Sponsor Orphaned African Children in the Congo
Several of 13 offspring of the late Daniel Mugangu (deceased on 21 July 1987) have teamed up with their beloved friend Ms. Alison Dibble of Blue Hill, Maine, to create a Foundation as a memoriam to his name, the Mugangu D. Foundation, or FONDAMU as acronym. Among those Daniel offspring are Dieudonné Trinto (better known in the USA as Mugangu), Déogratias, Déocard, Dénise, Dénis, Donat and Jean de Dieu to name a few of the 13 some.
The Mugangu family has a long standing experience of integrating orphaned children into their homes. Such homes are for instance in Kinshasa, the capital city of DRCongo, and Lukumbo village of the Ngweshe tribal chiefdom in the Walungu Territory of South Kivu Province. In Kinshasa, since 1994, Trinto’s home had once integrated up to 4 orphans; Déocard’s home supported two, and Denis, Donat & Jean de Dieu’s lived with one orphan each. Ever since 1958, especially in Lukumbo, the late Daniel Mugangu and his widow Consolata M’Katu (alive) have had up to 10 orphans at one time, and always lived with these and raised them along their own 13 children.
FONDAMU has acquired this entire legacy and is enlisting today a sum total of 14 orphans of which 6 are raised and supported in four Kinshasa foster families, and 8 in Lukumbo in the hands of the widow Consolata M’Katu. The Mugangu Foundation provides to these orphans a home to live in, a foster family to love them, their integration into the surrounding community, and a place where to enjoy life, celebrate holidays or their birthdays.
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Also the Foundation provides health care, education, and all family support for a child. Based on our experience, in Kinshasa it requires US $1,500 a year for children expenses to be integrated in a foster family; and in Lukumbo, which is a village of the countryside, it is half that price at around US $750 per year.
Elsewhere FONDAMU is still building its headquarters in Kinshasa, and there will be enough room for 30 orphans, and we plan to provide them with leadership skills for a sustainable Congo future besides the indispensable shelter, food, education, health care, and education.
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Also during our foray in Walungu Territory in June until September 2006, we found a group of 4 people in Nyabunkungu, Ngweshe, who have had similar thrust to support orphaned children. These are Bukoro Balola, Bakanyize Nkubonage, Ali Anabe Aksanti, and the late Lulondo Balibuno, who was replaced after his demise by Nsibula Cizungu. In 2001 under the height of the war in Kivu, and with the moral support of the local Parish of the Anglican Church, these foursome created CEOL, Centre d’Encadrement des Orphelins Locaux, to respond to the need the orphans who lost their parents during the war and by HIV-Aids. Today, CEOL counts 250 orphans who get regular school education, one meal a day, a somewhat makeshift and leaking dormitory shelter of banana leaves, covered partly with plastic sheeting. Life is about unbearable there, even to DR Congo standards, as only the war returnee villagers support them. The children can select to learn between carpentry and sawing for their future craft. There are 6 instructors and mentors, including the director of the centre, for these children are spread in 5 classrooms following their grade.
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FONDAMU has decided to team up with CEOL to improve the living conditions to the 250 children and their centre. First FONDAMU has put forward a grant proposal of US $25,000 with a DR Congo Government’s Programme Multisectoriel d’Urgence, de Reconstruction et de Rehabilitation (PMURR) to build a 192m² shelter to host between 64 and 100 orphans in a sturdy dry home, until we can raise funds to build a second portion of the same size to host much more. We also plan to provide two meals a day for these children and first-aid-medicine. It is estimated that there is a need for US $90,000 a year to defray the costs of 2 daily meals and first aid medicine for the 250 children; that is about $1 dollar a day per child for 365 days in a year. If we add US $10,000 to support the instructors and carpentry and sawing exercises, the needed amount would be US $100,000 per year. Hence, at Nyabunkungu, there is a need for US $400 per year to support a child in such a large boarding school.
So please help us to provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and a loving family to the 250 orphans in CEOL Nyabunkungu, 8 orphans in Lukumbo and 6 in Kinshasa in our care.
 Trinto Mugangu arrives in Lukumbo. He is greeted and holding Espoir Kahuku, one of the 8 orphans who live with Mother Consolata M’Katu. |
 Two children who recently lost their mother in Kinshasa paid a visit to FONDAMU’s home office on 22 June 2007. |
Please Donate to FONDAMU to provide shelter, food, clothing, health care and a craft learning to 250 children in Nyabunkungu, 8 orphans in Lukumbo or 6 Orphans in Kinshasa.
| Make a Monthly Donation | |
| Give a one-time donation | |
| Assist the construction of CEOL Dormitory and School in Nyabunkungu | |
| Support mentors and craft learning for the orphans in Nyabunkungu Village | |
| Support food, schooling, health care for 250 orphans in CEOL | |
| Support mentors and instruction in job skills for the orphans in Nyabunkungu Village | |
| Support children in Lukumbo or Kinshasa, and FONDAMU running costs |
There are many ways to get involved - you CAN make a difference: Indeed, by sponsoring an orphan in one of these three settings in DR Congo you can improve the living of one child at a time. For US $34 a month, your sponsorship will provide the basic necessities of food, clothing, education and medical treatment, and most importantly the chance to grow up in a loving centre at Nyabunkungu. If you choose the family model in the countryside in Lukumbo it is US $63 per month, and the double in Kinshasa at US $125 per month.
As a child sponsor, expenses such as food, clothing, school fees, medical care, and a bonus to the salary of the mentor are subsidized by your generosity. Let’s hope that you will let your support to your sponsored child be shared with the other as they make a whole family or a centre village.
You will receive:
- A welcome packet with your sponsor manual that provides information about Nyabunkungu CEOL, Kinshasa Foster Family or Lukumbo Foster Family and its history, the role of mentors and foster family, on how to correspond with your sponsored child and more directly by their e-mail or through FONDAMU e-mail.
- Your sponsorship assignment that includes biographical information and a picture of your sponsored child,
- A year-end report about your sponsored child as well as a situation report about current events in the Nyabunkungu village or in the Foster Family in Kinshasa or Lukumbo.
- At the end of the year, you will receive a photo from your child along with a report about the Nyabunkungu village and a holiday greeting
Writing to your sponsored child
You may choose to write your sponsored child. Your sponsor manual will contain the appropriate guidelines for corresponding with your child.
Selecting your sponsored child
Once you’ve decided to become a sponsor, simply complete the Ad Hoc Sponsor Form and pay online with your credit card under Pay Pal. We will fulfil your request based on availability. Please allow up to three months to assign you an appropriate match.
Protecting children's privacy
FONDAMU protects the rights of children at all times. This is why we do not allow you to choose a sponsored child from a selection of our children's photographs, names, ages, and locations, but you can select an age category or sex of your to-be-sponsored child. Also this gives a chance to each child to be selected by you. We believe that it is in the best interest of the children and their future to protect their identity from the public eye. We can now give their pictures in a general space, but we will not pin point them. Once you decide to become a child sponsor, you will be able to communicate regularly with your child, and you can get from him or herself through us all those needed information and pictures.
Special gifts
In addition to your regular sponsorship contributions, you may also send monetary gifts to your sponsored child to commemorate special occasions like a birthday or holiday. Monetary gifts will be put into a savings account for the benefit of your sponsored child. This money will provide the youngsters with start-up capital once they leave the care of the Foster Family or CEOL Center, and will help them start an independent life. Many young people are encouraged to use this money to start a business or open a workshop of the learned craft. The savings may also be used in the event of onset of a critical illness, but you would be advised if so.
Sponsorship contributions
To become a sponsor, we ask you to make an annual pledge to a FONDAMU orphan child. Sponsorship contributions can be made monthly, quarterly, or annually by direct debit or credit card through PAYPAL. Ten % of your monthly contributions will be used for FONDAMU and CEOL administrative costs.
By becoming a sponsor, you are establishing a long-term relationship with a FONDAMU supported child. You will be able to watch your sponsored child grow up and try to experience life in their shoes. We hope that you would periodically renew your annual sponsorship pledge until your child has left the FONDAMU Foster Families or you are no longer able to support. Here are some additional points of interest:
- Sponsors can choose to sponsor multiple children;
- When a sponsored child leaves the Nyabunkungu village, the sponsor will receive a replacement child and is then given the option to accept the child or modify his/her sponsorship
- It is up to the sponsor to cancel his/her sponsorship
Please do Sponsor an orphan or a group of orphaned children
Sign up online to become a sponsor today or contact our office at info@fondamu.org
When you become a child sponsor, you help your child to grow up in the warmth and security of a foster family with the love of a mother and siblings, to receive an education and to prepare for an independent life. You will get to know your FONDAMU sponsored child personally and become a role model in his or her life. You will also be supporting your child's Foster Family or the Nyabunkungu village with the basic necessities for work and play.
Select your Sponsorship Level:
| US $34/month in the CEOL Nyabunkungu Village of 250 Orphans | ||
| US $63/month for the Foster Family of 8 in Lukumbo | ||
| US $125/month for a Foster Family of 6 in Kinshasa | ||
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