Yole!Africa

(Petna & Cherie Ndaliko)


I started the Yole!Africa cultural center to create hope and opportunities for young people surrounded by war in the east of Congo. For nearly 20 years, Yole!Africa has been doing just that—bringing a fragmented community together through music, dance, theatre, painting, filmmaking, and dialogue. Our mission is to build a community of critical and creative thinkers capable of envisioning—and implementing—sustainable solutions to local and global challenges. Because we believe the community includes everybody, we offer all of our activities free of charge to participants. In this way we have offered courses, workshops, masterclasses, performances, and community debates to more than 10,000 people in the region every year since 2000.

On the cusp of our 20th anniversary we are reaching out for help. The escalating political instability in Congo has put a strain on our resources and we need to raise the funds to keep our doors open so that we can continue to offer hope and opportunities to youth in the region. With the many challenges Congo is currently facing—among them Ebola and genocide—our need is more urgent than ever. I founded Yole!Africa two decades ago as a promise to a generation that was menaced by war. My promise was that through creativity, community, and love we could build something indestructible even in the face of violence. Together with my wife and a dedicated team, we have devoted our lives to keeping this promise.



But this promise is now in jeopardy. We have survived wars, rebel invasions, natural catastrophes, harassment, and more. We have survived because we have a space, in the city center, where we can keep people and equipment safe so their ideas and voices can be heard beyond our compound walls. But we are at risk of losing this space if we can’t pay a full 18-month rent by 25 January 2020. If we lose our space, we lose a unique safe haven for creativity and critical thinking and we lose ground in our promise that community and love can overcome violence. So we are turning to the larger community in hopes that you will consider supporting our work and helping us keep our doors open.

Should you chose to make a donation, it will be to The Friends of the Congo (FOTC),  a 501(c)(3) tax exempt advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. that serves as a fiscal sponsor for Yole!Africa. 100% of the funds raised (after processing fees) will go directly to Yole!Africa. FOTC EIN is 37-1516674.

Watch this VIDEO: 17 years of Yole!Africa
Visit Our WEBSITE: Yole!Africa 


Computer Literacy Course

Yole!Africa Painting

Beat Making Workshop

Yole!Africa Dance