Help Street Girls in DR Congo

Thank you very much for your generous donations to the Kimbilio Project to help street girls in the Congo. Girls are very vulnerable living on the streets.

This year, the Kimbilio short-term and long-term houses have looked after an average of 24 girls each month who had been living on the street. As well as shelter, food, clothing and counselling, we can now give the girls the opportunity of education at the Kimbilio school. It is heart-warming to see the changes in their faces as the girls regain self-respect and confidence. In many cases, we are able to achieve reintegration of the girls into their wider families.

In addition, the Day Centre in Lubumbashi sees around eight girls each day who come for help. The Kimbilio staff team are trained to address the needs of the girls, some of whom may have young children or be pregnant. 

Thank you for your finiancial support for the work of Kimbilio with young girls living on the streets of Lumbumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The girls are very vulnerable on the streets and Kimbilio can provide shelter, food, medical care and a safe environment for them

The younger girls living in the homes run by Kimbilio have just completed their first year at the new Kimbilio Primary School. As well as the normal academic subjects, the girls have enjoyed success in team games such as basketball. It is so encouraging seeing the smiles on the faces of these girls and recognise that they have each been able to move forward from the situation that caused them to live on the streets.

The current Kimbilio Project is to build a multipurpose Day Centre. Up to now we have using the Anglican Cathedral in Lubumbashi but we need our own premises. The Day Centre is the first point of contact with street children. We have identified a plot of land in the city centre and already secured $30,000 of the $50,000 needed to complete the purchase, so we need a further $20,000 by Christmas. We will then be able to engage the architect who desined the Primary School to draw up a design for the new Day Centre