Averty Ndzoyi Leading His Community to More Accessible Education

Averty Ndzoyi, a Precinct 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow, is helping children from poor families and indigenous communities in Congo Brazzaville go to school through his NGO Espace Opoko.

Indigenous people are marginalized in Congo Brazzaville because of their culture and style of life. Stigma results, and indigenous parents often refuse to send their children to school. At one time, no indigenous students in Averty’s community had managed to reach high school.

Thanks Averty’s brilliant work, his community has recently recorded their first two indigenous students in the history of this community to go to high school. Averty took the responsibility to take these two students 250 miles to reach their closest high school. He went into town to take care of their housing, nutrition, health and other needs to allow them to continue their studies. Averty’s commitment has recently received recognition as a “significant change project” among 500 young African leaders who attended the Mandela Washington Fellowship program in 2015. You can hear more about his award and passions in this short video:

Outside of indigenous peoples, Averty also supports Bantu students who come from very poor families. These children sometimes leave their parents at the age of twelve to go up to 40 miles for their studies. They are faced with rent problems and malnutrition among other challenges that sometimes push the girls to prostitution. Before Averty’s intervention in this community, the dropout rate exceeded 23%. Now, since leading his motivational activities with the help of parents and students, rates have declined significantly.

Watch the history of Ndala Sissi, one of the girls that Averty supports in the community, here:

Averty believes that all children should have the same chances of academic success in life despite their origin and social status. This is why he is calling for people who can help give all children of the community the same opportunities for success.

To learn how you can contribute to Averty’s work through Espace Opoko, visit their website: www.espaceopoko.org