Many years ago there was a visionary leader named Mompongo mo Imana who lived in this community and organized many great projects in this region. Educated in the USA, he brought important leaders from other nations to showcase his village. He invited another visionary named Millard Fuller who was the founder of Habitat for Humanity (made famous by Jimmy Carter and others). Millard Fuller established Habitat’s first international housing project in Tondo in the 1970s. American and British volunteers worked in agricultural development and medical services in the hospital.
Unfortunately these visionary leaders have died. The village was ravaged by incredible flooding as the lake overflowed into the village. Buildings and housed were damages including the huge school that was built by Mompongo and the housed that were built by Habitat for Humanity. The hospital built in 1928 is falling down. There is widespread disease including malaria and Typhoid fever, a waterborne disease. The American volunteers and British missionaries are long gone. Buildings have deteriorated, which is not unexpected in the humid tropics. The people of Tondo remember when times were better.
Ex-missionary Dale Long was inspired to help encourage and rebuild the village. He remembered the thriving village of many years ago. He contacted leaders in the D. R. Congo and encourage them to seek our family and friends of the previous leaders. A large meeting was organized and Dale spoke to the people encouraging them to work together to improve the village. A 3-person exploratory team was sent by air to talk to local leaders, and learn the felt needs of the community. As a result it was determined that the greatest need was a new hospital. So this will be the focus of our efforts. It will be a big project and require a lot of support. The very first effort will be to drill a drinking water well at the site of the new hospital. This will help to address the problem of waterborne diseases.
Their biggest concern was to build a new hospital. The old one was built in 1928 and is falling down. We paid for an engineering plan to build this hospital. Part of the hospital plan of course is to build a drinking water well. We have a donation pledged for this project. It is very important because local people and their visitors are plagued with Typhoid fever, a waterborne disease.