Teachers from St Mary's Primary, Southend, visit Kisanga Primary in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  

The day Frances Neil and Marilyn Larkin set out to visit their partner school in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the crisis in the Goma region hit the news headlines worldwide.

"The children - and everyone - were terribly concerned for us," says Headteacher Neil, "but our visit actually helped them understand the unstable nature of war in some places.  We have children in our school from Iraq and Afghanistan and it has helped everyone appreciate their situation."

Despite graphic News reports, the British teachers felt entirely secure.  "Their infrastructure has been anhiliated," explains Neil, "but people in Lubumbashi are resilient.  They were focussed on their daily lives."

The teachers concentrated on developing their school partnership and succeeded in connecting all the children in St Mary's Primary and Kisanga Primary via a mobile phone link up.  

Children had an opportunity to ask one another questions. 

But they were also brought together through prayer.  The schools shared St Mary's school prayer: Oh Lord, bless our schools that working together and praying together we may learn to serve you and to serve one another.

"It was a wonderful feeling of togetherness," says Neil, "over millions of miles, over the airwaves!"

As well as working in the town of Lubumbashi, Neil and Larkin took a trip into the rural district where they received a rapturous welcome from the school they visited.

"The welcomes were unbelievable," says Neil, "No one had ever visited to look at their school before.  The children lined the road for three miles, they sang and danced us into the village."  

Neil and Larkin were also given a gift of two live pigeons by the school children who explained it was the gift of peace.

Neil and Larkin discovered vast differences between the resources available in their schools.

Kisanga has no power or water.  Teachers often go months without pay and accept food from their pupils' homesteads in lieu of wages.  Payment in peanuts and tomatoes.
 
But the message from Lubumbashi seems to have been clear: there's more to the Congo than war.

"They are aware," says Neil, "the international view is that they are always at war.  But they didn't want people to make judgements that they are a warring people.   They are an industrious and creative nation."

How did they do that? 

St Mary's Primary is a Church of England Primary affiliated to St Mary's Church Prittlewell.   Their partnership with Kisanga Primary has come about as a result of contact through the Church Missionary Society who hosted the visit, facilitated the partnership and work closely with the schools in Lubumbashi and the district as part of their work in the Diocese of Katanga. 

Developing a partnership from community contacts, like this one, can give your school partnership an extra level of support.  Take a look at the Global Gateway for advice about developing school links from within your community.  Contact UKOWLA for more information on community links.

Find out more about the Democratic Republic of Congo from BBC News Africa.

Take a look at Newsround's DR Congo story and It's OK to be upset by the News.

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