KYENGE
Situated 170 km from Lubumbashi, between the Lufira and plateau of the Kundelungu, the village of Kyenge and its 3000 inhabitants are about 12 km away from the Lukafu Mission, which was an important administrative centre at the beginning of the colonization. King Albert the 1st, then Prince, staid there and the bed he slept in still exists.
A cemetery of pioneers, the graves of which are regrettably hardly maintained, also exists in Lukafu. The Association intended to look after this cemetery as a sign of respect for these young people who came such a long way to die while building our beautiful Congo.
This is where the story of the Mikembo Association begins.
The beginning of a big dream, unfortunately unfinished; a bitter taste of semi failure… but a frank collaboration is not always easy to obtain and breach in the basic contract slowed us down. We did, however, help to the population and are still assisting them from a distance.
It's a pity because this corner of the World presented many elements that fell within the framework of the Mikembo Association, as far as both human and nature are concerned.
It's a pity because a part of the population feels deprived when they see the development of the "Kinsangwe” project; it is interesting to know that more than 60 % of the workers of the Kinsangwe project comes from Kyenge, among whom the manager, Mr Kyakaba François, and the Director of the primary school, Mr Kapisha Kalela Mutumpa.
After the customary wedding of Magali Anastassiou with Mr Frédéric Garcão, and Michel Anastassiou’s enthronement as customary Chief, a project of sustainable development was set up in 2002 and covered by a legal structure, the Association Mikembo, which was, the same year, represented in Belgium by the Association Mukini.
Very quickly, the Association started to work:
• Education:
A primary "school" in ruin consisting of four crumbling “classrooms” was rebuilt to offer to about 400 children an education in a favourable environment. Seven classes were equipped with benches and boards, two offices and two toilet blocks make the villagers proud.
The Association pursues its financial assistance to the running of the school by paying part of the scholar fees as well as bonuses to the teachers whose official salaries are derisory.
• Health:
The Association financed the construction of a community clinic, the management of which is provided by the medical structure installed in Lukafu.
Basic medicines are also sent to this community clinic.
• Drinking water:
Four wells equipped with manual pumps were installed in Kyenge to bring drinking water to a population confronted almost every year with the cholera.
• Opening up:
The Association rehabilitated six bridges between Minga (on the Kasenga road) and Lukafu.
The Association also looked after 10 of the 80 km of this road.
A radio was installed at the Chief Kyenge's house (moved since then) and two satellite dishes, supplied with solar energy, as well as a television, were placed, allowing the population to follow the local broadcasts (Kinshasa and Lubumbashi) as well as foreign channels such as TV5 (these were destroyed).
• Agriculture:
The Association supplied the farmers with fertilizers as well as maize seeds, allowing them to improve their yields (from 0,5 T / Ha to 2,5 T / Ha).
Due to the lack of collaboration, this project was abandoned.
• Protection of the Environment:
5.000 Ha of magnificent bush was dedicated to the "ecological" objectives of the Association. Regrettably, this project has never started for the same reasons as those evoked before.
To cut a long story short, a project that started well, incomplete but that has, however, improved the well-being of the population (see the welcome to the family Collins during their visit in 2007).
Maybe one a day …

KINSANGWE
The Association could not settle for such a mitigated results… and Fate guided us.
While looking for a farm to develop commercial fish farming his son-in-law, Mikembo found a parcel of bush 32 km from Lubumbashi, in the direction of Kasenga.
At first, 350 Ha of bush partially damaged by the coalmen, three water springs, a swamp, a river that crosses all this (Kiswishi), some small ruined ponds and a flow of new ideas…
To hell with the fish, quickly buy neighbouring land (the current concession is 800 Ha) and we do it again!
Despite the proximity of the city, the destitution is total: the men are all almost coalmining and happily destroy this beautiful "Miombo", the women cultivate a little, are in charge of the “water” chore (sometimes kilometres to go to the river) and raise brats that are as noisy as numerous.
In spite of a former project led by an Italian Association -the promoters of which have left-, no proper schools in the area; community clinics into which one hesitate to go and that practice a very "mixed" "medicine"; the use of the river water to drink… with everything it contains and once again a rural population left to itself.
And little by little the Association rebuilds its nest.

Education:
In 2007, the Association, having learnt from the Kyenge experience, builds a new primary school in the middle of the trees: seven classes, an office, a library and a toilet block.
In 2009, two rooms are added: one for microcomputing training, the other for a training in sewing and embroidery.
The school:
- Is totally equipped by the Association and its sponsors
• benches,
• boards,
• cupboards,
• writing desks and chairs for the teachers,
• ten computers,
• ten sewing machines with pedals.
- Provides 400 children with schooling this year
• 320 in primary school,
• 30 in pre-primary school,
• 25 in sewing,
• 30 in computing (of which most of the school teachers)
- Keeps 17 persons busy
• a director
• seven school teachers
• a teacher in pre-primary school
• an English teacher
• two sewing instructors
• two “ part time” ecology teachers
• a “part time” computing teacher
• a trainer in agronomy
- Follows the official program that is compulsory to obtain the State diploma

- Teaches English to all pupils from grade 1

- Gives ecology lessons to all the pupils

- Trains pupils who have finished there six primary years and who want to
? to microcomputing
? to sewing and embroidery

- Gives all the pupils free:
• uniforms
• educational material
- Provides
• outside games for the smaller ones
• for the older ones,
? a beautiful soccer field
? a basket-ball/volley-ball court
- Lays the foundations, this year, of a ‘agronomy’ section for the children who finished their primary cycle; already
• the basic material has been bought
• a 7 Ha ploughed field has been given to the school to produce maize, soya and groundnuts
Among the objectives not yet reached due to the lack of financial means, we need to mention a professional school to train the youth to professions such mechanics, masonry, joinery, etc.
Maybe one day this dream will become reality!
All of this does obviously not happen by itself and Magali Anastassiou-Garcão spends a lot of time making sure that everything goes right…thereby turning the school of Kinsangwe into a school of reference!
Thanks to everyone, everywhere, who helps the association and who made this project feasible and viable.
Health:
To address the children’s nutritional deficiencies, a daily meal is supplied to every pupil: porridge consisting of corn, sugar and soya, which provides the children with a minimum of proteins.
The next objective: a community clinic, the real one!
The ideas are ready, a plan is in preparation, bricks are cooked and a generous donor promised to finance us.

Sports:
Aspect of development linked to both education and health.
A magnificent soccer field has been available for a few months…all that remains to be done is grow the lawn! Maybe a future Lionel Messi will blossom in the "stadium Jean Mwilambwe " named after our 4th primary year student who died just before Christmas 2009.
The Association will also build a Basketball- Volleyball court in 2010.
As we say "Mens sana in corpore sano"!
Agriculture:
Every year, the Association supplies maize seeds as well as fertilizers to many farmers of the region. It started with 30 Ha and now covers the needs of 70 Ha.
Every farmer has to give back to the project the equivalent of a ton of maize in grains per hectare; the system works well and the requests are increasing!
With the arrival of the agronomist at the school we:
- have cleared, ploughed and sowed 7 Ha that should allow the school to cover part of its expenses by the sale of corn, soya and groundnuts
- will try to convince the villagers to group their fields together so that we can plough them mechanically rather than manually
- will promote a series of activities (kitchen garden, breeding, to allow the school to cover part of its needs).

Protection of the environment:
In addition to the creation of the "Mikembo Sanctuary" (see Presentation- objectives), the Association is engaged, in association with the Association “Biodioversité Au Katanga”, BAK in initials, in a fight against the deforestation.
Among the undertaken actions:
- a project to study how to rationally exploit the clear katangese forest; the "Miombo”. This project extends over 10 Ha, is initiated and supervised by Professor Jean Lejoly from the ULB in association with the agronomy section of the University of Lubumbashi, and should help to define rules for cutting down Miombo trees without destroying the forest as is currently the case.

- creation of a miombo trees nursery; eventually, reforestation of certain zones destroyed by humans

- total protection of the various species of trees and plants on the concession

- total protection of animals, birds, insects that proliferated at an incredible rate in a few years. This is an additional proof that, when protected, nature recovers quickly.

- organisation of training courses for the students.
The project becomes a reference regarding the fauna and flora. It is imitated with more or less success and is used by several scientists wishing to lead studies on the miombo biodiversity.

DISTRIBUTION OF DRINKING WATER
The quality of water drunk by the rural populations is a major problem.
Usually, women and the children draw the water from the rivers in which loads of diseases proliferate.
From its creation, the Mikembo Association has worked on solving this problem. Several wells equipped with manual pumps were dug:
- Four in Kyenge
- Three in the Sanctuary
- Eighteen in various villages on the road of Kasenga
- Twenty eight under the financing of Rotary Club of Liège also on the road of Kasenga.
These wells are installed by Spanish religious "ASBL Oeuvre missionaire Ekumene" and cost between 1.500 and 4.000 USD depending on the depth of the groundwater.
The Association is about to install a 40 m deep well equipped with a pump supplied by solar energy.

KATUMBA
At the request of the Chief Katete, Mikembo visited a region located 35 km from Kinsangwe.
During this visit, he crossed a village called "Katumba": 190 huts in the middle of nowhere along the river "Mwati", 17 km from the main road of Kasenga.
A few months ago, the notable of the village asked for some metal sheets to cover "the school" of the village, as well as an assistance with textbooks; and we agreed to help them.
But what a shock, even though little surprises us… What a shock to see this community isolated in the bush wanting... a school for its children! We are going to help them, because in front of such good will in spite of the poverty and looking at of all these little smiling faces, we cannot, we do not know how to remain insensible …
The project would consist in:
- integrating this school into that of Kinsangwe so that its diplomas will be recognized
- building a solid structure, certainly less luxurious than those of Kyenge and Kinsangwe but "viable"
- supplying a minimum of educational material to the pupils and the teachers
- building two wells with manual pumps