Salesians in DR Congo Facilitate Teachers’ Salaries, Education of Needy Learners

“Many of them have continued on with their education despite facing depression and anxiety,” they say in the October 31 report, adding, “Salesians have paid for their schooling as well as additional social support and psychological care.”

SDB officials indicate in the report that DRC’s “Masisi Territory is facing armed conflicts and is one of the worst areas of violence.”

“Conflicts have increased the number of orphans and displaced people within the territory,” they say, and add, “When conditions are too hard and incomes are low, many families remove their children from school because they do not see it as a necessary expense.”

One of the students benefiting from the SDB initiative, Buuma Bihira Phélicien, “is from a family of five children, of which three of them have died. The father also passed away last year leaving the family with little support,” they recount in the report.

 “After my father passed, I was told I had to leave school but the Salesians supported me,” Phélicien has been quoted as saying in the October 31 report.

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He adds, “My mother sells bananas. It’s a small business that feeds us, but she couldn’t pay for our schooling after the death of our father.”

“Father Kizito, director of Don Bosco Shasha, helped us a lot and he told us that there are benefactors from Salesian Missions who have supported us during this year, offering us free education,” Phélicien recounts. 

He goes on to thank “all the benefactors who have supported us. I hope that this will continue because if the support ends, I will be forced to abandon my studies.”

Another beneficiary, Furaha Elodie Karamba, aged nine, is quoted as saying, “I am in the 3rd year and live with my mother. There are six children and my father left us because of bad debts.”

Karamba adds, “My mother works in the field and we are living in difficulty. Salesians have paid for my schooling this year.”

“I thank those who have helped and I hope that I will be able to continue to study like the other children,” she says.

In the October 31 report, SDB officials say, “Salesian missionaries have been working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for more than 100 years ensuring that the most vulnerable children are not forgotten.”

“Salesian primary and secondary schools and programs lay the foundation for early learning while Salesian trade, vocational and agricultural programs offer many youth the opportunity for a stable and productive future,” they further say.

This story was first published by ACI Africa on 31 October 2022.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.