The results are in, and we are delighted to share the news that all 51 students who just completed their senior (6th) year at the Kimbilio Mapendo Primary School were successful on their national exams! 26 boys and 25 girls will thus begin at the Kimbilio Mapendo Secondary School in September. ENAFEP is the Examen National de Fin d'Etudes Primaires. This is the standardized, state administered and compulsory national exam that determines whether students can start lower seco

On Friday 8th May, thankfully before this recent heat wave hit the UK, a team of amazing Congo Children Trust (CCT) volunteers from Manchester and Liverpool joined together outside All Hallows Church in Allerton to load a 40-foot container and sent it on its way to the DR Congo. The items shipped were 100% donated good quality items from the UK; some new, some refurbished, all for Kimbilio's new vocational college. We had gradually been gathering donations over the last few

Within sight of one of Lubumbashi’s largest mines, in an area marked by limited access to basic services like running water, the construction of a new educational college is taking shape to transform the lives of young adults for generations to come. The Kimbilio Vocational College as it stands today, adjacent to the Kimbilio Mapendo School. Kimbilio Vocational College plans to welcome its first cohort of students in 2027. These students will have the chance to learn skills

Visit us in Liverpool this coming weekend! Congo Children Trust and Kimbilio will have a stall at Africa Oyé Festival. This festival is the UK's largest celebration of African music and culture. Each year Africa Oyé offers a great shopping experience, and in our stall you'll be able to buy bags, aprons, cards and other goodies, with proceeds benefiting the children of Kimbilio. Details about the festival are here.

The current ebola outbreak in the DR Congo is a serious threat to the lives of so many people. It started in Ituri province, in the far north east of the DR Congo, and has spread to parts of Kivu Province and into Uganda. As of the start of June there have been 452 confirmed cases and 82 confirmed deaths. On Friday 5th June there were 71 confirmed cases in one day. This is the largest daily increase and highlights the capability of ebola to spread rapidly. Several factors a

Congo Children Trust (CCT) is thrilled to announce the appointment of Ian Harvey as Chief Executive Officer from 1st May 2026. Ian is the visionary founder of both Kimbilio and CCT. He has led CCT on a voluntary, part-time basis with determination and dedication from its creation as a charity registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales in 2007. The vision for Kimbilio and CCT came about 20 years ago in 2006, when Ian was working as an election observer in the

Kimbilio's day center welcomed a team with members from the DR Congo's L'Institut National de la Statistique (INS) and UNICEF . The visit was part of the team's mission to conduct a statistical survey on street children in Lubumbashi. The Division des Affaires Sociales (DIVAS) for Haut Katanga Province was also involved. The Government of Canada , which provided a US$12 million grant to UNICEF in late 2024 to improve protection of vulnerable children in the DRC, is an ong

Several years ago, Marie left her family following a dispute with her father's wife. Marie's biological mother is deceased. After time on the streets, Marie came to live at Kimbilio's transit house for girls. After a long time of mediation by Kimbilio's reintegration team and several site visits, Marie decided to go live with her grandmother. The joyous photos are of the family reunion. Recently at Kimbilio, Marie completed "Coupe et Couture," a training program in sewing

We love the day each year that women and girls worldwide are honored -- International Women's Day. Kimbilio's celebrations were glorious, as always. This year, the United Nations established the theme for the day: ""Rights. Justice. Action." For ALL women and girls. The theme emphasized the urgency of taking action against systemic inequalities and guaranteeing equitable access to justice. The need cannot be disputed. According to the United Nations , globally women have

Congo Children Trust is pleased to share the news of a new partnership with Kumi Foundation and Yokogawa Electric Corporation. The partnership was formalised through a memorandum of understanding signed at the Japan-DRC Business Forum in Kinshasa on March 2. Together, we will work to strengthen education and child protection for vulnerable children living in mining communities in Lubumbashi and Kolwezi. For over seventeen years, Congo Children Trust has supported children who

Twenty-one boys' lives are moving in a better direction, and Kimbilio is among the partner organizations seeing this through. In the DR Congo, children are recruited as well as forced into militias, and they also volunteer for the armed forces. Child soldiers, known as kadogos in Swahili, are most prevalent in the war-torn east of the country, but the southern provinces face the issue as well. Children under 18 are not permitted, under either national or international law,

The International Bureau for Children's Rights is an extraordinary organization. Their mission is "strengthening justice and child protection systems and transforming the place of children in our societies, to ensure the realization of children’s rights, especially for those who face the greatest obstacles to having them respected." In the DR Congo, the IBCR is supporting the Congolese government's effort to strengthen child protection. You can learn more about the IBCR's cu

In January, the Kimbilio Mapendo School honored two of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s most influential political figures: Patrice Lumumba and Laurent Kabila. In alignment with the Ministry of National Education's program, the school’s curriculum integrates the patriotism of Lumumba and the nationalism of Kabila into everyday learning. This approach shapes students’ understanding of their country’s history and identity, encouraging a strong sense of pride, responsibility a

Kimbilio is led by a terrific, 3-person management team. Their leadership sets the tone and the path for all the good work done at Kimbilio. Please meet one member of the leadership team, who has been with Kimbilio since 2011 -- Rodrigue Katina. He's on the right with his leadership colleagues below. Rodrigue is responsible for administration, reintegration and student support at Kimbilio. Back in 2011, he began as a case manager for child identification cases, then as a s

Season's greetings and best wishes for 2026 from Congo Children Trust and Kimbilio. We offer thanks to our supporters on behalf of both organizations as well as Lubumbashi's street children. You make Kimbilio's great work possible year-round, and you and the Kimbilio team made it possible for the children of Kimbilio to celebrate Christmas. Earlier this week, Kimbilio hosted a special meal at the Day Center. This is an annual tradition intended to show the visiting street

Street children near the center of Lubumbashi. The coal is either for selling or for burning for warmth. Radio Okapi is reporting waves of arrests of street children in Lubumbashi. For those unfamiliar with Radio Okapi, it is a joint effort by the United Nations and the Swiss NGO Fondation Hirondelle to provide reliable news reporting across the DR Congo. It has a very large audience. According to Radio Okapi, the agents conducting the arrests claim they are fighting urba

Last week, Kimbilio hosted a visit from Monsieur Mahamadi Oubda, Children's Rights and Security Advisor at the International Bureau of Children's Rights (IBCR). In 2024, Kimbilio entered into a partner agreement with the IBCR. The purpose of the partnership is to protect children through a Children's Consultative Committee (CCC) of Lubumbashi. The mission of this CCC is to give children a voice to be change agents and participate in the decisions that impact them. There ar

There's nothing like the joy of children playing games. Fun and camaraderie are universal needs! The video above is of a game of le Mboko at the Kimbilio's girls' transit home. As you can see, it is a local version of hopscotch. It is the favorite game of the girls residing at Kimbilio. Le Kangé, also known as Zango, is very special. It started as a traditional children's game, and has developed into an official national sport for women in the DR Congo. Zango means foot

Kimbilio is on track to have a record number of 24 sewing school graduates in 2025! Six cohorts of four women will have the opportunity to increase their earnings and thereby take better care of their children. The numbers show that they'll seize that opportunity - for those who've already completed the training in 2025, the average monthly earnings for each of their new sewing businesses is $79. In the DR Congo, this is an indicator of a highly successful program! We have

Earlier this month, 5 teens graduated from Kimbilio's Young Mums project. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Kimbilio's Young Mums project provides free hairdressing and nails training to teenage mothers who come from the streets to Kimbilio's outreach center and are a good fit for the course. Kimbilio provides lodging to the teens and their children while the teens are following the course. Young Mums gives the teens the opportunity to leave behind a life of sexual exploitation on the streets an