PRH-Congo is on the move! We would like to take you along.
Here, the five educators (from r to l): Pauline, Brigitta, Romanie (new since 2021), Zoë (new since 2021 and Jacinthe (the responsible)
Pauline lives and works in the area of Mbujimayi (East-Kasai province).
The other educators live in Kinshasa, the capital. From there they travel to other parts of Congo.
In 2022 these three men: Simon, Julien and Jean-Baptiste started the professional formation, with the goal of becoming PRH-educators. They have already followed the three year formation of MPV (Methodical Personal Formation) and the two year training as accompanist in the PRH aid-giving relationship. At present they are also qualified to animate short programs.
It is an extremely motivated group of people who do their work in an environment of very tough material conditions.
The context
Kinshasa is a metropolis of millions whose population is currently unknown. The city is constantly expanding with economic refugees from the interior or neighbouring countries who hope to find a better life there. It is very busy and unsafe. Traveling by public transport is sometimes dangerous. Theft of mobile phones, jewellery, possessions etc. is a daily occurrence.
In the interior, where Pauline lives, things are no better.
There is a great need and demand for training and support, but the participants can hardly afford anything.
A four-day course normally costs USD 20 per participant. Which should yield an income of approximately USD 250 per course for an educator. Most people are only able to afford $ 5, which leaves nothing after the cost of course documents, travel, etc.
IAAR has been supporting PRH RDC since 2012
Given the context in which the educators have to work, it is impossible for them to earn a living without the support of IAAR.
Since 2012, IAAR has provided financial support by financing concrete training projects, assistance with the maintenance of the PRH center, logistical support, an annual training period of 3 weeks in Kinshasa, professional support and guidance of the candidates and educators, etc.
| Jacinthe, the responsible person for PRH-RDCongo, tells us about the importance of the IAAR support for their team:
Dear all, Warm greetings to everyone from Kinshasa Before we talk to you about the importance of the great collaboration between IAAR and the PRH-DRCongo team, we would like to give you some background information about ourselves The uniqueness of our team:
The first two elements have greatly weakened the economic, financial and social structure of Congo. The third point means that we still have to sensitize and make our public aware, so that more of them would pay fairly for the formation. There is an evolution in the good direction, but it is still rather limited. The mental and physical investment, the efforts in terms of space and time: these are not in proportion to the expected results. It is in this very complex context that we really appreciate the great collaboration with IAAR. This collaboration helps us (collaborators and educators) to stay upright, to move forward step by step, and to strengthen our personal and collective formation. We think of the financial aid for the organization of our national and international training courses and exchanges. We think of the financing of our training projects for a diverse audience, or of the purchase of the necessary material for the digitalization of our operation, of logistical support and other exchanges. We want to thank you very sincerely and warmly for all that and we hope that one day we will be able to meet one of our great challenges, which is to let our creativity blossom and take an active part in this great solidarity organisation, which is so rich and so very effective. On behalf of PRH-RDCongo team ( Brigitta, Pauline, Romanie, Zoe, Jean-Baptiste, Julien, Simon et Dieudonné. Jacinthe Nkongolo |
Below two photographs of the workshops given in November 2021 for candidates and educators in Kinshasa, financed by IAAR:
General assembly of the educators
Workshop with creative materials about the values within PRH
IAAR offers the educators the possibility to submit one or two personal projects once a year, responding to the needs of their audience.
Here we present two of these projects:
