Inter Campus: mission in the Congo

Between Kimbondo and Kinshasa to give a smile to children in an area plagued by war

KINSHASA – The first mission of Inter Campus for the 2011/12 season took place
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Kinshasa and in the outlying
neighbourhood of Kimbondo. With the collaboration of the Ujana association,
Inter Campus involved 100 children from the nearby camp of Kokolo, a
neighbouring community that is home to many of the wives and widows of soldiers
who fought for over thirty years in this region of the world.

More than a third of the children involved do not have a father and the overall
situation is extremely difficult from an economic and social standpoint. Even
more complex is the situation in Kimbondo, on the outskirts of Kinshasa, where
the paediatric centre established by Dr. Perna, a 93 year old from Milan, has
been taking in abandoned children for years.

Strong superstitions prevail in this region and often it happens that children
who are born in coincidence with some misfortune are seen as ‘witches’ and
subjected to abuse or left to die so that the evil will leave their bodies. The
centre takes in these children from birth and provides schooling to go
alongside the medical care until they grow up.

The Inter Campus project in Kimbondo was only able to carry out inspections and
some visits, as the ground was not favourable to the installation of the
structures and the preparation of the pitches.

UNICEF, thanks to funds received through Inter Campus and the contribution of
the many Inter fans that had their photographs taken with the Champions League
trophy, has committed to building a football pitch and all the structures that
go along with it; the only ones available in the district of Mongafula. In this
way, other than the primary function of hospital services for children, the
structure will allow for the integration of the children of Kimbondo with those
from the surrounding villages.

27.10.2011