Bokaindembe

Bokaindembe
Coordinates	0 ° 4 ′  N , 21 ° 49 ′  E Coordinates: 0 ° 4 ′  N , 21 ° 49 ′  E
Basic data
Country	Democratic Republic of Congo
province	Tshuapa

Bokaindembe is a village with about 1,500 inhabitants 4 kilometers south of the Maringa River (Luwo) in the Nkombe Groupement in Secteur Loando in the Territoire Bokungu in the Tshuapa Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The village is about 140 km northeast of Boende , the capital of Tshuapa Province.

The much smaller neighboring village Ekombo lies between Bokaindembe and the Maringa River and is commonly subsumed under Bokaindembe, but is an independent political unit with its own village chief. The population is predominantly Protestant, but there are also free churches (Kimbanguisten, Frères en Christ, Kitawala, etc.). Although there is nominally a Catholic community leader, there are hardly any practicing Catholics and no Catholic church. Bokaindembe can be reached by land from the road between Boende and Bukungu from Lokole, although nine small and medium-sized bridges made of tree trunks must be passed, which are mostly in poor condition. The population lives exclusively from agriculture (cassava, maize, rice, sweet potatoes, beans, vegetables), extensive cattle breeding (goats, sheep, chickens, ducks), fishing, hunting and collecting wild fruits and roots. In the village there is a primary and a secondary school, for which a new building with bricks and a metal roof was built in 2012-2014 and a health center with a maternity ward built in 2016-2017. There are no shops, no market, no restaurants and no accommodation, but a house (called "Mission", built 2014-2016) in which visitors / travelers can live. There are no trained craftsmen, but there are people who can tailor and make bricks, and rudimentary wood is cut with muscle power and long saws, and simple furniture, doors and windows are made. There is no public power supply, no network for FM radio, telephone or internet. There are some bicycles as a means of transport, but no motorized vehicles. Due to the initiative of the population since 2010 with the help of the HappyAfrica association under the direction of Dr. Franz Musil, through which the schools, the health center and the "Mission" could be rebuilt, Bokaindembe experienced a certain boom, which is also noticeable in the village. People have developed more self-confidence. Among other things, many private huts and houses are renovated on their own initiative and without any financial support, or newly built using improved construction technology, which they have learned through voluntary work on the projects. More children are going to school, and more secondary school students are staying in town, and the sick are being better cared for, e.g. For example, surgical interventions or vaccination campaigns can now be carried out on site by doctors who come from time to time. The improved building situation also offers more attractive workplaces for teachers, professors, headmasters and nurses. The halls for the first and second grade primary school are already too small to accommodate all school children, which is why other rooms had to be improvised. There were over a hundred school beginners in the 2016/17 school year! Further projects such as a kindergarten, a warehouse or a boutique are planned.

See also

• Bokungu-Ikela diocese

Web links

• Bokaindembe on books.google.de