Many Education Congo board members, including Jimmy Shafe ’67 and Margaret Loewen ‘72, grew up in Congo and attended The American School of Kinshasa (TASOK). Because we saw the need, we all became involved in Education Congo, which raises funds for higher education as the long-term solution for building a stronger Congo. Our deep connections to Congo have also led to the development of the TASOK Scholarship Fund for UPC students— which will keep paying out to scholarships yea

…with the radical reduction in US government support for education and international development, individual contributions are now more important than ever.

Growing up in Congo was wonderful. While I was home-schooled I spent mornings doing my schoolwork and then after lunch I went off to meet my buddies to hang out with them until suppertime. My parents never worried about me because they knew that all the Congolese on the station would look out for me. I loved the freedom. We went fishing, canoed along the bank of the river, played soccer and other games, walked to Mbandaka (six miles each way), walked into the jungle…

…when she returned for a brief visit to Bolenge over 30 years after she had had to give up the work she loved, students who heard on the grapevine of her presence walked many miles to greet her and recount how hard she had made them work and how, when the time came for them to take state examinations for employment, they found easy what their fellow candidates struggled with. Nothing they could have said could have pleased her more, for teaching was a much-loved vocation.

He was good-natured, loving, thoughtful, loved a good joke, and took his calling seriously. The Congolese responded very well to his personality. They soon learned that he loved and respected them, and they loved him back. Whenever he went into the backcountry he took his shotgun and filled the stewpots of his meat-starved hosts.

We are thrilled that three students our fund has assisted have graduated from the UPC medical school.

New memorial fund in honor of Dr. Mohamed Kanji will provide scholarships at Université Évangélique en Afrique (UEA)

Education Congo board member Mary Sanichas with study group of computer science students at Université Protestante au Congo (UPC) Education Congo offers scholarships in specific areas of study through “named funds” that pay out every year, starting the year after they reach maturity at US$25,000.   One of our newest funds, “Sanichas Fund for Women in Computer Science,” was started with a balance of $5,000. When it reaches maturity it will provide tuition scholarships to Congo

Daniel Ngoy Boliya Université Protestante au Congo's Rector, Daniel Ngoy Boliya, was a longtime colleague, friend and partner of Education Congo. He died on March 2, 2023, at Centre Médicale de Kinshasa. Ernie Ross was a speaker at Rector Ngoy’s funeral in Kinshasa, which was attended by over 1,000.      Shortly after Rector Ngoy's death, Education Congo board members set up a UPC scholarship fund to honor his 30-year contribution to higher education in the Democratic Republi