Rotary club of Spa-Francorchamps-Stavelot supports the non-profit organization Kesho Congo ('Congo Tomorrow'), founded by Adolphe Nyakasane, a pediatrician who graduated from UCLouvain in 2015. This organization fights against chronic malnutrition, a true scourge in the province of South Kivu, and particularly in its capital, Bukavu.
To achieve this, it relies on several complementary approaches. First, it provides food locally to the dozens of children from the region's villages who arrive daily on foot, severely weakened, or even in imminent danger of death due to severe chronic malnutrition. In this area, the WHO reports that 48% of children are chronically malnourished; the current war has caused this rate to skyrocket to 58%! Once the initial few weeks of treatment are completed, they return home, treated and vaccinated, with their mothers carrying food parcels and, more importantly, trained in better nutrition and lifestyle habits.
Secondly, the project teaches adults, primarily women, how to cultivate local plants (maize, sorghum, soybeans, etc.) chosen for their richness in nutrients and protein. Transforming these plants into fortified biscuits and porridge provides essential finished products for growth. The non-profit organization's slogan, "From Farm to Fork," illustrates the simplicity of the technique, which can therefore be replicated in neighboring areas.
In collaboration with partner clubs in Belgium, as well as in Ansbach (Germany), Longwy (France), and Szekszárd (Hungary), Rc Spa-Francorchamps-Stavelot secured a District Grant that doubled the production of the bakery, making it self-sufficient! Production, which runs 24/7, employs 40 people whose salaries are largely generated by sales in stores in Bukavu, a city of approximately 1.2 million inhabitants.
As evidenced by Hubert Leclercq, who recently returned from eastern Congo, in his article published on February 2, 2026, in La Libre, under the title "In Bukavu, the Kesho Congo non-profit organization helps mothers with a charming little Belgian touch": ... Pointing to two dough mixers and two electric ovens, the pediatrician explains: "We received them from the Rotary club of Spa-Francorchamps-Stavelot. I gave a presentation there on May 8, 2023, and the equipment was installed in January 2025, while the war was raging in the region. This increased production capacity also helped us distribute bread, biscuits, and flour to displaced families in seven villages, each hosting 400 families. It was a wonderful humanitarian response, and Belgium played a part in it..."
