Filles d’aujourd’hui, Femmes de demain (Girls of today, women of tomorrow), or FIAFED  – a simple message and name, but one that carries a great deal of importance in the modern-day Congo. FIAFED was founded in 2000 by Iréne Masanagu Kayembe and is based out of the former Katanga Province – now the provinces of Tanganiyka, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga. The organization has worked tirelessly to provide direct medical aid, schooling and vocational training to communities that require these services most.

Health Care Initiatives

In 2008, FIAFED opened Centre De Santé Moïse K. to serve the rural village of Bungu Bungu and neighboring communities. The Centre has treated thousands of individuals for malaria, malnutrition, cholera and a number of other conditions and diseases which would have otherwise ravaged local populations. Around two years later, the organization decided to open a maternity clinic in the area as well, the Maternité Robert Levi, which has recorded hundreds of deliveries and provided further relief to Bungu Bungu and many adjacent communities. 

FIAFED additionally acted as an “initiator and mobilizer of funds” for the construction and operation of Centre De Santé Prince Pascal K., a medical facility which provides clinical care similar to the organization’s first-built health center. It also expanded its services to include maternal care. Speaking on FIAFED’s mission after the construction of the clinic, Mrs. Kayembe let Radio Okapi know that, “In Djino, there was no clinic. We thought of Djino, Ndea and Katutu. Because there are many cases of malaria and typhoid fever, poorly treated or never treated at all.”

Though not involved directly, the organization is also a major benefactor of Centre De Santé Uchungu Wa Muzazi, which provides clinical and maternal care for the commune city of Katuba, located within Lubumbashi – The DRC’s ‘second city.’ Such efforts suggest that FIAFED works not only to support rural communities but also urban ones, which face their own unique struggles when attempting to access medical care. 

Expanding Access to Education

Beyond providing direct medical aid to underserved communities, FIAFED also works to provide stable education to children who lack proper access to schooling, opening two primary schools and acting as a pillar of support for a distinguished local girls’ boarding school. C.S. Les Huit Colombes – also located in Bungu Bungu – was the organization’s first ever construction project and brought schooling to a region which was in dire need of it. Of the region’s 5,000 inhabitants at the time of construction, 80% of children were unable to access proper schooling and most had to walk more than 10 kilometers a day to get to class.  

In 2010, FIAFED opened E.P. Princesse Onda Onda Numbi in the Kabalo Territory, located within the Taganiyka Province. Here the work has centered around the education of girls in the region, with the organization’s website stating that, “The objective of the establishment of the [school] is to encourage girls to study more and thus fight against early marriage … and other kinds of evils which discourage girls from pursuing their studies.” FIAFED has also long been a dedicated patron of Lycée Lubusha, one of the most renowned girls’ boarding schools in the DRC, located within a mining town roughly 80 km from Lubumbashi. Despite the school’s status, it has been in danger of demolition and disruption for quite some time due to surrounding mining efforts.

Vocational Training and Social Support

Beyond schooling, FIAFED also understands the importance of training and caring for acutely disadvantaged individuals who may not have the ability or time to pursue proper schooling. In 2006, it opened the Coupe Et Couture Centre De Formation, to care for and provide vocational training to “Single mothers, orphans, widows and other disadvantaged women.” The training center has provided cutting and sewing training to hundreds of women and orphans in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC. 

This was followed up four years later with the opening of the Foyer Social Elizabeth Kayembe, a social home and training center in the Kabalo Territory for disadvantaged women, especially those who have experienced sexual violence. The home gives these women a place to rehabilitate their confidence, often torn apart by the world around them. It also provides a litany of vocational and general life training, in an effort to prepare women as they work to re-enter their communities. 

Lasting Impact in the DRC

Working tirelessly for more than 20 years, FIAFED has managed to teach thousands of pupils in their schools, deliver thousands of children at their maternity clinics, treat tens of thousands of patients at their health clinics and assist hundreds of orphans and disadvantaged women at their social care centers. An impact that has yet to gain international attention.

– Alex Degterev

Alex is based in Boston, MA, USA and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr