Rehema Ministry Secondary Education Report

Warm greetings from Bunia. Our family is doing well, as is the ministry, although the political crisis and security is still a concern in Bunia and most parts of the country.

I have enclosed a short story of the first Rehema secondary graduating child, Nehemaya Kinkenda. 

Celebrating Nehemaya Kinkenda Earning a State Diploma in Construction 

Nehemaya was born into the family of Pastor Yanga and Bella who were blessed with six children - Alpha, Neema, Munguromo, Nginzi, Hosana, and Nehemaya the last born. Pastor Yanga served for several years in rural areas in north-east Congo before he moved to the town of Bunia in 2008 where he found life very difficult. 

The situation was worsened as he had to minister to a congregation composed mainly of war displaced families who were not in a position to provide for his salary. His family living conditions became more difficult as three more orphan children were added to his family from the village. 

This affected his children's schooling as they were frequently expelled from school for lack of payment of fees. Two of Nehemaya's siblings were discouraged and left their parents to look for money in casual work including assisting fishermen in surrounding villages. Nehemaya’s sister (Neema) went to an early marriage with a soldier who then abandoned her with two young girls with whom Neema returned back to Pastor Yanga.  

Pastor Yanga then decided to resign from his pastoral ministry to look for a job that could provide a substantial salary although this was also not easy to get for a pastor. The church denomination also did not accept to endorse his resignation.

It was at this time (2010) when I came to start Rehema Ministry in the town of Bunia. I was touched by Pastor Yanga's situation and decided to enrol three of his children, including Nehemaya, in the Rehema assistance program. That year Nehemaya was in class 6 at primary school which is the last year. The following year he was due to go to secondary school which was not in Rehema's scope to fund. The parents were sad as they could not pay for Nehemaya to attend secondary school. We then decided to exceptionally accept to take charge of Nehemaya's secondary schooling as we waited for possible initiation of a similar project for secondary school vulnerable children. Thank God that we later received BHW support to organize a proper secondary school assistance program!

Education in the DRC consists of four levels: école maternelle (kindergarten), which is not compulsory and lasts from ages 3-5; école primaire (primary school), attended by children ages 6-7 to 10-11; école secondaire (secondary school) which has lower and upper levels and finally université (university). Lower level secondary students, ages 12-14, study a two-year core program, culminating in final exams which may lead to upper level studies for children 14-17 years old. During the first two years of lower level in secondary school, students are prepared and exposed to various fields from which learners choose an orientation he/she would like to pursue during his/her forthcoming four years of studies. 

In the following four years upper level, students choose either a short cycle technical/professional path or a longer cycle in which students specialize in literature, science or a number of other disciplines including construction. Students completing the short cycle may earn the brevet diploma (delivered by the school); long cycle students sit for state exams and may earn the state diploma (delivered by the state). This is a highly respected certificate in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nehemaya enrolled for the long cycle in construction program and earned a state diploma in construction in August 2017. We profusely thank God and BHW for this achievement! It was an event of special celebration for Nehemaya, the family and Rehema Ministry! 

Now Nehemaya has required skills and a respected paper that can allow him to work in the construction design and implementation. These are among the well paid jobs in Bunia which is recovering from years of war with several building projects.

Nehemaya and his parents have expressed abundant joy and gratitude as they came back to thank Rehema Ministry and especially our BHW partners who made this achievement possible. The life of several children will be changed profoundly by Rehema Ministry's assistance program, particularly for those in secondary school.  

Please pass our cordial love and appreciation to the BHW team and donors.

In His love,

George and Jacqueline Atido