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About

 

Our Mission

Our mission is to educate the public about Africa and immigration and to advocate for the well-being of all immigrants through various multimedia platforms and events. 

We help communities thrive by:    advocating for the well-being of immigrants  |  
promoting opportunities  |   Celebrating successes

 

Core Values

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Ladder to the Moon Network is founded on a commitment to human rights, human dignity, strong families, mutual support, peace, reconciliation and justice and strives for excellence in all its endeavors.

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Background

Ladder to the Moon Network is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Maine. It was founded by Georges Budagu Makoko in 2016
Georges was born in the South Kivu province of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and spent his early years living among extended family in small villages. Later he moved to urban areas of DR Congo to further his education. After surviving atrocities in the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa connected with war, he sought and was granted asylum in the United States, taking up residency in Portland in 2002. Georges is a devoted family man, with a beautiful wife and two children who attend Portland public schools.

In 2011, after 9 years in Portland, he was sworn in as a citizen of the United States. He has built his life in America upon the same principal of mutual support he enjoyed as a child. He strongly believes that justice, freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should be available to all people equally, and he is wounded by the suffering and injustice he witnessed back in his country of origin while living there. This suffering continues into the present, where in DR Congo alone, endless wars have caused the deaths of more than 6 million people and the displacement of millions of others. War, instability, and terrible suffering have afflicted many other countries of Africa as well. Some examples are Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Angola, Rwanda, and Burundi.

When Georges moved to the United States, he was shocked to realize that few people were aware of the atrocities that have taken place - and continue to take place - in Africa. His desire to inform Americans about the real story of Africa was the genesis of Ladder to the Moon Network.

 

"Where there is not hatred and division, the skin of a flea can be slept on by two people.” 

Translation: where there is love and peace everything is possible - African saying.

Our Mission
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