RDC 26 - EDUCATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN BUTEMBO
Project Location
Butembo is a city in the North Kivu area, located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This area is known for the trickle of killings and abuses by armed groups, which cause the massive movement of young people, girls, and boys to the city of Butembo.
The violent slaughters and kidnappings of the Kivu leaves the population in shock and in constant emotional stress and the first victims we are addressing with this project are children. The latter are sent away from the most dangerous area to find refuge in Butembo by relatives. They are children, boys, and girls who want to start their lives again by going back to school.
But the situation of separation and violence heard or seen, has marked them to the point that they cannot fit into an ordinary institution without a path that helps them to find a certain serenity to integrate. This project takes place in Butembo in a social centre and in a formal school of the Comboni Missionary sisters which includes the primary and secondary sections up to the eighth grade
Project description
The S. Daniele Comboni Social Center is the first point of reference for welcoming children and young people from Kivu and helping them reintegrate into the formal school system of primary and secondary schools. This year we have 436 students. It has 11 classes and 13 teachers. Most of these children come from areas of insecurity and war, carry trauma within them, and need psychosocial support to better adapt to the school environment. For psychosocial support, the students will be selected based on the observation work during the lessons carried out by their teachers. We estimate 40 children. The follow-up program includes tests, collateral interviews, a child-friendly space, and individual interviews.
The program occurs in various phases: listening, group and individual work, psychological tests, and personalized support. When the children and young people regain serenity and sufficient academic level, they are introduced to the San Daniele Comboni primary or secondary school, where they live in the reintegration phase. The school is also attended by children from the city of Butembo to give a sense of normalcy and integration into society.
The Daniele Comboni Institute started operating last school year 2022-2023 and includes 4 classes, the 7th and 8th year, which constitute the level of the orientation cycle, and the 1st of Nutrition and Commercial and Management. Despite the efforts made by parents to pay school fees, the school still needs support in teaching materials and learning support, support for school fees for vulnerable children, help and psycho-pedagogical support for students, training of teachers, and security service.
Another challenge: according to our findings and our surveys with experts, during the summer holidays, supervision of young people is difficult to identify. Not knowing what to do, girls and boys easily get involved in all kinds of delinquency. For this reason, we are thinking of organizing training, a supervision tool for this group of young people. The activities that will be scheduled: manual activities such as braiding hair, hairdressing, computer science, cooking, cutting, sewing, etc. Activities in the field of communications; awareness raising, film screenings, and training, namely: music, poetry, reading in the local language and French, study of the Bible, etc. The training will take place during the summer holidays, in August 2025, at the premises of the Daniel Comboni Primary School in Bulema in Butembo. The number of participants is estimated at 100 girls and boys in total.
Objectives
- Psychologically support primary and secondary school students who are victims of war trauma to heal their wounds
- Help the most disadvantaged primary and secondary school students to gain access to education
- Invest in teacher training so that they can acquire greater skills and provide quality teaching, etc.
- Educate students for life so that they are useful to themselves and society
- Provide students with a healthy environment that is conducive to learning.
Beneficiaries
Direct: 22 vulnerable students, 7 teachers, primary school children (about 360), secondary school children and those attending summer camp (about 60 children and adolescents)
Indirect: families
Local contribution
Children from who come from families from the city of Butembo pay school fees Boys and girls from the Kivu area do small garden work on weekends or holidays and they are engaged in keeping the school compound clean. Each child at the summer camp will make a small contribution as a participation fee
Referent sisters of the project: Sr. Liée Natingar and Sr. Bernadette Idey
Project's costs