A couple, three boys met on the street, then a centre that welcomes around a hundred children every week.
Ourstory
How far we have come
An idea, a couple
Our association was founded in September 2013 by a Franco-Congolese couple, Kanda and Maïté Kabangu. From the very first video, the approach was clear: act out of love, help children first, and build for the long term rather than help only now and then. In December 2014, our team made its first trip to the DRC.
Rallying support in Paris, laying the groundwork in Kinshasa
The starting goal was concrete: build a school in Congo. In Paris, "One Love plays for Help" brought nearly 300 people together on 7 June 2015 for a basketball tournament and a concert. In August, our team spent a few weeks in Kinshasa: registering our association in Congo, meeting the Ministry of Education, then surveying and marking out the land in Kasangulu.
Three boys, then a home
This is the turning point. In summer 2016, our most precious encounter: three boys we met on the street. In October, a literacy programme for minors began. In 2017 came the One Love House, the children’s home: the boys lived there, went to school, went on holiday and prepared their first Christmas show.
A real family
Our association took shape: health check-ups, school fees paid through sponsorships, a fundraiser that passed €7,000 in 2018, and the first clearing of the Kasangulu land. Life took on the rhythm of a family, with birthdays and outings. In January 2020, we were caring for 21 boys aged 6 to 17 who had lived on the streets of Kinshasa, and went through lockdown with them. Some of them even made their own short film.
Opening the doors
In June 2021, we launched a new programme: a day centre open to the neighbourhood’s children on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Library, computers, literacy, football: one Saturday in March 2022, 90 children came. There were big outings too, like that January 2022 day at the N’sele park with 54 children, and in summer 2022, the "Congo je t’aime" trip organised with the Gospel Nation church.
Scaling up
The first boys welcomed are now in secondary school. The centre has served up to 136 meals in a single day and welcomes around a hundred children every week. To fund the One Love Village in Kasangulu, we hold a charity dinner at the Pullman hotel in Kinshasa: nearly 260 guests on 8 December 2023, then a second edition on 13 December 2024, with major partners such as the Vodacom Foundation.
Today: the RÊVES project
The One Love House still welcomes the children every week, with volunteer facilitators. In October 2025 came RÊVES — Reorganise, Educate, Empower, Listen, Care — with Angel Foundation: the centre was renovated, the library reborn, workshops multiplied (dance, pottery, singing, slam, journalism) and health workers now visit twice a month. In September 2026, RÊVES 2 put education first: training the facilitators, then the first steps in literacy.
The story goes on.
Every donation and every sponsorship writes the next chapter with the children.