Inauguration of the home for older children in Kinshasa
2025 was a big year for the Ndako ya Biso mission in Kinshasa. After celebrating the mission’s 20th anniversary in May 2025, the Chemin Neuf Community inaugurated a new building on 29 November.
20 years of mission work with street children:
The mission to street children is based on providing shelter in two centres for children up to the age of 15:
The boys’ centre is semi-open. The younger children and those who are ill sleep there, while the others return to the streets in the evening. Many do not want to sleep at the centre because they like to earn money outside. They come to the centre during the day. The aim is to reintegrate them into their families.
The girls’ centre is a closed centre. The girls sleep on site. They do not attend school. The aim is also to find their families, reunite them with them, and send them to school with their families.
The mission for young adults
In 2012, a mission was launched for young adults (aged 18 to 25). At that time, younger children were often under the control of their elders, which made supporting them more complex. The team therefore decided to start working specifically with these older children, particularly through prayer groups, in order to move forward with them.
In 2014, this reflection led to the creation of a centre dedicated to young people aged 18 to 25, with a clear objective: empowerment. Five tools are available to achieve this:
- Psychological support for young people who have had chaotic lives
- Work on male and female identity, particularly important for young women, many of whom come from situations of prostitution. Prevention work is carried out with them.
- Complete literacy training over six months
- Vocational training: the team works with each individual to identify a profession that suits them based on the neighbourhood where they live, their skills, tastes and desires. Guided tours are organised in workshops to enable young people to discover different trades. At the end of the vocational training, the centre provides them with a kit, a kind of toolbox (e.g. a sewing machine if they have done sewing, masonry or electrical tools).
- Professional integration in order to find a place where they can start their activity
A new building for older youths:
For several years, despite the importance of this mission, older youths did not have their own space. They were housed in a small building located on the girls’ centre grounds, which was not ideal.
When a neighbouring plot of land was put up for sale, a period of discernment began: should a new building be constructed? Finally, the Community committed to building a new building, and funding was found, mainly from private donors, first for the purchase of the land and then for the construction.
After a year of work, carried out entirely by young girls and boys in vocational training in masonry, welding, electricity and carpentry, the new building was completed. It was inaugurated at the end of November 2025, in the presence of four ambassadors representing Belgium, France, Germany and the Order of Malta.
This new centre is a continuation of an activity that already existed for older young people, but it is a larger space for them, on a plot of land reserved for them, with their own entrance. The teams can count on a large, well-equipped literacy room.
