Forgotten History: Congo House











Reverend William Huges who lived in Congo from 1882-85 when his health started to fail wanted to do more for the people he meet during his time in the Congo. He wanted to give the kids who he meets there a better chance at life and to improve the lives of those after them. When he returned to Wales in 1885 he did just that. He brought with him KinKasa and Nkana and they were know as the Congo boys. Reverend Huges idea was to create a training institute that would teach the brights and more promising students from Africa in law and medicine. Then would they return back to Africa to teach more students what they had learned and better those students in the education they had received. He did not like the idea of white missionaries going to Africa to teach these young people especially since he believed that these students were just as bright but lacked the same opportunities given to him and fellow white man. His institute brought students from all over Africa including Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and even the US. He did not want to create a new England in Africa but instead, he wanted and loves the culture and the people that already existed there. The most important and famous person to benefit from these teachings was Nelson Mandela. His teacher Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu was a student at the institute who later went to South Africa and set up a school that Mandela later went too. Sadly however because of a scandle between some studets and the public the school was shut down and Reverend Huges was bankruot from fighting to keep it open. This story was brought to the attention during Black History Month which was started un the US and has reminded people of the good acts that one man made to try and educate those who just lacked opununity.


http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-41777209

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