Mill Hill Missionaries in DR Congo Creating Safe Spaces to Heal Deeply Wounded Families

MHM members are the beacon of hope for the impoverished community around St. Francis of Paola Parish, providing hostels for children where they are free from all manner of exploitation.  

The missionaries are also running a big training centre that equips vulnerable women and men with skills to make a living; they are also in the process of constructing a spiritual centre where wounded families will find healing.

In a Tuesday, April 1 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Bolengu decried the decades-long instability in DRC, noting that with the current Rwanda-backed incursion in the Eastern Congolese cities of Goma and Bukavu, all the Congolese people are suffering.

“The whole of the DRC is suffering,” the Congolese Catholic Priest said.

He added, “The ongoing wars in the DRC have exposed many communities to different challenges, such as poverty, famine, sexual violence and rape, internal displacements, migration, torturing, and killing. All these challenges have negatively affected the lives of many people, especially the young.”

“Once one part of the body is in pain the whole body suffers,” Fr. Bolengu said.

He described DRC as “a country full of natural resources, yet one of the world's poorest countries”.

“People in my country especially in the Parish that I am serving in the rural area of Kinshasa are crying due to the many challenges they are facing. The main one is poverty,” the Congolese MHM Priest told ACI Africa. 

He said that the Congolese are too poor to fend for themselves, let alone supporting the Church. The result of the abject poverty is a high rate of early pregnancies, many teenage mothers, and people dying at a young age leaving behind many orphans.

In Plateaux de Bateke and other impoverished areas, he said, there is a high unemployment rate and drug abuse. “Sad enough, many children have become street children, and many do not go to school due to the lack of school fees and scholastic materials,” he said.  

Children displaced by the fighting between ‘Bateke and Bayaka’ fall prey to anyone who can give them food, Fr. Bolengu said, and continued, “In Mose village of Plateaux de Bateke, motor and taxi drivers often use these vulnerable young people, especially the war-displaced girls for sex, drugs and crime, resulting in a high rate of prostitution, juvenile delinquency, sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies.”

Faced with the challenges, the Priest finds consolation in the message of Pope Francis who has designated the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

He said, “As pastoral agents, instead of crying daily for the situation we find ourselves in, we should instead bring hope to the lives of people by being agents of peace and healing.”

“Instead of lamenting every day we should be involved in healing people’s wounds of sorrow, pain and hopelessness,” Fr. Bolengu said, and added, “My faith convinces me that the best healing and reconciliation comes from God and He cannot abandon his people. This is the reason why I always turn to him with trust and confidence knowing that one day things will be fine in DRC and peace will be restored.”

To contribute to the healing of the wounds of these people, the MHM in DRC, together with local people are involved in various projects, such as the creation of hostels as a safe environment for children, free from all forms of exploitation.

(Story continues below)

The children are allowed to enjoy their childhood and given the opportunity to concentrate on their personal formation and education, away from the economic pressures of the impoverished community.

Now, St. Francis of Paola Parish has given home to 42 children who live in a hostel.

Expressing gratitude to those who have overseen the construction of the hostels, Fr. Bolengu says, “We thank the local Christians, Missio UK headed by Fr. Antony Chantry, the Mill Hill Missionaries Irish region and a few friends for funding one unit of the hostel through their donations, though we still have to build two other units.”

The Mill Hill Irish Region supported with Jinja Luanda Foundation; and Misean Cara are also supporting the running of a training centre that targets the community around the Parish.

Additionally, St. Francis of Paola Parish is in the process of constructing a spiritual centre aimed at helping people affected psychologically and spiritually by the war.

“We are also planning to establish, Agricultural, Carpentry, Mechanic workshops that will be established once we obtain the funds needed,” Fr. Bolengu told ACI Africa. 

He added, “As Christians, we are all invited to be bearers of hope into the troubled world and be opened for true healing and transformation.”

“Together we can change the world. We must stand together and make humanity great,” the Congolese MHM Priest said on April 1.