Bourse d’Excellence Bringmann aux Universités Congolaises

(BEBUC)
The Butembo Family
Humanitarian Charity and Exchange of Vows (Report)

Background

The BEBUC Butembo Family has a long-standing tradition of organizing a ceremony of

exchange of vows and celebration of the scholars’ past year’s achievements. It has always been
a nice occasion of joy and friendship, which strengthens the bonds between the scholars and
allows them to learn more about each other’s culture and talents.

This year, the commission of culture and gender in the local BEBUC Butembo Family planned
to organize this nice activity on Saturday, the 27th of January 2024 in Butembo at a nice place:
Maida Grill.

This year, we also did a community work. More specifically, we visited Kakwangura Central
Prisoners and brought to them some food. Our motivation was to celebrate the joy of ending
the year together with the helpless and forgotten ones as to show our support to them as human
beings.

The objectives of this planned exchange of vows were:

 To give the scholars a chance to present a gift and express their best wishes for the year
2024 to a fellow scholar that they have randomly selected;
 To welcome and honor different achievements of the elders who are currently staying
in Butembo;
 To organize a community work as to show our love and sympathy to prisoners, who
have terrible life conditions.

This activity report describes the activities carried out step by step, financial information, and
appendixes.

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 Visits to Kakwangura Central Prison
First visit to all prisoners
The first visit took place on Friday 26 January 2024
afternoon, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The scholars
brought 50 kg of rice, 50 kg of beans, a box of soap, a
box of salt and the clothes of men and women, which
they had collected from donations and fundraising.
This was followed by a guided tour through the
interior of the prison, taking in the 7 different cells,
including the kitchen and the kitchen stewards, as well
as the women's cell. The scholars were impressed and
moved by the responses and reactions of the prisoners,
Photo 1: Scholars at the gate of the Prison. From who were very grateful and enthusiastic. The
the left: Sarah Lwayivweka, Adèle Musingania, prisoners appreciated the generosity and kindness of
Jonathan Kamala, Gratia Kalindwe, and Laurène
Wangivirwa
the scholars and expressed their gratitude and
admiration.
By the way, scholars were saddened by the conditions of the prison and the prisoners, which
were worse than they had imagined. Particularly, for women who are incarcerated with their
children and the one who is breastfeeding. That is why we initiated a second visit to women
and their children.
The prison currently has 1017 prisoners. Among them there are 992 men and 25 women
prisoners with 4 children, including a baby.
Second visit to women prisoners and their children

On Friday 09 February 2024, the scholars made a

second visit to the prison, solely to provide assistance
to the women prisoners and their children. There are
25 women in the prison and they have 4 children. One
of these women gave birth to a child while in prison.
The child is now two months old, but the woman is
having problems breastfeeding due to a lack of breast
milk caused by stress and trauma.
The aid consisted of bringing the women prisoners
clothes for adults and clothes for the children and
baby, as well as a bag of cassava flour valued at 25
kg. The scholars brought milk for the baby and a
feeding bottle, fruit for the breastfeeding mother and
sweets and chocolates for the other children.
The women prisoners were touched by this charitable
Photo 2: Scholars at lateral facade of the Prison. From
the left: Gratia Kalindwe, Jonathan Kamala, Adèle
action and have continued to encourage the scholars
Musingania, and Laurène Wangivirwa

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to continue in the same vein, combining science with humanitarian charity and excellence.
We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the women lectures of the UCG's Faculty
of Medicine, who responded to our fundraising and supported this activity by bringing a bag of
cassava flour and clothes for the women prisoners.
The two visits to Kakwangura central prison were a successful and meaningful activity that
achieved its objectives and exceeded its expectations. The visits showed the love and sympathy
of the scholars for the prisoners, who live in precarious conditions. It was also an exceptionally
emotional moment for scholars, as this was the first time they had been inside the prison to see
the situation in which the prisoners live.
Exchange of vows
The exchange of vows took place on Saturday afternoon, from 3:30 pm to 8:00 pm. It was held
in a wonderful place: Maida Grill, which is a restaurant and a lounge that offers a variety of
cuisines and entertainment options. The party featured an opening prayer, a welcome speech
done by the Main Speaker, an exhibition of talents, a fraternal meal, and a dancing session.
The party started with an opening prayer, which was led by Laurène Wangivirwa, the Vice-
Speaker of UCG. The opening prayer was followed by a welcome speech, which was delivered
by Jonathan KAMALA, the Main Speaker, who greeted and welcomed all the guests and the
participants. The speaker highlighted some of the goals and the plans for the New Year. The
speaker also introduced the theme and the program of the party, and invited everyone to enjoy
and celebrate the occasion.
The main attraction of the party was the exhibition of talents, which was a showcase of the
various talents and skills of the scholars and their friends in music, dance, poetry, humor, and
other arts. There were artistic presentations held by students of MCH Talent +, which stands
for Motivons la Conscience Humaine Talent +, BEBUC scholars of Butembo and Joe Kate, a
local artist of Butembo. The exhibition of talents was divided into several segments, each with
a different theme and a different presenter. The themes were: Love, the Culture of Excellence,
the Sense of a Job Well Done, and others.
The party concluded with a fraternal meal and a dancing session, which were a time to relax
and enjoy. The dancing session was a lively and fun-filled event, where scholars and their
friends danced to different genres and styles of music, both traditional and modern.
Acknowledgments
The BEBUC scholars of Butembo are grateful to the BEBUC Panel and, in particular, to Prof.
Bringmann for the inspiration of the activity and all the inestimable support and the women
lectures of the Faculty of Medicine of UCG for the substantial support and friendship to
BEBUC.

Done in Butembo on February 21, 2024

By Jonathan Muyisa KAMALA, the Main Speaker.

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Appendix. Photos of the global activity

Photo 3: Sarah Lwayivweka, performing a nice song Photo 4: From left: Eve Loando, a BEBUC
Scholar, and Vusmos, an MCH member,
declaiming a poem

Photo 5: From left: Rodrigue Kihanga and Jonathan Kamala,

interpreting a lovely song

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Photo 6 : One of the wonderful photos of BEBUC Scholars (from the left, back row: Roland Muyisa, Laetitia Siku, Gratia
Kalindwe, Jean-Luc Kitasuvirwa, Laurène Wangivirwa, Sarah Lwayivweka, Jonathan Kamala, Derick Kahimba; front row:
Annette Kasambo, Rodrigue Kihanga, Adèle Musingania, Eldie Vagheni, Eve Loando.