Maison de Veillard de Kitambo Visit (Old People Home)

Mbote!

Last time I shared with you all our visit to the orphanage in Matete. We have set up a GoFundMe to help make the home safer, cleaner, and more functional for the children. Today I want to tell you about our visit to the Maison Veillard in Kitambo. Kitambo is an area of Kinshasa.

Just like the orphanage, we started working with the old person's home after my 2020 trip. Mama Esperance who works with the elders of the home reached out to my lawyer. I spoke to Maitre Djuma and decided that this is something I want to involve the foundation. If my mom was still alive today these would be her age mate.

In African culture, we don’t really put our parents, grandparents, or elders in old people's homes. It’s a very rare occurrence. When I spoke to Mama Esperance she noted that some residents’ children moved abroad and couldn’t get papers for their loved ones, residents outlived their children or they came to Kinshasa from a different part of the country.

Our team drops off monthly supplies of items in the middle of the month. It usually includes water, cooking oil, dried fish, rice, cornmeal for fufu, toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, and a few special requests. I always hear great stories after the drop-off from team members. They will sit with our elders, listen to their stories and spend some time with them. Since I was in Kinshasa I really wanted to visit the home and do the drop-off.

It rained so hard in the early mornings so we had to push our visit back to the day of my departure. The roads were flooded and traffic was crazier than normal. I finally visited the home and I was surprised to see with my own eyes how it was well managed and organized with little resources. I w met Mama Esperance in person! We speak bi-monthly over WhatsApp and she’ll FaceTime me to give me updates or just encourage me with a prayer or African saying. She is really an angel on earth.

I can’t tell you my excitement to finally sign the visitor and gift book. Grace or Stallone usually gets the honor. During my trip, I realized that a lot of people are a bit apprehensive of foreigners in the DRC due to Covid. I wanted to be super respectful and careful with the elders. Mama Esperance and I decided the best way to meet the elders and tour the home was to walk outside, briefly chat with the elders from a safe distance and thank the staff for their hard work and the love they show our elders.

Meeting the elders was such a wonderful and humbling experience. Some were in great mental and physical health while others weren’t. There’s a Papa who was/is a Mathematician. He wakes up at 5:30 am every day, puts on his suit and dress shoes, and works on math problems all day long. He has a chalkboard in his room. He was super charming and sharp. After the tour, I asked Mama Esperance what else can we do to help? She mentioned that the elders needed new mattresses. The mattresses they currently have are old and way past their time. I promised her that we would find a way to get her new mattresses in a timely matter.

Three weeks after my visit we were able to have enough money to order 20 mattresses and transport them to the home. Grace followed the mattresses by motorcycle, delivered the items, and got to spend some quality time with the elders. Everyone was so happy and thankful. None of this would be possible without your support of our business and foundation. I promise to show more of what we are doing with the profits of the business and how people's lives are improved with your money. Our Artisans are able to take care of themselves and their families, women in Lau are able to have land to farm, our elders are taken care of and loved and our children know that we are there for them. Thank you all for your support.

Please don’t forget to go to our GoFundMe page and donate to our orphanage project. We have a lot to do and it requires everyone’s love and support.

With Gratitude,

Adolophine

P.S. Below is a video of my visit to the home and part two shows the bed delivery and Grace's visit with the elders.