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

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

This post was written by long-time Kimbilio supporter Sarah P., who was part of the Congo Children Trust team that visited Kimbilio this...

Back in Lubumbashi, my former home for five years, after a gap of 2 years, what do I find? The first stand out which is impossible to miss, is the increase in traffic, we spent a significant part of the first few days stuck in traffic jams. Not a very attractive past time you may think, however, it gave us valuable time to catch up with our hosts, the Kimbilio management team, whilst observing all the sights and sounds of this beautiful, bustling, busy city. The increase in t

Following is a message from Ian Harvey, the founder of Kimbilio and Director of Congo Children Trust: We are concerned by the unfolding conflict in eastern D.R.C. which has led to the taking over of Goma by rebel militia. The conflict has led to thousands of people being displaced and living in camps for displaced persons. Access to the essentials such as health care, food and water are not readily available. The national leaders are attempting to find solutions to the decade

If you've been to events at which we've tabled in England, or shopped on our Etsy site, you are no doubt familiar with the delightful sewn products we sell to raise funds for Kimbilio. We have a team of dedicated, talented volunteers that use vibrant fabrics, sourced in Congo, to create bunting, aprons, bags and other beautiful items. The income from selling these items is important to Kimbilio, and the lovely, recognizable products bring a bit of Congo to England and joy t

The International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR) has organised a workshop with 20 children from different Non-Governmental Organisations to be part of the Consulting Committee for Child Rights. Four children are representing Kimbilio, and they are shown in this photo with Kimbilio Director Carine Bahati on the day of the first session.  The work is in the context of improving the child protection system in the DR Congo.  The next session will be in about 2 months.

Kimbilio had the pleasure to receive a visit from UK representatives of Street Child United, an organisation who use the power of sport to provide a global platform for  StreetChildren , so they can demand the protection, support, and opportunities every child needs.  The delegation met with children supported by Kimbilio at our day centre, homes and school and were present for a football match played by former street children.

Carine Bahati, Kimbilio Director and Joel Kidindwe, Kimbilio Schools Link Worker represented Kimbilio online at the Sport for Social Change Network Africa taking place in Pretoria. SCNA are a collective of organisations and individuals passionate about leveraging the power of sports to drive positive change, particularly for children and youth across the African continent. The conference brought together stakeholders from various sectors including the African Union Sport Coun