Located in the district of Kimbondo on Mont-Ngafula in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kimbondo Pediatrics, Orphanage and Hospital (also known as Mama Coco Orphanage) is home to more than 800 orphans. Today, the hospital alone houses separate general care, cardiology, tuberculosis, emergency, and blood transfusion units, as well as a radiology department and laboratory.
More than 250 of the over 800 orphans suffer from a host of ailments, including malnutrition, severe physical disabilities, HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. While most residents of the orphanage range from several day old babies to 18-year olds, the doors are always open and Kimbondo often cares for sick adults. The Pediatric home is one of the few reception facilities for children with severe disabilities and mental illness.
Despite Dr. Hugo’s, the staff and volunteers’ dedication and hard work, the mortality rate at Kimbondo is still too high. In addition, the physical capacity of Kimbondo and its limited financial and human resources make it difficult to not only care for the current number of orphans but to also help address the growing needs.
Through the establishment of the Bana Mayele School, the children of Kimbondo will receive relevant knowledge. From the very basics knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetics, to useful life skills and vocational education. The children will also focus on learning trades and expertise according to their talents, interest, and ability such as sewing, growing food and livestock, woodworking, and catering – all to have a working chance at supporting themselves in their community, in the DRC, and today’s society at large.
In December of 2021 SNI set out to travel to Congo and visit the Mama Coco Orphanage. We arrived with 8 suitcases of power tools and donations from Switzerland, and a whole lot of love and eagerness to help renovate the Orphanage. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Madlen, who is one of the 250 staff members, and undoubtedly one of the most devoted people we’ve ever met.
Madlen has been working at the Orphanage for 16 years, never accepting payment. Her work for years has ranged from changing diapers, cleaning the dorms, scrubbing the toilets, and feeding babies from morning till night, all while keeping one thing in mind: these children deserve a chance for life. Madlen has seen a whole generation of children grow up, from infancy through their entire life.
Today her focus is to care for and educate the children to provide them with better chances in this ever-changing world. For this purpose, she has established a separate non-profit organization called Bana Mayele (Congolese expression for „smashing it” – which translates to being excellent and achieving one’s goals) with the sole goal to educate the children of Kimbondo.
Madlen has dedicated her entire existence to the children of Kimbondo. She has adopted 2 children as her own. The rest of the children’s future and fate weighs heavily on her heart and she is stepping out by faith to build a better future for them. The Bana Mayele journey has begun by putting down the foundations and beginning the building of the school of her dreams which will host and house 400 students from Kimbondo.
Please watch our video to learn more about the Bana Mayele Initiative and to see SNI in action:
SNI needs all the help we can get to make this educational facility a reality for the orphans of Kimbondo, Congo. If you would like to get involved, either hands-on by volunteering or remotely by contributing financially, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!
