Madlen as we see what an important and excellent work she is doing with the orphans.
The COLK orphanage was very thankful for our yearly support. Mama Monique and Mama Jeanette do their best for the 90 orphans in this extremely poor section of town.
Czech Republic
In June, Wolfgang gave a speech in Prague for people from the Brumlovka Business Center. He was asked to give a speech along the line of his TEDx Talk “Change the World with Love”.
Work on his book continues and is nearing the final stages. He is adding photos to make the book more attractive and we are still looking for a publisher to reach as many people as possible with this multi faceted story of how to change our needy world with love.
A big Thank You for your support which made it all possible.