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Story Summary
In 2016 the Bishop of the Lexington Diocese, Bishop John Stowe O.F.M accepted the invitation to celebrate Mass with the Catholic Congolese community in their native Swahili language. This opportunity to gather the Congolese Catholic Community together with our American Catholic community, united in God through our Catholic faith was a remarkable experience of worshiping. From that day Bishop John recommended JOTO MBIRIZI to take the message to all Congolese Catholic peoples to come back to the church and promote our Catholic faith and promised them the Swahili Mass program opening soon. Joto accepted this charge from Bishop John and became a leader of the Congolese Community here in Lexington, KY. After two years the Catholic Congolese Community was growing, being supported by the Lexington parishes, among them St. Peter Claver Parish, Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish, Christ the King Cathedral, Newman Center Holy Spirit Parish, and others. In August 2018 Joto Mbirizi founded the Kentucky Congolese Catholic Association (KCCA). This vision came when I saw many members of our community here in Lexington facing big problems of faith, language, jobs, culture, transportation, environment, etc. In Congo DR, because of war many children are orphans and women become widows resulting in serious life problems.Called to address these problems affecting the widows, orphans, single mothers, elderly in both Lexington, Kentucky and Congo DR, I contacted Ms. Mary Rashidi and some parishioners, both American and Congolese from different parishes, to join in and to support this vision, forming the KCCA board. Our mission is Hope and help for tomorrow. In Congo DR we support 100 orphans, 105 widows, 50 elderly and more peoples with disability, we provided school supplies, school fees, health care for the orphansevery year, and we have a farm and fishing boat for providing food for orphans and widows, also providing some jobs for the community. We also have a community center where women are trainedwithout cost to sew, preparing them with a livelihood and a better future. We will continue to build the community as led by God to Hope and Help others for tomorrow.
After Joto created the Kentucky Congolese Catholic Association (KCCA) in Lexington, Kentucky he contacted Mary about helping people here in the United States and the Congo DR. There in the Congo a lot of people were suffering from things such as disease, sexual abuse, famine, war conflicts, and poverty. Many of these suffering women and children became widows and orphans in need of help. In 2019 Mary Rashidi went on a mission trip to Congo DR to start a KCCA program in Uvira. The program was designed to help those in need and to create opportunities for the people living in the Uvira community. At the beginning of the organization there were many orphaned kids, but we could only offer help to 100 orphans. Mary provided for them things such as school supplies, school fees, food, clothes, and more. For more information about this mission trip watch the following video.
The community choir at Saint Peter Claver.
The KCCA board members In 2021 decided to send Joto and Mary to the Congo DR to monitor the KCCA activities in Uvira. They found that things were going well. A community center was opened to educate and train the single mothers and widows. Two offices were opened, one in Uvira center and the other in Luvungi City. The contract for the school where our kids studied was renewed from 3 U.S Dollars to 5 U.S Dollars. We bought 5 laptops for the offices and all the office materials including the rent of community center and offices. We registered 120 single mothers and 150 widows beneficiaries for free schooling for tailoring in our community center. Joto and Mary visited the residences of the orphans to find that they were living in bad condition and we tried to help by buying mattresses and nets but could only support 15 kids, because we did not have much resources. After visiting the kids we opened our fishing program and bought boats, nets and all materials for the program. We spent 25 Thousand U.S Dollars to start and operate the fishing program. For information about Joto and Mary's trip in 2021 watch the following video.
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KCCA Nutrition Program. Joto and Mary donate the flour for porridge for the orphans in Uvira, Congo.
The KCCA board members decided for Joto and Mary to visit the Congo Dr for a third trip in 2023 to see how the program is developing. We found that 45 widows and single mothers succeed in our training program and we distributed those 45 widows and single mothers sewing machines to help them create a business. We also tried to see how to promote and empower the widows by helping them with a small business program. Joto and Mary selected 45 widows that succeeded in our criteria and gave them 100 U.S Dollars that could save them and give them hope for life. We worked with our offices in Congo DR to see how they could implement the program without any discrimination and to make sure our students are studying in good conditions, with school supplies and fees paid for. Also to monitor our farming program to make sure its productive. For more information about Joto and Mary's trip in 2023 watch the following videos.
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