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Henriette's Relief Mission |
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Our mission is to give hope to children in the target centers of Kimbondo Pediatric, Élimosantu and Ste Bernadette Feeding Centers (Lemba), near the capital city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo or other locations throughout the world where we identify significant need.
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Our Objectives |
Our object is to feed the children, ensure their health, clothe them, care for them and help those who have a family be reunited on a sustainable basis.
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Our Approach |
We focus on each child and keep our approach flexible and adapted to the child’s special circumstances. We look at each child’s situation and turn our efforts toward the family. We work with them to put in place the element of our program that best fits their needs.
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Our Programs |
- Emergency Response – Food, medicine and clothing
- Micro and Small-Enterprise Initiative – Help families start businesses
- HIV/AIDS Program – Raises awareness about HIV transmission
- Family Planning – Health education to adolescents
- Back-to-School Kits - $50 provides uniforms, pens and pencils, books and school fees for 1 year
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As indicated, the nutrition centers in Kinshasa are an excellent refuge for undernourished children, as well as orphans and abandoned children. Unfortunately, because of the socio-economic crisis in the country, these centers are overwhelmed. They cannot address the needs of children and their families for whom they are a measure of last resort.
For the past six years, HRP through HKMF has supported three nutrition centers: Kimbondo Pediatric Center in the municipality of Mongafula, Élimosantu nutrition center in Lemba and Ste Bernadette nutrition center in the municipality of Kisenso. HKMF grants these centers financial aid on a monthly basis. These funds allow the centers to purchase food and drugs locally to cover the basic needs of many children. Élimosantu and Ste Bernadette each receive 300 $ US per month while Kimbondo,
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which has many more children, receives 750 to 800 $ US depending on the month.
For the year 2006-2007, HKMF disbursed a total of 16,400 $ US to the three centers. They have spent this money with a great sense of economy and have managed the funds responsibly and to the satisfaction of all.
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Micro and Small Enterprise Initiatives |
It is a crime to see a mother, who has carried her child for nine months find herself incapable of feeding her child because of lack of means: this is what a teacher, whose two children suffer from malnutrition told us. This is particularly true because this child's life is destroyed.
Our micro-credit Program attempts to help the poorest families who have children in feeding centers start an income generating activity. The objective is to assist them in obtaining a small source of income so they can continue their child's nutrition program after he/she leaves the nutrition center.
It should be noted, however, that this program which started in 2005, could not be continued in 2007 due to lack of funds. But, considering its impact with the beneficiaries, our goal is to find means to start it again in 2008.
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HIV/AIDS Program |
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More than a simple health problem, HIV/AIDS is a real societal problem, whose solution is first and foremost prevention. This disease destroys the lives of individuals, families and communities. That is why it is so important to speak about it, within the family as well as in public. It is through an increase in the level of knowledge on how it is transmitted as well as on its consequences that we can help to control it.
Once an individual has been declared a carrier of HIV, a new life begins and one must be accompanied and supported by the resources available in one's community.
HRP & HKMF is committed to offering training and information sessions
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for families and the community. This helps them to be responsible for their health on the one hand, and gives as much information as possible to HIV positive individuals on the other.
These workshops have been very well received by the population for whom information on HIV/AIDS is often beyond their understanding and their interest gives us courage to continue.
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For the HRP/HKMF team, a pregnancy must be a choice and not a consequence. We must therefore increase the level of knowledge on the part of youngsters (girls in particular) as well as parents on ways to decrease unwanted pregnancies.
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HKMF conducted a survey in 2003, which showed that 87% of respondents indicated that they had children at a time when they were least expecting it. This situation, which they identify as an accident, could have been avoided if they had information at their disposal and if they had opted for family planning methods.
This unfortunate observation has guided us in orienting our program towards raising awareness on the issue of unwanted births. This allows participants to obtain information on various family planning programs as well as other resources that are available in Kinshasa.
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The women who commit to family planning are assisted by HKMF. Beyond this service, they are also eligible for some of our other programs such as micro-credit, Christmas Basket and School Kits. In this manner we encourage them to adopt, little by little, types of behavior which lead them to decide on the size of their family.
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Back to School Kits |
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“Each child is the light of a potential world but it can also be its darkness. For this reason, a child's education must be the most important thing in the world”1
At HRP/HKMF, we have understood that children are the most precious treasure of a community because they are the promise and the guarantee of the future. They are the future of our society, which is by and large determined by what the adults in the community do or do not do for them.
When setting up the “Back to School” Kit program, we aimed at giving a chance to children of less fortunate families. By giving them this chance, we contribute to the creation of tomorrow.
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In 2007, we provided assistance for 20 children to go back to school. During a short ceremony, we gave 11 girls and 9 boys school supplies and uniforms and the parents thanked us for this gesture which was well-timed.
At Kimbondo center, where the second ceremony was held, Dr. Laura Perna, who the Congolese call “maman koko” which means “grandma”, personally attended to the distribution of school supplies to the children and she dressed them symbolically.
Each child received a school bag containing a white/blue uniform, writing books, pencils, pens, as well as other supplies to allow them to start the school year.
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Parents as well as children were moved by this gesture. Their smiles, added to their word of thanks, represent to the HRP/HKMF team one more reason to continue this program. |
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1 Baha’u’lláh, founder of the Baha’ie faith |
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