Success Stories
FEBA - KINSHASA
From Abuse to Life
Sixteen-year-old GLORIA was separated from her family during the war. Her mother was a soldier and was sent to Goma in eastern Congo. Gloria ended up on the streets of Kinshasa with no place to go. She often slept under parked cars, or any other place that provided shelter. Then Gloria was raped—she didn’t know who had attacked her - and discovered that she was pregnant. She heard about a woman from her home region, Maman Monique, who welcomed everyone in need, especially young girls. When she found her way to Maman Monique she learned that FEBA would take her in and help her get medical care. Gloria gave birth to a healthy baby and a few months later Maman Monique was able to reunite mother and child with Gloria’s own family.
Kenge and Marthe
Kenge and her six brothers became orphans when her father died of asthma. Kenge was only four years old. Later that year, their mother was killed in an accident. The children lived with her father’s brother and he did the best he could; he supported them and sent them to school. But he died when Kenge was about fifteen, and his widow had no way to support the children. If Kenge wanted to continue to go to school, she would have to pay the fees herself, and her aunt told her to go work in a bar and be a prostitute to earn her living. Kenge hated this and soon ran away to try to find something better. She met a member of FEBA who was willing to let her do housework in return for a room. Leaders of FEBA gave Kenge counseling and comfort and helped her pay the fees so she could go back to school and finish her education. Now she can take care of herself.
Marthe Kalange’s family had been displaced in the civil unrest and forced back to a rural area in the Kasai province. Her husband moved to Kinshasa to look for work, planning that she and the children would follow. While he was waiting for his family, he took up with another woman and contracted AIDS.
When Marthe came with the children, he kept his infidelity and the infection a secret from her but he infected his wife. FEBA has trained women to raise consciousness about AIDS, to identify the signs and help victims get testing and medicine, and to accompany those living with the disease. One of them saw Marthe and invited her to be tested. She was afraid. She also had to ask her husband’s permission and he said “no” because he knew he had infected her; he threatened to take Maman Monique to court, but she said, “Let him!”
Finally Marthe was persuaded to go for testing. The result was positive. She fainted and then was furious with her husband. Maman Monique counseled her through the whole process, with prayer and practical help: medicine, food and a small micro-loan. She lived with Monique for a time, and FEBA continues to accompany her. Since her husband's death FEBA has helped Marthe educate her children.
One Story over 15 years
Kalubi and Jessica
Kalubi Clemence was a destitute young widow from the Kasai province. When she was about 15 or 16, her family married her to a man who worked in the mines at Tshikapa. Two months after her baby girl was born her husband died. Her in-laws were supposed to provide her with the dowry her family had paid, so she could support her child. They told her to come to Kinshasa (a considerable distance away, where a different language is spoken). When she arrived, Kalubi’s in-laws had run off with the dowry, leaving the widow and her four-month old baby destitute. Kalubi found some people who spoke her language and asked the pastor for help. He refused to take her into his home but he told her to sleep in the church (where windows are just open spaces), and she and the baby were terribly bitten by mosquitoes. The next morning Maman Monique heard about Kalubi and immediately rebuked the pastor and took Kalubi and her baby home, and they lived with Monique’s family for some time. Elsie got to meet Kalubi and Jessica in 2010.
Kalubi did not want to return to her family in the Kasai because she had no way to support herself there. She knew that Maman Monique was running a sewing school, and she asked to be enrolled. She learned to sew very well! When she finished, Kalubi was not only able to support herself and her daughter, but she earned enough to take a computer course and now has a job as a business secretary while continuing to sew to supplement that income. Her daughter is a happy schoolgirl. Kalubi and her little girl are very grateful for their “family” at Maman Monique’s and love to visit “grandmother.”
Kalubi and her daughter Jessica came to the inauguration of the Women's Center, in July 2023 and Elsie got to meet almost grown-up Jessica!
Microloans Promote
Small Businesses
Microloans enable women on the margins to create small businesses so they and their families can survive.
Maman Mascabi’s husband abandoned her and her five daughters because she did not bear him a son. She managed food and rent with her little business selling plastic sandals. Then came COVID. As ordered, Maman Mascabi stayed home ... until she was evicted. Landlords were supposed to grant 3 months’ grace, but the shut down lasted 6 months. The family had nowhere to go. A church sheltered them for a week; then, they camped on the riverbank, with plastic bags for cover, and no food or drinking water. Maman Mascabi contacted FEBA; when she found a place to rent, FEBA provided $50 (half of a month’s rent), and invited her to join the micro-finance group. After a one-day workshop on micro-finance she received $100 to start her business again and immediately began to repay the loan, at the rate of $12.25 every two weeks.
Maman Mascabi and
Maman Marie Jeanne
Maman Marie Jeanne Boombu is the breadwinner of her family. Her husband worked until he became blind; their son died, leaving them to rear his children. Marie Jeanne sells coconuts; she is so careful always to repay on time that she was awarded a second larger microloan. In fact she was honored at the inauguration celebration in 2023 (above right) because she is a model in her responsible and successful use of her microloan.
c.200 FEBA members regularly contribute to their micro savings accounts
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c.300 FEBA members have received, used, and are repaying their microloans
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Some of the recipients of microloans demonstrate how they have achieved a foothold in a better life. Some women can rent small stalls to display their products, others must be satisfied with a clear space on the street, either in front of their homes if they live on wider roads, or in a free place along a major route where potential customers will be more plentiful. Below, a woman sells her little round balls of traditional bread, and offers a variety of condiments.
Orphans Find Hope
Some years ago Sharon, a young girl of 16, got involved with an older married man; when she became pregnant, her family cast her out so she went to live with the man as his second wife. Polygamy is not legal but it is quite common. Sharon had two sons. Soon, the man contracted AIDS and passed it on to his wife and Sharon, and one by one they died. The property went to the children of the first wife, but initially no one in either family wanted to take Sharon’s little boys, ages 2 and 4 years.
​Then Sharon's older sister Rose, who could not bear to see the boys abandoned, took them home with her own four children. Her husband was angry with her for adopting the boys and when he lost his job, he blamed them and accused them of using witchcraft to destroy his life. He divorced Rose and abandoned the family. Rose was desperate for a way to support all six children, and turned to Maman Monique for help. FEBA has a program to support orphans with school fees and uniforms, so they enrolled Sharon’s two boys; in 2015 Daniel, the second one graduated from high school. FEBA also helped Rose with a little money to feed herself and the children, and then took her own children into the school program. The photo is Daniel with his aunt Rose and two of her children, his cousins (with Elsie, on a visit in 2015).
One Story over 15 years
“I am called Mayimona Santu Papy. I was born in Kinshasa but we lived in the Kasai where industrial diamonds are mined because my father sold diamonds. When Kabila senior came to power in 1997, Rwandan soldiers kidnapped my mother; we thought she was dead. We became refugees in the war, fleeing in a boat to Kinshasa; I was seven, my brother was ten. Then my father traveled to a distant city and was gone seven years; he left us with his brothers. They mistreated us a lot. There was often no money even for food so it was difficult to pay for school. I heard about Maman Monique from a friend of mine. She and FEBA supported my school fees, uniform, supplies.
"To earn money for food, I worked as a motorcycle taxi driver. A friend asked to use the cycle so he could earn money for food - and the cycle was stolen. I talked with the owner, 'I will find another motorcycle to do taxi service and repay you bit by bit.' But she refused. She sent soldiers to put me in prison. I suffered a lot there; members of FEBA brought me food (prisoners are not fed). I called Maman Monique but she was in the USA then. When she got back she worked to free me. To get me out they had to pay a lot and also replace the motorcycle. Thanks to Maman Monique and her friends in the USA she found the money. Because of the bad conditions in prison I was not in good health when I got out and they took me to the hospital, but I tried to do my state exams. It is Maman Monique who helped me know God and counsels me, she is beside me. When I have problems I go to her. I ask God to help her continue to help us.”
[Note: Papy's state exam was lost, but he continued to study on his own and retook the exam in 2024 and now has his state diploma!]
Papy Santu is a singer and has developed his own band, which provided music for the Women's Center inaugural in July 2023.
Sewing School Successes
All the young women who come to FEBA to study are poor, and many have very difficult stories of how they survived. What a difference this career education has made not only for finding an honest way to earn a living but also for self-confidence! The first person stories were collected by interviews in 2015. Since then the students have graduated and begun to support themselves and their families. (Note: photos may not match stories, to preserve privacy.)
“My name is Pambu-Loraine. My parents divorced when I was a child and my mother remarried, so I have half-siblings. Then my step-father died and then my own father died and things became very difficult because we had no food and my little brothers can no longer go to school. When my father was alive I went to school and got to 4th primary but I wasn’t a good student and I couldn’t read or write. When my father died, I could not continue studying. When I came here I learned to read and write Lingala [the local language]. That meant I could learn to sew. Before I could read I did not know anything: I could not cut out things, I did not know how to take measurements, but now when the teacher explains something I understand. Before I was nothing and did not know what to do, now I have been opened up and have learned and can do things [to make a future for myself]. I am so grateful to Maman Monique!!!”
“My name is Muyiya-Salima. I am an orphan and lived with my aunts. There were lots of problems and hunger; I found a boyfriend and got pregnant twice. My boyfriend urged me to go back to school. I had to leave secondary school after year 5 because I had no money but now I finished and got my state diploma. Living with my aunt I met a woman who had graduated from the FEBA sewing school. She asked me why I was sitting around doing nothing and said I should learn to sew. I thought sewing school was for people who are not intelligent (I had my state diploma). The woman insisted and showed me the things she had sewed so I finally agreed to come to the school.
“When they gave me the first exercises, I could not do them; when they explained how, I did not understand. I said to myself, ‘I thought this was a school for people who were not smart…’ So I realized it took intelligence to sew and I began to do the work, step by step, from baby to adult clothes. I am unsure about my children’s father; if he is the husband God intends for me then he will know it, but anyway I have decided that I will not have any more children until I am sure. I do everything to pay my own monthly fee [usually only a few dollars] and when I can’t Maman Jeannette lets me continue until I can pay. I am almost at the end of the program, working on the (two-month) apprenticeship stage. I want my little sister to come and study here. I thank God that I now know how to sew, and I am very very grateful to Maman Monique and all the women here at the FEBA center. Wherever I go now, I will have a way to support myself!”
Mlle Kalaya Kambala, one of the first graduates of the sewing school which Maman Monique began, was the daughter of a widow. Unlike most of the students, Kalaya had been to school and completed secondary education to get her state diploma – but she could not find a way to support her mother and sisters. She needed a job: so she came to the sewing program… and succeeded wonderfully! After graduation she worked in Congo for a while and then went to Angola where there was a very good market for her creations. Finally, she moved to France where she has a large clientele for her couture.
“My name is Boyata Jeannette. I am the wife of a soldier and we live in Camp Kabila. I am very happy to sew. When my husband was passing by FEBA he saw the poster which said they were seeking people who wanted to learn to sew. He talked with me about it, saying, 'You like to sew; I like for you to do it. You are the mother of three children (whom we must educate).' It was my husband who urged me to come. I enrolled in 2013 and now I sew very well. When someone sees how I sew, he asks where I learned and I say, 'At Maman Monique’s.' Also I have brought many young girls to this sewing school.
“​Since the salary of a soldier is not much, I thank God that I can now sew and contribute to our household. I have a sewing machine at my house and I can earn $20 and pay the school fees for my children. The oldest is in the fifth year of secondary, the second is in primary six, and the youngest in primary four. I don’t have enough money to open an atelier (shop) for myself. But in spite of that, now we do not lack food. For example, if someone comes with a broken zipper, I can repair it, or if the pants are too big, I can adjust them. That way we can eat. I thank the Lord for this machine. My husband came the day of graduation and saw me in my beautiful dress. He was very happy when he saw the machine (my graduation present from Woman Cradle of Abundance, Inc.). He said, 'Having a machine was a dream and now the dream has come true!' A machine is something extraordinary in the house. I appreciate Maman Monique very much and I am happy that she invited me here to speak about my life. Many thanks to Maman Monique because she has done so much for us.”
GRADUATES!
120 young women have graduated from the sewing school since FEBA was relaunched in 2010.
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They always come out at or near the top of the national exams for tailors. Government officials are happy to present certificates to the lovely young women.
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We anticipate the first computer science and cosmetology graduates in 2025.
The National Laureate
Miriam Malinga Esombo, who graduated in 2022, was the national laureate.
Miriam came from a poor village family who wanted to marry her off at 14. An aunt in Kinshasa invited her to come live in the city and go to school... and she succeeded wonderfully and is now working at FEBA, sewing and assisting students.
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Here Miriam is the first to receive her cerficate.
CENEDI
UVIRA - Furaha
Furaha is an orphan who has consistently demonstrated her incredible ability to rise above her circumstances. With her mother dead and her father a hopeless alcoholic, at the tender age of 11, Furaha was already functioning as caregiver to two younger siblings. She would get them dressed and off to their school before leaving to walk two miles to her school.
When we at Hands Across the Water/ HAW met her in 2010, she had no one in her world who could afford the monthly fee for high school and so she was being forced to terminate her education. It would cost $20 per month to attend a school appropriate to a student with her drive and ability.
Dreaming of attending high school, Furaha was attempting to earn the tuition by working the fields of a local farmer, but quickly realized there were not enough hours in a day. We/ HAW made a difference to Furaha by covering all of the educational expenses for her five years of high school. ​We are so proud of her! She has now graduated from Pembas Academy in Congo; she speaks and writes five languages including English, which is rare for a Congolese child. Trained in business and computer technology, Furaha has found employment and helps support her siblings who remain under her care.
CCS GRADUATES!
Each year the sixth (and final) year students of Community Charity School pass the rigorous state exams:
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6 in 2019
14 in 2020
14 in 2021
22 in 2022
13 in 2023
17 in 2024
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GOMA - Colette
Colette lost her father at a very young age. Her mother, determined that her children would be educated, continued to pay tuition (this was before primary school became free in 2020). But Colette’s mother died when she was in 2nd grade. She and her siblings went to live with widowed aunt, who did not have means to pay for school. The aunt learned from a neighbor about a wonderful school that did not charge tuition or fees for orphaned and extremely destitute children. Colette was enrolled in CCS in 2017 and completed 6th grade in 2021. Her teachers at CCS said she was a hard working, caring student who always tried her best and respectfully cooperated with classmates and teachers. From a young age Colette was a leader. Her elementary years certainly tested her resilience.
In August of 2021 Colette earned an exceptionally high score on her state primary school testing. This was a testament not only to her hard work and ability, but also to the excellence of the instruction at CCS. Sadly, there was no way Colette to continue with her education, and this bright young woman was looking at entering the workforce at the tender age of 12. Fortunately, HAW intervened and provided the funds for Colette to continue her schooling. On Oct 5, 2021, Colette joined the ranks of entering 7th graders at Musamaria Mwemba high school in Goma with all fees covered by HAW! And she continues to do very well!!
GOMA - Celebrating International Children's Day
This picture was taken on one of the very special days for children, the International Day of the African Child, celebrated on June 16th. Annually, all of the students across the continent of Africa honor those lost in the riots of Soweto in South Africa in 1976. The students peacefully demonstrated against the new law that required all teachers in South Africa to speak Afrikaans and and that limited exposure to native South African history and culture. In these protests 176 students were killed and over 1000 were injured.
Thanks to CENEDI, the children of Kaboke Village in Southern Kivu are now able to join in this national remembrance. The local celebration, hosted by CENEDI, provides songs and skits performed by school children to demonstrate the importance of attending school. The attendees and participants are given a hot meal and a beverage — often the best food one they will have for days.
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