Our founder/CEO Horcelie Sinda explains what it means to celebrate five years of Lobiko.

When Lobiko was founded five years ago, I had no idea what lay ahead.

My vision for Lobiko was to simply lead workshops in the Congolese community. When I started in 2018, I had it in mind to teach the Congolese community how people are living well with HIV. Little did I know that there were others following our journey and of the external impact. I decided to plan a trip to Congo in 2019. Since I had taken the knowledge and experience from campaigning with Youth Stop AIDS, I wanted to replicate the same method in Congo. I didn’t have much money, so I decided to fund-raise for the trip or campaign. When I arrived in Congo, I only had two contacts;  ya Dorcas, who assisted me with the day-to-day activities and Doctor Mossoko at IRNB. Besides my family, they were solely professional contacts I had in the Congo. I had to therefore rely on them because I had not visited the Congo since the age of nine.

However, everything that I had planned went accordingly and even beyond! I was shocked by the success of the campaign and I remain grateful to everyone who contributed and assisted me in the journey. From this campaign, I realised that Lobiko can reach a wider reach of people in the African community and the UK. 

I am full of gratitude for the journey, success and failures of Lobiko. I am still learning and building Lobiko, it has been God’s grace and all the team members at Lobiko. Thank you to all those I have met on the journey and I am elated to those I am yet to meet. To purchase our book please visit our Amazon page.