Photo courtesy of Harriet Zaretsky
By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
On Sept. 3, the Dillon Henry Foundation helped open the Congo Peace School in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The foundation, which honors late Palisades Charter High School student Dillon Henry, who passed away on July 6, 2007, in a car accident, was founded “to create a worldwide community of individuals who show compassion and are compelled to take personal responsibility to change the world for the better.”
“It is likely the best thing I have ever done in my life and surely a lasting legacy for my son,” Dillon’s mother, Harriet Zaretsky, shared with the Palisadian-Post of the school opening.
The school was founded to help children transition from the streets into classrooms.
“The Congo Peace School will provide an education to children unable to afford school fees, taking them off the streets, out of the mines, and into classrooms, so they are no longer easy targets of warlords,” the foundation’s website stated. “Education is a powerful tool for global change, and when given the opportunity for an education, these children can become productive leaders of Congo and become a solution with the capacity to reverse years of devastation.”
Principal Samson Balagizi arrived at the Congo Peace School from the university in Bukavu because he believes that the impact would be wider than the impact he would have in his classes at the university.
The website continued, “In addition to the Congolese school curriculum, the teachers and staff will be trained by our partner, Amani, to integrate nonviolence and trauma support into the school system, creating education for leadership, to raise up peace leaders and influence the future of Congo through its youth.”
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