Congo Action 3

 congoaction@hotmail.com
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CongoAction is a British charity working in Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Congo Action is offering support in the development of education, training and the relief of poverty in Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Our mission is to help the people of Congo help themselves by offering resources that they can use to improve the quality of their lives.
Our Partners
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Email: congoaction@hotmail.com

Mobile: 07874 751758

Charity Address:
Congo Action
13 Upper Fant Road
Maidstone
ME16 8BP

Reg. Charity No: 1088833
The End of the
2023 term
at Kavumba school:
The school is still running well, and continues to gain in popularity. In fact, its reputation is spreading so quickly that the number of children being educated has now gone up to 401 children (216 boys, 185 girls). The downside is that the classes are becoming overcrowded: we have 55+ children in each of the seven classrooms. We are trying to re-inforce the idea of using criterias (as we do in the UK),but this is rarely adhered to in a country where parents and children value education more than anything else. The teachers are dedicated and hard working, and derive a lot of pride into being supported by Congo Action.
We get regular feedback from the use that the teachers make of the field that we purchased for them four years ago. Some of the products they gained are sold and used to buy materials for the school, and the rest is distributed between themselves and their families.
As we are fast approaching 2024, our aim is to continue our financial support for the teachers and for the maintenance of the school, and to also pursue ways of enabling the school to become more self supported.
Thank you to all for your continuing support throughout 2023, and very best wishes to you and your family.
Please do look at our website from time to time for updates (and use the refresh button as recommended). Thank you.



Interesting article from BBC
School Prize Day
The parents attended the presentation of prizes at Kavumba school showing support for their child and their deep appreciation of the work done by the school.
 
 
The children who took the National end of primary school studies test (year 6) received very positive results. Out of the 30 children entered, 28 pupils (17 girls and 11 boys) passed enabling them to enter secondary education. They all achieved excellent marks.
 
 
We again commend here the great dedication of the teachers, the parental support for the school, and, of course, the important role of advisor played by our representative and counterpart Vital Kulimushi.

Kavumba School
Thanks to a generous private donor, new desks arrived at the school in May to accommodate the increase in roll numbers and were quickly assembled for the new classroom.

The desks were all handmade in Bukavu by local craftsmen, and arrived in “ flatpack “ fashion at the school, where the children helped to unload them from the lorry. They were assembled and varnished on site.
 

We try to provide desks as the need arise, as we want to avoid children having to share the same desk. So this was a very much needed addition to complement the new classroom. A great “thank you” to our donors!


See short video of school, desk assembly and prize giving on left side of page. Please remember to enlarge video to full size.
Fund Raising
Congo action did some fund raising in June 23, at an event in Brighton, organised by the Lions club. We raised £230.


Please Nominate Us

                       
Our Movement for Good giving programme is back with awards of £1,000 and £5,000
to give to charities helping those in need.
                                
£1,000 draws - first winners announced 12 June
              
If you entered in 2022 - thank you! Be sure to nominate again in the
2023 programme to get your favourite charity or
charities in the running for this year’s £1,000 draws.
       
It’s one nomination per charity, per person so if you have more than
one favourite, get them in the running today!
        
We have three £1,000
draws this year and we’ll be giving away between £120,000 and
£150,000 in each. The first winners will be announced on June 12th
so nominate and share early.
  
Once you’ve nominated, use our tools to share and get your network
to support too – it only takes a minute and the more nominations your charity gets,
the greater their chance of winning.
  
Nominations are open until December 17th 2023. It’s best to nominate as early as possible to get into all three £1,000 draws. However, you can nominate at any time up until the closing date and you’ll be entered into all remaining draws.
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Another New Classroom
The school has become so popular that more space was needed so another new classroom is being build in time for the start of the September 2022 school year.

Fantastic news !
Issy's Beach Cleaning in Brighton brought us £600 in donations. ( As a result of her efforts , she has also gained her Duke of Edinburgh award).
Well done Issy, and a great Thank You to all those who have so kindly donated.

Congo Action & WT Congo
Joined Forces
Congo Action & WT Congo joined forces recently for a fund raising event in Rottingdean ( W..Sussex), organised by Worthing Lions . The raffle brought us £ 192.  All proceeds to go to the running of our school.


The field
 
The field is a project financed by Congo Action, to help the teachers and their families as they do not receive salaries from the government. (this is general throughout the DRC for primary school teachers). The field has a surface area of 5500m2 (½ hectare) and belongs to the school. So far it is proving to be an excellent initiative, as it is very fertile and has a lot of potential. The first sowing which was done in August 2021 is now producing beans and sweetcorn. A second sowing is now being prepared. As can be seen from photos, they practice “polyculture”, mixing a variation of crops in the same area.

Women collecting beans

Mixed crop of sweet corn and beans

Men beating the bean pods to release the beans
 
Kavumba school
 
The brick building has now been finished with the last addition, the Director’s office, completed in August 2021.

Director's new office on left with the water tank which was provided by Congo Action



 
The children did not have a full Christmas holiday as they needed to catch up the time lost during the Covid lockdown. With no cases of Covid detected full attendance has resumed. Vital Kulimushi, our Congolese partner, continues his role as the liaison between the school and Congo Action.

The school children in their playground

Girls and boys in class

Left to right: Our DRC partner Vital, Safari Bundubundu, the headmaster and a representative of the Catholic co-ordination.
 
New Newsletter
Headmaster's office is becoming a reality!
A long awaited for building is becoming a reality at Kavumba school. We have now been able to raise sufficient funds to complete this project, which is going to be the headmaster office and teachers' meeting room. This gives a real boost to all the teaching staff who are teaching throughout the summer, to catch up with time lost during Covid.

 
Thank you to all our supporters who are making this work possible.

The Plans

The foundations are laid

The walls go up

Not long now...
Good News
Thanks to generous donations, we have managed to provide the school with very much needed desks, due to increase in numbers of pupils. Teachers and pupils are delighted with the results .

 
Thank you to all our supporters.






Disabled Group
We continue to work with disabled people, but no longer via Pere Andre, as he left the DRC to retire in Belgium some 5 years ago. Click here for up to date information on the Disabled Group.
We Have a Field!
With donations received from our friends and supporters, Congo Action has purchased a field for the benefit of Kavumba school. The land is currently under cultivation and also has the benefit of being planted with several banana trees.  We are confident that this new project will benefit the teachers and the school by providing them with a small income, hence more economic independence. It is a practical and achievable solution to gain revenues, in an area where people already have plenty of agricultural skills and knowledge.
 Thank you to all of you people for continuing to help and encourage us in our work.


Good News
for all our supporters
Our Kavumba primary school re-opened in mid-October after lock down since March. There are no known cases of Covid 19, neither at the school, not in the area, possibly thanks to the remoteness of the place, and very few visitors to the South Kivu region. All is well, and the children are eager to learn.
 
On their behalf, we renew our thanks to everyone who continue to support this worthwhile project.






Coronavirus in DRC
So far, the main site of infection is in Kinshasa, 3000Kms away from Bukavu, where we have our projects.. Vital Kulimushi, our main partner in Bukavu, has informed us that all the schools are closed, including of course our school in Kavumba. The travelling to and from the main town of Bukavu is restricted to people with a car, and with serious reasons to travel.
 

Kamembe airport, in nearby Rwanda is closed, and so are all the borders . It is difficult, if not nearly impossible to get basic supplies as all markets and shops are closed. People have to rely on agricultural products coming from inland, but transport is notoriously difficult, and of course this creates a further risk of infection.
 
 
On the positive side, The DRC managed to control the Ebola outbreak, so is better informed to face this new calamity.
Bukavu April 2020
A view of the main street in Bukavu, Kivu during the coronavirus pandemic. It is normally busling with people and vehicles.
Our Finished School!

September 2019. All six classrooms were duly completed in time for the start of the school year. The work is on-going as well as assisting the teachers in finding ways to become self-sufficient.

Kavumba School
When Kavumba School was built in 2007 wood was used but after years of attack by the climate and ants it is showing signs of serious disrepair. CongoAction is helping the community build a brick school, classroom by classroom!  Read Kavumba school's story...

Goal Achieved!
We are pleased to tell you that the school building project that Congo Action and WTC (Working together Congo) started in July 2018, has been completed on time for September, for the start of the academic year. This summer, we added another 3 new classrooms to the 3 already built last year: This constitutes 6 classrooms all together, representing a complete rebuilt of our Kavumba primary school, a very much needed operation due to the degradation of the original wooden school, built in 2006. Read More...



School Building Nearing Completion
The school building is nearing completion and will be ready for the start of the school term in September . We have achieved our goal, which was to build three new classrooms by the end of this summer. Thanks to all the hard work and dedication of the team of workers that we employed, the project has come to fruition, and the children will be very proud to start school in such favourable conditions..... A big THANK YOU also to all our regular supporters and generous donors who have made this work possible."  more photos...



Desks Being Made
Late July 2018     The desks are being put together from flat packs. They each seat two pupils which are much better than the original ones in the wooden classrooms which were continuous right across the room.     more photos...



Roof Going On
Late July 2018     The roof is being completed. The build is right on target for the start of the next school term which leaves only the final phase to raise the money for.           

Walls Going Up
July 2018.   The brick-layers are now hard at work...       photos...

It's All Happening!!
June 2018. It’s all happening! They are working on the foundations of Phase 2 this week.  

Fantastic News!
February 2018. We are happy to share with you some very exciting news:  Thanks to your donations and kind support, Congo Action is now able to go ahead with the second phase of rebuilding theKavumba primary school, which consists of three new brick classrooms being erected during the summer months. read more...

September 2017 - The first 3 classrooms now in use!

July 2017 - The walls of the first block are going up!

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