Malaika

Malaika’s mission is to empower girls and their communities through education and health programs.

There are 7 million children in the DRC that do not attend school. Malaika is all about the community eco system, which includes agriculture, school, 20 wells and a community centre. Malaika focusses on the Lubumbashi districts within the DRC and provides free accredited primary and secondary education to 370 girls. Malaika students receive a state-of-the-art STEM education where they can learn VPL, Blockly, and Scratch languages, code on Hopscotch and Swift Playgrounds, and learn to use Keynote and Pages on iPads.

Malaika was founded by Noëlla Coursaris Musunka. Noëlla has shared her insights at a number of world-class forums, spanning the World Economic Forum in Davos to the university halls of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and MIT and the offices of UNICEF. In 2017, she was named one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential & Inspirational Women of the Year. More recently, Noella was named as an advisor for Concordia, received an award from the House of Mandela at the Nelson Mandela centenary celebration and gave a keynote address at the 2019 Forbes Leading Women Summit in Durban, South Africa for International Women’s Day.

Malaika grows all its own fruit and vegetables organically in its backyard, meaning that students and provided with two healthy meals each day. What’s more, the school’s facilities are powered by solar energy. Malaika has built 16 new wells and refurbished 4 existing ones. Together, this 20-well system is providing access to clean water for over 30,000 people a year. The Malaika School’s Health Center, completed in December 2018, was built in memory of one of the students, Miriam, who passed away from malaria. It provides regular, free health check ups for students, as well as educating around the prevention of common illnesses.

Kozi will be directly supporting the IT infrastructure at the school, including providing equipment, improving telecommunications and helping the community to stay connected. Sign up to Kozi Course to support Malaika whilst empowering yourself through education.

For more information about Malaika or to donate directly please visit their website.