How can we support families? Interview with Jules Kindembo, social worker in Kinshasa

Helping the most vulnerable families and supporting parents in their educational practices is one of our main missions, as it involves promoting children’s rights. The House of Families have been set up in several countries where we and our partners work, namely in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Cambodia and the Philippines. 

Interview with Jules Kindembo, social worker at the House of Families in Kinshasa (DRC). 

How long have you been working at the House of Families? What do you do there? 

I’ve been here for 1 year now. I’m a social worker and I teach English and literacy. It was my ambition to share what I know with children and families. 

What needs does your organisation meet? 

It’s a very interesting initiative, which really meets the needs of the families here. When they arrive, most of them have little respect for others, don’t know how to live in a community, how to respect children, women… 

We help them to look after their children, because the families have a lot of problems: social problems, personal problems, problems of communication, they don’t have a framework and struggle to open up to the outside world. Here, we enable them to open, to broaden their horizons in their way of thinking. We give them the opportunity to be listened to and we offer them a support system.. 

What are the main activities?

There are number of activities available for families and children: literacy classes, vocational training, tutoring and awareness-raising on variousthemes . The awareness-raising sessions address important issues such as parenting or respecting and listening to children, for example. To do this, we set up “coffee talks”, where the topics are either chosen directly by the families according to their needs, or are programmed by the teams according to our objectives. 

What do you think is working well? And what are the challenges? 

Overall, I’d say the welcome we provide. Some families are very marginalised and they way we welcome them is very different from what they are used to. Our support is based above all on listening and discretion. 

What are the main challenges you face every day? 

As far as the families are concerned, accessing the House of Families for those who live far away is a challenge. They appreciate what we do here but find it hard to get here because they don’t have transport. 

Finally, what are you wishes for the future of the organisation?

That this House of Families and this initiative continue, because it helps so many families. We do an enormous amount of work here and we help a lot of families. Why not multiply this programme, open others in other communes, outside Kinshasa in other provinces! 

Like Jules, there many people working for vulnerable children and families within our partner organisations. All our projects are run by teams of committed people who want to contribute to development and social change. Thank you to them for their commitment!