Construction of Schools for the Poor in the Walungu Territory, South Kivu

The best way to ensure sustainable development is to educate the youth to make them responsible for the future of their country. They need the skills that will ensure a sustainable future in the Congo. In Eastern Congo, especially in the Walungu Territory, school buildings for elementary and secondary pupils were built 50 years ago by parents using cheap materials. These buildings are decaying, and many of them can no longer provide a suitable learning environment to allow pupils to get good education. Many students have been running away from their schools.

This is the Luzirhu Elementary School that needs to be reconstructed. FONDAMU has introduced a grant proposal of US $25,000 to build three classrooms of sturdy material. The rate of runaway students at Luzirhu is one of the highest in the Walungu Territory due to the lack of a suitable classroom environment.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo set up in 2005 a programme, called Programme Multisectoriel d’Urgence, de Reconstruction et de Rehabilitation (PMURR), to provide the needed funds through non-governmental organisations such as FONDAMU to rehabilitate or construct new school buildings using sturdy material. The buildings are to be constructed with rock foundations, red brick walls, tin roofs and plywood ceilings. Also there is opportunity to equip the schools with appropriate desks, blackboards, books and other teaching equipment and supplies.

A typical classroom in the Walungu Territory that needs to be reconstructed in sturdy material and to be equipped with desks and blackboards. This picture was taken in 2006 in the Nzibira Elementary School.

People from many villages with decaying schools in the Walungu Territory, in its two tribal chiefdoms Ngweshe and Kaziba, have expressed their willingness to have FONDAMU help them to access to these DRC Government funds and to assist in the building of their community schools. The local people will provide manpower and some building material such as sand or sticks. Once built, the schools will be used during the day for education of the youth. The facilities will also be used in the evening to educate adults, especially women and vulnerable people, who want to learn how to read and write and to acquire some craft.

This is a school in Ciherano that needs reconstruction. This picture was taken on 9 July 2006 during our visit there.

Hence FONDAMU has introduced to the PMURR (in May 2007) a grant proposal of US $250,000 to construct, for ten schools, 30 new classrooms (8m x 6m) and each covering 192 m² in bricks and tin roof. The 10 schools, which will receive each 3 new classrooms, are the following:

• The Elementaries Schools of Luzirhu; Lubona, Mushinga, Mwangaza, Mushenyi, Cibanda, Nyabunkungu (for Orphans); and
• The Secondary (High) Schools of Muzinzi, Mwimbi, and Ciherano.

The Elementary School for Orphans in Nyabunkungu, 08 April 2007. It needs to be fully rebuilt along with a dormitory and to be equipped with a workshop for carpentry.

In 2006 FONDAMU teamed up a partner local nongovernmental organization, CERADE, and FONDAMU staff members led in the construction of 4 schools in the Walungu Territory at Lukumbo, Karhundu, Muleke, and Cihambe. Also FONDAMU is experienced in the building of its headquarters in Kinshasa, as well as its Walungu Territory office in Lukumbo.

The need for each of these schools is 6 classrooms to cover all the class grades, and also a room for the school superintendent and a teacher's room combined with the school library; and six toilets. So even with the PMURR grant there still is a need for 30 more class rooms, 10 superintendent rooms, and 10 library and teacher's rooms as well as 60 toilets.

Please help us match the government grant. This will allow for the construction of 30 more class rooms to cover the still needed classrooms for each of the 10 schools. We hope that the government will provide a separate grant for books, desks, blackboards, and equipment such as typewriters and computers.

Please donate to FONDAMU to match the government grant of US $250, 000 to allow for the construction of 30 additional dry and sturdy class rooms to cover the still needed classrooms for each of the 10 schools in the Walungu Territory.

Make a Monthly Donation	$ for months.
Giv a one-time donation	$
Assist the Construction of a Selected School among Ten
Help us in matching the US $250,000 grant
Participate in the construction of unfunded buildings (10 superintendent offices, 10 libraries/teacher's tea room and 60 toilets for the pupils of the ten schools)
Support Running Costs for FONDAMU staff

Below is the example of what the new school will look like.

This is a new school building in Muleke, with 6 classrooms, that was constructed in 2006 under the leadership of Zagabe Desiré Mugangu, one of the FONDAMU staff, with a grant of US $50,000 provided by the PMURR program of the DR Congo Government to a partner CERADE. The PMURR grants go through NGOs, like FONDAMU, to serve communities. PMUR stands for Programme Multisectoriel d Urgence, de Reconstruction et de Rehabilitatio, whose funds come from a grant of the World Bank to the government of DRC.