Visit to orphanage near U. Kin

Today I went to visit an orphanage near the University of Kinshasa. The trip took about an hour as the traffic was reasonable. Mama Georgette founded the orphanage about 9 years ago. At first she worked with street kids who wanted to go to school and then gradually developed an orphanage for orphans and quasi-orphans. There are currently 54 children that live there and 5 workers that live with them. I learned that it costs about $50 for 3 months of schooling for each child and about $1/meal, plus medical costs. The local government and church organizations don’t provide any financial support for the orphanage, but do recommend children to come. With the community, Georgette has started to build a school building next to the houses so that the orphan children wouldn’t have to pay school fees and perhaps also to raise some income from school fees of other children. There is a waiting list of over 100 children. We (the visitors) listened to Georgette tell her story and the history of the orphanage and then the children prayed and sang for us before we left. It was encouraging to see how the children were loved and taken care of but at the same time overwhelming to see the level of need. — John

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