Facing challenges as a community

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This article was published 25/07/2018 (2868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. That’s the idea behind the Congo Canada Charity Foundation’s summer school program.

“It’s a real community effort to fund this program,” said Paul Kambaja, a teacher at Grant Park High School and an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, founded the Congo Canada Charity Foundation nine years ago after watching kids from his home country struggle academically at school in Winnipeg.

“We have this conflict back home,” he said. “Some of those kids coming from Congo faced big challenges. They couldn’t read, they couldn’t write. I wanted to help them.”

Nine years on, Congo Canada’s summer school program, which operates out of Elmwood High School (505 Chalmers Ave.), helps nearly 100 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 overcome academic obstacles. 

While math and science are the primary focus, literacy and life skills like resume writing (for high school students) are also taught.  In the afternoons, students play sports, games, or take part in field trips to the local library or across the city to Camp Manitou. Tuesday afternoons, students can take swimming lessons.

“I know swimming is a challenge (for some newcomers),” Kambaja said. “This provides opportunities for our students to learn.”

The program runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, from the start of July through Aug. 10. 

“It’s a good program for newcomers,” Kambaja said. “Some of those kids who go through program are now mentors. Some of the staff too.”

With provincial Green Team funding and a federal Canada Summer Jobs grant, the program is able to provide a few summer jobs for former students. For teaching roles, teacher candidates from the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg are hired.

“It’s been great,” said Kim Cleto, a teacher candidate in her second year teaching Grade 9 to 12 students in the program. “I have a great group of students. My other job is tutoring kids. I do it all year. I love it.”

The Canada Congo Charity Foundation also receive funding from the Winnipeg Foundation, Aurora, the Winnipeg Social Council, and private donations to run the program. 

“We get anything we can,” Kambaja said. “Without them, things would be really tight.”

The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba provides funding for their snack and lunch program.

“The food is important,” said Kambaja, whose wife makes the rice and main dishes for the program daily. “We try to provide both ethnic and Canadian food. It’s a small connection to the food they eat at home.”

They are also one of four groups who make up the Newcomers Education Youth Support Services coalition, a registered non-profit charity. The Eritrean Community of Winnipeg, Emmanuel Mission and the Sierra Leone Refugee Resettlement, Inc. are the other three members who offer summer school programming for newcomers students.

“As a coalition we can work together, we can share resources,” Kambaja said. “There’s a lot of benefit, even just to see different African countries with same issues coming together for our common goal of helping our kids.”

One thing that sets Kambaja’s program apart is that it provides transportation for students to and from the daily sessions, regardless of where in Winnipeg their families have settled.

“This is a big challenge,” Kambaja said. “But we want to see them achieve a good outcome.”

This year was the first that the Congo Canada program set up shop in Elmwood High School. Last year they worked out of River Elm School, and before that they had an arrangement with Grey United Church (651 Sandhurst Ave.).

“They’re a church that really supports our program,” Kambaja said. “So many other people, they are helping, too.”

To wrap up each summer session, the four coalition programs hold a Celebration of Learning. This year’s event will take place on Aug. 10, but at press time a location had yet to be confirmed.

“It’s a lot of work, a lot of time,” Kambaja said of the program. “But the result is huge. This program, it helps the community.”

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca or call him at 204-697-7112

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