I’m Ian.

I’m currently in the middle of setting up the Kimbilio Project, which supports street children in Lubumbashi, DR Congo. 

In Swahili, Kimbilio means a place to run to for safety.

Centre Kimbilio is a day centre where children and young people can find a safe place off the streets where they can eat and wash up and find a friendly person to chat with.

I’m in the process of making bricks that will be used to build a small accommodation centre outside the city, where children who can’t return to their families will be able to live.

I’ve been working in different capacities within Congo since 1990.

I studied social anthropology and Swahili at SOAS London between 1993 and 1996.

Before leaving the UK in April 2009, I had been working as a social worker in Manchester.

As you can tell, I enjoy travelling as well as meeting and getting to know people from many different ways of life.

Throughout all of this I’ve felt God guiding me and preparing me for the work I am doing now.

For more info, look up my blog lifeinlubumbashi.blogspot.com or the Congo Children Trust facebook group.

If your group would like to explore linking up with Ian in Congo, then get in touch!