TUMAINI ("to hope" in Swahili) - website archive - start Tumaini

During a stay in her country of origin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Julienne MPEMBA made a dramatic observation. In his neighborhood, many children do not go to school. And when she asks them why they stay at home, the answer is the same "I was expelled because my school fees have not yet been paid" or "this year, I will not go to school because we doesn't know how to pay my school fees".

Watching some children from her neighborhood wandering in the street, at a time when the others are at school, she said to herself that she was very lucky to finish her humanities in Congo and to be able to go to Belgium to undertake university studies.

The unfortunate and alarming observation is there. The lack of schooling in the DRC at the budgetary level obliges parents to finance the studies of their children, among other things by taking charge of the teachers' salaries and the various fees required by the school managers. This system is materialized by the payment a premium that varies according to the public Catholic, official, kimbaguist schools, etc.

If the parents are unable to pay the premium in question, the children are simply sent home, and this dramatic situation most often leads to dropping out of school. This situation particularly affects a large number of orphans who no longer have parents to pay the said premium. And when they are collected within a host family, the children of the host parents often have priority with regard to the payment of the premium.

In recent years, the Congolese state has made considerable efforts. But, despite significant government intervention in the education sector (representing 10% of the national budget for the schooling of 10 million children), the Congolese population is faced with major challenges: many infrastructures are dilapidated, the school materials are seriously lacking, the number of teachers is insufficient.

Thus, more than 12 million children (ie more than one child in two), and particularly orphans, still do not have access to school.

The second observation is that many babies and children are abandoned, either because they are orphans, or because they are sick, or because of the misery in which their parents live. There are structures which, with limited means, are doing remarkable work on the ground to help these children but, once again, the findings are alarming: these children have no family, they are in need a mother, a father who could take them in his arms, console them, spend a sleepless night with them because they are sick,...

Thus, on June 21, 2008, on the initiative of Julienne, Mesdames Rose Rase, Sophie Gehu, Géraldine Mathieu as well as Messrs Rufin Makoso, Obed Kahozi, Bob Kabamba, Christophe Antoine and Patrick Mfutu met with the aim to create Tumaini.

Among the founding members of Tumaini, with the exception of Mrs. Gehu and Mr. Antoine, all the others are administrators within the ASBL and among them:

Mr. Rufin Makoso is the President

Ms. Géraldine Mathieu is Legal Officer and Secretary

Ms. Julienne Mpemba is Legal Officer and Coordinator

Mr. Obed Kahozi is an accountant and treasurer.

Major decisions within the ASBL are taken collectively by all the administrators. They are all volunteers.

If you want to have more information about Tumaini, do not hesitate to write to us, to call us, but also to ask for an appointment.

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