Thanks to the donations we received, several groups of children were able to celebrate Christmas in Kinshasa in their respective parts of town. Each youth leader will tell you all about it:

Jacques : Spending time together with the children to celebrate the birth of our Lord is a powerful way to show that Christmas is not only, like some people may think, a holiday when we exchange presents, but a time to understand the most beautiful gift that God gave to humanity, His only Son—a precious gift given in Love to every man on the face of the earth, no matter what his origins or his living conditions. The STEPS Program has pertinent lessons to help children grow with healthy values and allows for times to meditate and pray together with them.

This Christmas, 70 children enjoyed the following activities:

1. CHRISTMAS Carols from the STEPS Programs in French and also other songs in Lingala.
   
2. SKITS: The children acted out some skits about the birth of Jesus, the joy of Christmas and more.
3. GAMES: The children were able to express the joy in their hearts through various games. Having fun is a way to give God the glory, because Jesus was also having fun with us. (‘Suffer little children to come unto me’…. Mat. 19:14)
4. COLORING: During the reading of the stories, the children enjoyed coloring the Christmas pictures with the color pencils we gave them as a gift.
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. MEAL: Thanks to the donations we received, we were able to serve a hot meal to the children who were so thankful they even prayed for God to bless the givers.

We want to thank the Lord for His unfailing love and all those who contributed to the success of this activity, which enabled some of the homeless children to still celebrate and partake of the Christmas Joy. We noticed that quite a few kids do not attend school, so we are planning to start a literacy course and later on some vocational training, to help these children not to fall into delinquency.

Fabrice : In spite of the many difficulties we encountered throughout 2021, we managed to create our own NGO and to start several programs for the children, such as musical instruments and English classes. The STEPS Program has really blossomed with the children and some of them have started to call me “Papa Fabrice” *, which really touches my heart and I’m proud to be with them. May the God of glory bless you all for the support you gave us. The themes we covered this year were Anger and Arguments, Forgiveness, Giving, Honesty, Obedience and a Positive Outlook. I have trained several Sunday School teachers and altogether we have at present 896 girls and 761 boys who are enrolled in the STEPS program.

* “Papa’’ is a term used in Congo to show great respect.

I personally have two classes in Masina, one class in Tuana with 40 children ages 3 to 13 and a second class in Ekila for 31 children ages 2 to 13. Their parents testify of the progress their children have made, both in their behavior and in their knowledge since they have started this program. This year, the children memorized the following verses: Pro. 15:1, Pro. 17:17, Mt. 6:14, Lk 6:38, Eph.4:25, Jn.13:17 and Phil.4:8.

 

This boy’s name is Christ Landu, he lost his dad and his mom is happily surprised to notice the progress her son has made intellectually, even though he does not go to school. She lives in an unsafe neighborhood, so she wants her son to spend as much time as possible with us.

This little girl’s name is Surprise, her mother is so happy to see how much her behavior has improved since attending our classes.

 

This young boy’s name is Ntonalo, he is an orphan, his mother died one week after he was born, and his father disappeared. He lives with his grandfather, who asked us to teach him. A few months later, he came to thank us and tell us how much progress his grandson had made, both in his behavior and in memorization.

 

Olivier : Olivier was invited by a church to organize a Christmas celebration for their group of children. He showed them the movie Jesus from the Gospel of Luke.

 

Cedric : I am thrilled to share with you how we celebrated Christmas and New Year in Kinshasa.

 

For Christmas, we organized a party in the orphanage with the children we’re taking care of. It was a success; the kids were so happy, and the atmosphere was very warm and friendly. The children sang Christmas carols and recited poems about Christmas.

Thanks to the donations we received, we were able to get some refreshments, snacks, and clothes for all the children.

 

 

 

 

I celebrated New Year with a group of street kids. It made me so happy to share some food with them and to tell them about God’s love. I encouraged them not to lose hope and to always trust in the Lord no matter what condition they live in.

I thank the Lord for helping these celebrations to go so smoothly for the children. I also say a big Thank You with all my heart to all those who made it possible through their donations. May God bless you.

 

Theo and Florence : In Kikimi, the kids got all dressed up to celebrate Christmas and enjoy a delicious meal supplied by our benefactors.

 

 

 

Aristote : On Christmas Day, we rented a hall with sound equipment to welcome the children. In the morning, 67 children attended, and in the afternoon 83 teenagers. Everyone joined in wholeheartedly to the activities we had organized. The Christmas celebration was a success, words fail me to express what the Lord has done, all I can do is thank Him, and thank those who helped with donations to make it possible.

So, this Christmas, 32 young people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, 3 street kids accepted to return home to their family, and 5 kulunas (gang members) turned in their machetes.

Here are their testimonies:

My name is Pauline Aselo, I am 16 years old and I was born in Mbujimayi in Kasaï. When my parents separated, my mother moved out with my two younger sisters (one of them passed away) and left me and my brother in the village with our grandmother.

Mom would send us money so we could join her in Kinshasa, but our grandma used the money for other things without telling us. Our grandmother was a spiritual healer, she would call on the ancestors’ spirits to treat people. One time when I came back from the holidays at my aunt’s, I found my brother seriously ill because of her. When I learned that my mother was sending money for us, I talked to my grandma about it, but she started cursing me: “You will become a vagabond, you’ll end up on the street with brigands” etc. Ever since that day, I have felt as if a bad spirit had come into me. When my mom heard what happened she sent someone to fetch us. But when I arrived in Kinshasa, I didn’t want to live at home, I hated my parents so I would run away and preferred to live in the streets.

There I met a boy and we left together for Mashabio in the province of Bandudu. But when we got there, we got stopped by the police because I was a minor. My dad came to fetch me, and I was then taken to different churches to try to expel this bad spirit, but nothing worked. They even chained me up like a crazy person so I wouldn’t run away. I still managed to escape after stealing 40 000 FC ($20) from the house as well as my dad’s phone to sell it. Back on the street, a girl from another gang attacked me with a razor blade and I had to get 17 stitches. My parents were getting really tired with me.

Then one day one of the girls, who had become a Christian, took me to meet Aristote Avali. We prayed with him, and I started to attend the classes from the STEPS Program. He told me to choose between the path of lies and the path of truth. He helped me to receive Jesus-Christ and now I have come home, and I will soon go back to school. So I want to say thank you to my shepherd Aristote Avali and to all my friends to say with me: Dear Jesus, thank you!

My name is Esther Kwilu, I am 16 years old and the third child in my family. I go to school with the nuns where there are only girls. I have learned the traditional danse named “Bale”. I used to be a lesbian and acted like a man. I would flirt with girls and seduced several girls my age. I got an invitation to join the STEPS Program for young people, with brother Aristote Avali. He explained to me that our behaviors are like a photocopy, but that the original is the image of God. When I told him I was a lesbian, he told me to confess my sins and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Since then, I have stopped all my former practices and I have given my life to Jesus-Christ.

My name is Patrick Angelo, I am a member of the gang called “BANA BOLOLO” which means “the children of bitterness”. I am the second in charge in the gang, after the chief of our neighborhood. Several members of our gang who are here today are afraid of me, and even people I have hurt. My friend Dan and I, we fell to our knees when we heard the exhortation and all the testimonies that my friends have shared, so today I have decided to become one of you and to accept the Lord Jesus-Christ. My two machetes, which never leave me and which I use to do massacres, are here before you. I am crying inside because I don’t know if Jesus can ever forgive me… This has been my mother’s desire, to follow Jesus-Christ. I want to forsake all now and follow Him!

My name is Geconias Kwanzadi, I am 18 years old, and I have been in this group for the past two years as a disciple of Jesus, to tell the young people about Jesus.

I graduated from High School in mechanics and all this time I was suffering from a double hernia in my two testicles. My parents were ready to have me get surgery, but I told myself: I must first speak to my shepherd Aristote because if I get an operation, it’s going to take several months for me to recover, and it will delay me in pursuing my studies. So, we prayed together and asked the Lord for a miracle. I went back to see the specialist at the hospital but after getting the test results from the 3 examinations that were needed before the surgery, the doctor concluded that I no longer needed the operation. I told him I was not surprised because the Lord Jesus never fails. So, this is the miracle the Lord did for me.

Candle Light Service :

As we usually do, we combined celebrating Christmas and New Year together. Our theme was « The 8 miracles of Christmas » from a slideshow. Olivier’s children sang Christmas carols for us to our delight.

Then each of us thanked the Lord for the wonders He accomplished in our lives this past year and presented Him our requests for 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We realized that during 2021 the Lord had answered all the prayers we had prayed last year, such as for example helping Daniel get accepted in his last year of university, Cedric finding a job and helping Olivier come out of his financial difficulties. We praised and thanked Him with all of our hearts.

Richard : In a completely different field, but just as relevant, just around Christmas, Richard was interviewed by the main radio station in Kinshasa, Radio Okapi, about his latest documentary “A Killing Machine”, which had won first prize at the Congofilmz festival last November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the article (in French): : https://actualite.cd/2021/12/18/kinshasa-presentation-de-une-machine-tuer-un-film-sur-les-tragedies-lest-de-la-rdc

In conclusion we will let Olivia sing for you about the most beautiful night in the world.