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\u201cIt all began two years ago,\u201d recounts Maria Pia Redaelli, <\/strong>who is the contact person for the NFA non-profit organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a> where the Petite Flamme <\/em>Project<\/a> has been underway. Two of our teachers attended a training course offered by the Focolare <\/a>in Douala, Cameroon<\/a>. When they returned to us they decided to apply some of the ideas already implemented by other schools. One was the Children\u2019s Parliament. <\/em>Almost immediately the children took ownership of their school environment and became actively involved members of the school community. In previous years it was difficult to keep the classroom areas tidy, also the outdoor areas; but now there\u2019s never a paper on any pavement.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Each parliament<\/em> is comprised of a president, vice president and several ministers, depending on the number of children. Each of them is in charge of something. Mbuyi Idrisse, director of the Petite Flamme<\/em>, Ndolo, <\/strong>which has 400 students, recounts: \u201cI arrive just before 7:30 every morning. I\u2019m there to welcome my schoolmates. I check to see if their uniform is clean and neat. If it isn\u2019t, I send them home.\u201d<\/p>\n Makwatshi Donnel is vice president<\/strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>I assist the president in maintaining discipline, especially when the children are entering the classrooms and leaving at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Minister of Art,<\/strong>\u201d says Biamungu Bienvenue. \u201cI intone the anthem as we begin the school day. Whenever there are festivities, I assist the teacher in preparing the performances.\u201d<\/p>\n Minister of Finances, <\/strong>Beyau Vianney: \u201cMy job is to help my schoolmates to reach out to meet the needs of other students who are in need of support. For example, if someone loses a parent or sibling, we try to find money from our own pockets to offer help. The same is done when we come to know of children suffering in other parts of the world. I\u2019m in charge of collecting the monies and handing them over to the school director.\u201d<\/p>\n Luwala Precieuse is Minister of Health: <\/strong>\u201cWhen I get to school, I go to fill up the water tanks and add a few drops of antispetic, to protect the children from illness. Then, during the ten o\u2019clock break, I go to the kitchen to taste the bouille <\/em>to see if it is good and has enough sugar to make my schoolmates happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Losambo Jepthe: \u201cI\u2019m Minister of Sport. <\/strong>This year I tried to put together a few teams of both girls and boys. We practice every Wednesday and Saturday, and during breaks we hold matches between classes.\u201d<\/p>\n Nakamuwa Pembe, Minister of the Environment: <\/strong>\u201cI make sure the school is tidy; when I see a schoolmate tossing something on the ground, I invite him or her to place it in the trash bin. I also check to see that the toilets are kept clean and tidy.\u201d<\/p>\n Luwula Preieuse, Minister of Culture: <\/strong>\u201cI ensure that the children are speaking French, which is the authorised language of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n Lastly, Binia Exauce, Minister of the Public Order: <\/strong>\u201cEvery morning I verify that there is chalk at the chalkboards, and i give a whistle that gives the sign for school to begin and end.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria Pia<\/strong> concluded saying: \u201cWith the Children\u2019s Parliament we\u2019ve seen a qualitative improvement in the children\u2019s involvement at Petite Flamme<\/em>, and when they move on to other schools, the teachers admire their sense of care and involvement. Even recently the Italian Ambassador visited Petite Flamme <\/em>and was very satisfied with the environment he found, the climate of harmony and mutual respect among all. He offered the teachers words of great esteem and encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n Amongst numerous social projects run by the Focolare\u2019s New Families Association (NFA) in Africa, one engages school children in becoming actively involved in their school community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/201405CongoPetiteFlamme3-250x166.jpg\")
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