OUR WORK · EDUCATION
Bikaniro Primary School
Matanda parish, Masisi territory — North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
The school and its setting
Set among the hills of Masisi, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bikaniro Primary School offers a full primary cycle across nine classes.
It has 194 pupils — 101 girls and 93 boys.
That number could double if the buildings allowed it, and if every school-age child in the surrounding villages had the chance to attend. For now, that is out of reach.
The school in the hills of Masisi.
Sometimes everything, or nearly everything, must be rebuilt.
What we did
Amani-Kwetu funded the roofing of eight classrooms and one administrative building.
The project was part of a wider programme: support for the education of children in particular difficulty, affected by the repeated conflicts in the diocese of Goma.
What the families contributed
Nothing was done in place of the people who live there. The pupils, supervised by adults, took part in improving their own school by laying out the adobe bricks to dry.
A contribution that always matters.
One year on: these classroom walls were raised by local hands — the bricks made, then the masonry done.
Educating a girl
Is it right that fetching water and firewood should be a Congolese girl's only prospect?
Of 194 pupils, 101 are girls. That is not a detail: it is the heart of the project.
Every morning in the hills of Masisi, girls go down for water or come back carrying firewood instead of going to class. A school that is close, roofed and welcoming changes that calculation.
To educate a woman is to educate a whole nation.
Time spent on chores is time taken from school.
Learning goes on regardless
The buildings remain rudimentary. Knowledge is passed on all the same.
Support this work
A roof over eight classrooms began with small contributions, patiently added together.