Most aid organizations work in and around Kinshasa or cities in the war-torn East. The rest of the country is pretty much left to itself. They lack basic infrastructure, like proper roads, which makes certain goods extremely expensive. One bag of cement in Kinshasa costs 14 $, in Tshikapa 39 $ and it still has to be transported to the village. One liter of diesel in Kinshasa is 1.4 $, in Tshikapa 3 $. People move to the cities because there is the money, but when they arrive, most don’t find any jobs and end up in poverty. Kinshasa keeps growing on all corners because people settle there, hoping for a better life, but instead it increases the trouble.
We adopted one abandoned newborn baby, but there are constantly more babies abandoned because some people end up in such a bind that they don’t know what to do. That’s one thing people in the bush told us they would not do. As poor as they are they don’t abandon their children. There are more than 70 orphanages in Kinshasa with about 4000 orphans and around 17000 street children. About 80 % of the people have no proper job. We heard of houses where four families live together, one room per family including all their children, with a common kitchen, toilet and living room for all. When the children grow up, some of them live on the street and girls prostitute themselves at a very young age. Sometimes whole families live on the street because they have no other place to stay.
How can we stop this trend, unless we do something at the grass root level? In spite of all the difficulties and obstacles, we hope to set an example that things can change. Our goal is not just to build a school with no fees and an agricultural project in the bush, but also to give people a broader viewpoint. We want to give the villagers a new outlook on life and change things right where they are. At the same time we try to inspire influential and affluent people to build more farms and schools.
While we were in Europe raising awareness and support for this project Michel and Marc and their team at the farm in Mushapo started to buy and prepare materials for the school with the finances we received for it. They produced 14000 bricks from clay and burned them to make them durable. They measured and cleared the land for the building and prepared the woodwork for the roof and the foundation. We are just waiting for the right moment to buy the cement as it is extremely expensive right now. In January we are planning to go there with Michel to help oversee the construction work. On Youtube and our website you can find the video “School-project in Mushapo 2011” and the “Interview with München TV 2011” in German. You can also find on both websites video clips about some of our older projects.
A special big THANK YOU goes to the German Embassy in Kinshasa for supporting our efforts! They wrote us why they decided to support our project: “We have the impression that your project is well thought through. Besides that, it is situated in an area which otherwise receives very little help.” We are very thankful for their grant which covers the building materials and for all the support we receive from others to pay the workers and our team’s expenses. We were able to find sponsors for almost all 120 children who will go to this school, but we need to find a few more. Let’s do all we can to give hope to these precious people in the villages to build a better life right there so they don’t run away and end up with more problems in the cities. Thank you for all your help! We really appreciate it!
             
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