Welcome to the Bon Geste website
Bon Geste, as its name suggests, is a humanitarian association that, since 1994, has been bringing together vulnerable children, including street children, in Burundi, feeding them, educating them, and sending them to school when possible. I myself was a driving force behind this initiative when, with the 1993 crisis, I noticed that the phenomenon of children living on and off the streets was increasing dramatically. This worried me, of course, because I remain convinced that these children constitute a ticking time bomb, insofar as, being uneducated, they inherit the violence of the streets, which they will later reverberate throughout society as adults. Since 1994, I have tried to bring these children together every Sunday at my home, until today, to offer them a dignified midday meal. This earned me the nickname "Mother Sunday," which these children themselves gave me. My goal in inviting them to my home on Sundays is to lay the foundations for a good education, and see if I can get some of them back for a formal education. Over time, I had kind souls join my initiative.
This is how our work was formalized in an Association that was first accredited in 2000 as the Center for the Protection and Supervision of Street Children (CPEER), then in 2007 as Bon Geste. By going to find these children in the dumps, I wanted first to give them my affection, and allow them to feel welcomed and loved, and thereby create a framework for listening and gradual healing. Most of them, in fact, are truly wounded by life. This Sunday meal has thus allowed since the beginning, the return to school of some of these children, who are otherwise often brilliant in class. Until now, I do it almost alone, with my small journalist's pension. A few charitable souls occasionally support me, particularly when it comes to sending children to school. Each year, we pay for school kits for approximately 250 primary and secondary school children, in addition to the school fees for the secondary school children, whose number varies. Through this website, you will discover our contribution to building this great project of a better world, a more just and peaceful society, where no one lives off the trash and enjoys the same opportunities as their peers. This is our ideal. If this inspires you to get involved with us for the same cause, that's even better!
Christine Ntahe, Legal Representative and Founder of Bon Geste
Bon Geste, as its name suggests, is a humanitarian association that, since 1994, has been bringing together vulnerable children, including street children, in Burundi, feeding them, educating them, and sending them to school when possible. I myself was a driving force behind this initiative when, with the 1993 crisis, I noticed that the phenomenon of children living on and off the streets was increasing dramatically. This worried me, of course, because I remain convinced that these children constitute a ticking time bomb, insofar as, being uneducated, they inherit the violence of the streets, which they will later reverberate throughout society as adults. Since 1994, I have tried to bring these children together every Sunday at my home, until today, to offer them a dignified midday meal. This earned me the nickname "Mother Sunday," which these children themselves gave me. My goal in inviting them to my home on Sundays is to lay the foundations for a good education, and see if I can get some of them back for a formal education. Over time, I had kind souls join my initiative.
This is how our work was formalized in an Association that was first accredited in 2000 as the Center for the Protection and Supervision of Street Children (CPEER), then in 2007 as Bon Geste. By going to find these children in the dumps, I wanted first to give them my affection, and allow them to feel welcomed and loved, and thereby create a framework for listening and gradual healing. Most of them, in fact, are truly wounded by life. This Sunday meal has thus allowed since the beginning, the return to school of some of these children, who are otherwise often brilliant in class. Until now, I do it almost alone, with my small journalist's pension. A few charitable souls occasionally support me, particularly when it comes to sending children to school. Each year, we pay for school kits for approximately 250 primary and secondary school children, in addition to the school fees for the secondary school children, whose number varies. Through this website, you will discover our contribution to building this great project of a better world, a more just and peaceful society, where no one lives off the trash and enjoys the same opportunities as their peers. This is our ideal. If this inspires you to get involved with us for the same cause, that's even better!
Christine Ntahe, Legal Representative and Founder of Bon Geste
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