Moukondo School on Opening Day
Opening Day of Classes Has Never Been Like This!
Ambassador Robert Weisberg and his wife Nergish made a commitment to the children of the Congo this past Spring: to provide them a safer, cleaner and student-friendly learning environment. On December 14, their dream was realized, and 3,000 Congolese children thanked them in person.
Working with the U.S. Navy Seabees detachment from Sigonella, Sicily, Ambassador Weisberg was able to attract funding to renovate two schools. But when that wasn't quite enough, he talked to local American corporations, including Century Aluminum, Chevron-Congo, Murphy Oil, and Halliburton, to help fund the projects also. Working through a local NGO, the International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD), the Moukoundo Primary School was given a complete structural face-lift.
Opening Day provided all kinds of surprises for the children, including the appearance and music of an American jazz group, Devin Phillps and the New Orleans Straight Head opening up the ceremony with a rendition of "When the Saints go Marchin' In" and school supplies donated by Hathaway Brown School of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Nergish Weisberg presented the school supplies to a surprised group of students, who later joined in by dancing with the jazz renditions of popular music.
The dedication ceremony was attended by the Ministers of Defense and Education, the latter of whom thanked the Weisbergs for taking this effort and time to help the Congolese children.