Forgotten Children....!?

Children are about the most important asset in most of the African countries.
Likewise in Congo Brazzaville:

Children can take care of you when you get older....!
Children provide you with [/b]esteem[/b]. The more children, the more esteem....?
Children are able to work and provide income...!

This, however, is only true when the children are healthy.

What happens when they are not healthy?

Bad luck comes to those children, because they are not of interest anymore. They are in fact not able to take care of their parents. A sick child doesn’t provide you with esteem, doesn’t provide you with income. It costs the parents a lot of money to care for them.
These parents now are forced to work a lot in order to earn a small income, causing them not to have time to look after these children. For society these sick children do not exist. No one cares about them...!

One great man does, however: Mr. André Kabi, Director of “Association Handicap Afrique”.

Mr. André Kabi as he addresses the Forum of Young Enterprises in Congo Brazzaville.

Médipsyp

[b]Mr. André Kabi[/] founded Centre Médipsyp in 1993 (Centre Médico-Psychpédagogique)
His objectives were as follows:
One is giving shelter to children, who have been abandoned by society or are orphans because the parents have died from HIV. These children often suffer from multiple handicaps (Polio, HIV, blindness, etc…).

Another is providing basic education to a group of 87 (!) children with the help of 8 local “teachers”. When the boys reach the age of 17 or 18, they can follow a technical education to become a bookbinder or learn to manufacture (school) furniture.

When the girls become 16 or 17 years of age, they can ask for the assistance of Soeur Ancilla, who will teach them to design and sew robes and dresses.
Each dress they sell brings them a bit closer to their independence.

Some of the children have even come so far, that they were able to get a teaching job at Médipsyp.

The students of Médipsyp (Kabi-School) like to pose for pictures

It is evident, that the existing school building doesn’t provide sufficient room for all the children.

Expansion of Médipsyp and the care for children.
It should be obvious to anyone, that André Kabi’s activities cost money, a lot of money!
As Director of Association Handicap Afrique, he finances the larger part of the cost with the help of Sponsors, but on an annual basis there is a deficit of €. 10.000,-

Consequently he has asked the president and treasurer of our Foundation, during their latest visit, to help him find an additional sponsor.
For this year we did indeed found a Dutch sponsor, who “adopted” this project, for which we are very grateful. However, we need the same amount for next year and are asking for someone’s financial support to continue this “Adopted” project.

We asked our contact person, Mrs. Hilly-Anne Fumey, to send us some pictures, so that we can print a brochure to hand out.

Disciplines side-to-side, but still a bit crowded in this way...

As you can imagine with the magnitude of the problems in Congo Brazzaville, much more help is needed...

Anticipating the promised financial help, Mr. André Kabi has already started with the extension of the building...

Coordinating Task
As this is a project, which is somewhat outside the objectives of our Foundation, we only function as coordinator and controller