2012

 

​Developments

The Initiative has been expanded to three more sites located in two parishes in the rural areas away from Kinshasa. The three sites are in the district of Mai-Ndombe in the west of DRC. One site in Inongo, and two sites in the parish of Beronge in the villages of Ireko and Nkomo. In the last two sites, the Initiative provides tutoring and financial support to students who are native of the forest indigenous. The Initiative has initiated talks with few schools to find the extent to which smart students born from the forest indigenous could be transferred to the best (highly ranked) schools in DRC.



At the parents’ request, the Initiative is providing English courses and tutoring to students attending the Initiative sites in Kinshasa, since DRC is a French speaking country. Last year, the parents and students strongly encouraged the Initiative to help students improve their English skills.



The Bertozzi Initiative website was launched and the Bertozzi Initiative Facebook page has been developed. Ekokobe Ntumbanzondo, the young brother of Bertozzi Mposo will be updating the Facebook page over time.



Donations from the Initiative

​In order to promote sound extracurricular activities, the Initiative provided every parish where the Initiative is implemented with a soccer plan or a volley ball. In addition, we identified one high school-- (Toyokana Institute in commune of Kasavubu--) that provides education to girls in Kinshasa. The high school owns a unique basketball court but it did not have a ball. The Initiative donated one ball to that school.

 

20 school desks were donated to the Saint Angel High school in Mpasa, Kinshasa in DRC.



The Initiative has donated two digital cameras to the staff on the ground to capture firsthand pictures of activities on the ground.



Ten girls, all forest indigenous (Pygmy) and middle school students in the rural district of Maindombe, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were granted 500 USD from the Bertozzi Initiative on Friday, December 21st, 2012. These girls, among the first to attend middle school in the history of the forest indigenous in DRC, could not afford spend the holidays with their families because they could not afford the ticket for travel. They were also not able to afford food during the holidays. Thankfully, the Initiative was able to grant them 500 USD for food. In the future, the Initiative will strengthen their academic skills and to the extent possible, transfer them to some of the best schools in DRC and make sure they attend college in the next five years. Any support (financial and or in kind such as dresses, shoes...) for these girls would be greatly appreciated.

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Successes

​The nuns at Toyokana Institute made a formal request to seek tutoring support from the Initiative as many girls failed the mid-term exam in 2012

Parents, students were overwhelmingly supportive and grateful to the Initiative contribution and impact in improving the academic skills of students who attended the Initiative .

 

Meetings

​The annual review meeting for the Initiative was held October 6-10.



Dr. Mposo Ntumbanzondo attended a meeting at Saint Thomas More Church at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. This meeting was led by Mr Robert Lisak who traveled in DRC in February 2012. His comments and pictures were useful in increasing the visibility of the Initiative at the Saint Thomas More Church. The Saint Thomas More Church announced that it will help the Initiative obtain the 501(c)3 certification.