The Salesians of Don Bosco or the Salesian Society is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in the late nineteenth century by Italian priest Saint John Bosco to help poor children during the industrial revolution. Don Bosco Centers, named after the founder of the order are located throughout the world and provide housing, education, vocational training, recreation and ecumenical spiritual guidance for orphans and street children.
Don Bosco Ngangi is located in Goma, in the eastern section of the Democratic Republic of Congo, along the Rwanda border. It was founded in 1988. It started with just a sports field but soon expanded to provide schooling and housing for children and youths. In 1992, as ethnic tensions heated up in Rwanda and the surrounding areas, Don Bosco Ngangi redefined its Salesian mission of caring for children and began to receive and care for refugees and displaced persons of all ages.
Today as warfare, mass killings, rapes and other atrocities dominate the area, Don Bosco Ngangi serves as a haven for the poor and suffering. The ten acre compound has the capacity to house 12,000 refugees within its walls and does so in times of crisis in the region. In addition Don Bosco Ngangi provides aid and services to the many surrounding refugees camps. From the original school and sports field, the center has grown to provide vocational training, refugee housing, a rehabilitation facility for child soldiers, an orphanage, and a small medical clinic.
The size and staffing of the medical center has swelled when the area is in crisis and diminished when the crisis passes. The facility consists of a clinic, general medical ward, pediatric ward, and can isolate rooms for a cholera ward and a nutrition rehabilitation ward for severe cases of starvation. In 2013, over 19,000 patients were cared for at the medical center. Today, in early 2017 it operates as a small clinic for the resident children.
Project Congo is working in partnership with the dedicated staff of Ngangi to insure that nutritional and medical services are available to the children and orphans served normally by Don Bosco as well as the refugee population in times of crisis.
Read News related to our Don Bosco Ngangi Program
- August 2009 Update (Friday, September 04th, 2009) August has been a busy and exciting month. In early August we sent a truck load of radiology supplies and equipment ...
- VA Medical Center Equipment Donated (Tuesday, June 09th, 2009) I just returned from New Orleans where we selected medical equipment donated from the VA Medical Center to fill a ...
- Medical supplies have arrived at Ngangi Medical Center (Wednesday, March 25th, 2009) Medical supplies shipped by Project Congo in January and February to Ngangi Medical Center have arrived safely. The center will ...
- Year end statistics for Don Bosco Ngangi Medical Center (Tuesday, February 24th, 2009) 14,150 Patients cared for 232 cases transferred (high risk obstetrics, surgical, psychiatric, medical testing) 722 severe malnutrition inpatient cases rehabilitated with an ...