We had a great time at Hope Presbyterian Church's community hall Saturday afternoon as we listened to Mbuyu "Puma" We Mbuyu, Rebecca Rowles and Jim Carpenter explain what their foundation ("Able and Willing") is doing for education in The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Puma was born in Lubumashi, The Congo in 1962 and immigrated to the US in 1992. He recognized the gift education was and determined to bring that gift back to the Congolese people. He cofounded a group to do just that and since then they have built one school compound Myrt 1 (400+ students) and it is building another (already 155 students.)
The school not only prepares students academically, it also works to help villagers improve their standard of living by building wells and providing health education to the villagers.
More information about the foundation's work can be found at the foundation's Web site: www.ableandwilling.net .
Besides explaining the logistics of the school (it is run democratically with an elected board) the trio explained several dishes that are similar to food served in the Congo. Those dishes were served Saturday. The presentation was a slideshow the group took during various visits to the school.
Photos taken during Saturday's dinner can be found on my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157618637667645/
Many thanks to Al Mannus for having us partner with this program, to Fran for having the vision to include us and to the members of Hope Presbyterian Church (Lakewood) for having us.
BTW, way to go club! We had 8 members (Laura Johnson, Kathy Johnson, Fran, Al, Donna, Mike and Ingrid, and me) and their 9 guests attend. That's 17, about one-third of the people who attended the event.
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