With financing provided by German Franziskaner Mission from Dortmund, Paolo, Théogène, Emanuelle, Valence, Adolphine, Joseph, Immaculee, Felicite and many other young teachers or employees at the CFJ Padri Vjeko Technical School, mainly in their twenties, were given the opportunity to have their houses built. The construction of the houses of baked or dried bricks, done by using the labour resources at CFJ School, is organized by Fra Ivica. Houses are built by the bricklaying students and furnished with furniture made by the carpentry students. Rare are the teachers whose families receive any other form of income besides the teacher’s salary. These families mainly live on cultivation of coffee, bananas, potatoes and corn and milk from an odd goat or cow.

“I live with my mother, three sisters and one nephew. Of course I am happy to have my house built. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but the major work is finished. I already have arm-chairs for my living room and a bed for the bedroom; now it’s time to furnish other rooms in the house”, says a twenty-seven year old carpentry teacher Paolo who keeps a tape-recorder and a bunch of cassettes with reggae music on his night table, and a Bruce Lee poster above his bed.

In Joseph’s house, which is still not moved into or furnished, there is only a charcoal iron on a shelf. Joseph, a tailoring teacher who had the opportunity to spend several months in Canada, has placed posters of the Pope John Paul II on the walls, and on his bedroom door a photo of late brother Vjeko, a murdered humanitarian worker and benefactor remembered by the natives of Kiwumu with great respect.

Almost all teachers, except for thirty-one year old Adolphine who is married and has one child, are still single and they live with their mothers, brothers and sisters. For most of them, their fathers were killed in the war (genocide). With the new houses being built, they will get the opportunity to become independent, start a family and have their own home.

Photo by : Jure Mišković
Translated by: bitno.hr
Edited by: Valerie K. Ken