Dinanga Church

Dinanga School Fundraiser

May 27, 2022 Update!

We are pleased to share updates on the construction of the new computer lab being built.  Please use the link below to see photos!

Dinanga School addition construction photos 5-26-22

Dinanga School addition construction photos 6-1-22

The Session has approved a focused fundraising campaign to accelerate the fundraising for the Dinanga school addition.  The original school construction at our sister church was funded in 2012.

The expansion involves adding another building onto the existing school site.  The purposes of the expansion include the following:

  • Add a computer center.
  • They have found that it is difficult to retain secondary students at the school when there is no access to computers.
  • The computers would also be available to folks in the area after school hours.
  • Having access to computers has become a requirement in the schools.  As a stop gap measure, some students are going across town to the computer café at the printing company used by the Kananga Presbytery at significant additional cost and travel.
  • Provide a room for the kindergarten students.
  • The original school plan did not include a room or a class for kindergarten students, which was subsequently requested by the parents after the school startup.
  • The kindergarten students now sit on benches in a corner of the lot (there is sometimes some scurrying to retrieve them).

Provide a room for the sewing project, which currently has no permanent location and they have to rent  temporary space.  The school expansion is currently anticipated to cost about $60,000.

The plan to fund the school construction was approved by the Session in about 2016 (after I came back from a Congo trip in 2015).  This school addition has been an Alternative Gift Market option since about 2016.

A balance sheet fund was created for this project and funds have been added yearly at a slow rate.  The  balance sheet funds for the school addition and the Dinanga parish are currently about $20,000.

The hope is to complete the special fundraising in 2021 to allow for construction of the expansion prior to the start of school in the fall of 2022. The current plan is to announce the results of this special campaign at a Congo Sunday service scheduled for January 16, 2022.

Other balance sheet funds can be made available to fund short falls in the fundraising but the hope of this special campaign is to accelerate the fundraising and to minimize the use of other funds to the extent possible.

The website below is a video that I took on my last visit in 2015.  By the way, the woman leading the song is the kindergarten teacher.  This gives you an idea of what the constructed building would look like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo_sVNyX9OU

Donations can be made by noting your offering as a special offering for the Dinanga computer lab.

If there are any questions please contact me- Jim Annett