Blaise & Mireille

Blaise Masinga grew up in a Mennonite home where faith in God had a central role in the development of his sense of ethics. Mennonites are a large denomination of the Protestant Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A relatively normal childhood gave way to many challenges - torture, a lack of educational opportunities, lack of medical care for his mother leading to her untimely passing, and separation from family as he started forged a new life in the United States.

Mireille has been Blaise’s rock and support throughout their marriage. During their time of separation, when Mireille and their children were still in the Congo and Blaise was trying to make a new life for them in the U.S., Mireille took care of the kids as well as Blaise’s parents, and worked as a nurse. Since moving to the United States, Mireille, like Blaise has had to start over, working get re-certified in her field. Through all of this, Mireille has worked together with Blaise to start and foster the Masinga Foundation, travelling to the Congo to oversee delivery of goods and medicines. She and Blaise both have a strong heart for the people of the Congo, and have dedicated their own personal finances to fund the efforts of the Masinga Foundation until recently when other donors came along.

Through all these challenges, God has provided Good Samaritans that have stepped into Blaise and Mireille’s lives to help them with the challenges they have faced. Blaise and Mireille want to pay their lives’ story forward through the Masinga Foundation, and be the good Samaritan for those in the Congo that still need help— the young and the poor without basic medical care or career opportunities. At the moment, the foundation’s focus is on providing medical care.