The Zibambo Institute, formerly called the OC Saint Paul, is the first viable secondary school in the Territory of Malemba-Nkulu, a school that has allowed the children of several villages to acquire the necessary basis for further studies in secondary schools in the cities.

• August 1964, Level: Orientation Cycle ( OC ), type of School: approved agreement with Catholic Curriculum under the name: OC Saint Paul
• Location: City Malemba Nkulu, District Haut-Lomami - Katanga - DRC. Coordinates: Centre Court: -8.032451, 26.790091
• Founders :
  • Parish of St. John Catholic Church Malemba-Nkulu Congregation of Holy Ghost Fathers Under the conception and management of Reverend Father Jean Bartiaux.
  
  
  

He was assisted by the Reverend Sisters Johanna Gertrude Kringel Joseph, Marie Georges Vanstekiste, Alphonse, etc.

• From the Orientation cycle, the Institute is, today, a full cycle of the secondary school with two sections: Scientific Physics-Mathematics and Administration and Commercial;
• The existence of the Institute has opened up the territory of Malemba-Nkulu from the point of view of young scholars who completed the primary schools and most of them were unable to join secondary schools in the cities;
• First viable secondary school and of high quality in the territory, the outgoing pupils of the OC St. Paul evolved successfully in the institutions in the cities.

• Buildings 4 blocks and 12 classrooms which accommodate a student population of up to 450 students;
• Buildings not maintained for several years;
• A building in process of collapsing: a pan cracked wall over the entire height. See photo Block 4 above.
• Masonry foundation of some buildings discovered through erosion of un-drained rainwater.
• Doors and windows are shaking or non-existent. Rainwater penetrates into the classrooms when there are violent storms. Scavenging animals find refuge in the classrooms at night or during inclement weather.
• No desks for students, only a few benches, they sit on the bricks or seats taken from their homes by those who can afford seats. This is the cause of almost daily fights between students to find the best place in the classrooms.
• Compound unfenced.
• No proper sanitation or water.
• No sports facilities.
• School with almost no textbooks and not having a single computer.

• For a population of nearly 530,000 inhabitants of which about 175,000 inhabitants are of school age (source: 2012 annual report of the area), the Territory (area) of Malemba-Nkulu now has more than 120 secondary schools. If the number of these schools has increased, the quality of the infrastructure and the teaching did not follow. Even Zibambo the Mother Institute, was not spared and was also included in a spiral of degradation.
• The average proportion of female students is around 37% in primary school and falls to about 13% in high school. In the final year of secondary education, the proportion of girls still falls lower than 10 %.

By its location in the Capital city of the Territory (area) and its status as a parent Institute, Zibambo is still regarded as a school of standard (school of reference).Rehabilitated and equipped with modern tools of technical and cultural training, with qualified and motivated teaching operators, with sports and health facilities and the infrastructure for the management and hosting of young girls, the Institute may be one more time, the first school that would open up the area to a new era of training.

This is the wish that animates AIZ and underpins its current and future actions.