History
TASOK was founded in 1961 as "TASOL" for "The American School of Leopoldville", Leopoldville being the name of the capital of the newly independent Democratic Republic of the Congo. The "L" was amended to "K" when the name of the city was changed to Kinshasa in 1966.
After independence in 1960, the Congolese schooling system entered into chaos, and many of the European schools that had catered to business people, missionaries, diplomats, and aid workers closed. A group of these led by American missionaries wanted to start a K-12 institution for their children and for others desiring an American-style of education in Central Africa. Land for the school was donated by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Board who resided on the mission station near Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo) on the Congo River. Until the school buildings were completed, the first classes were held in buildings on the mission station.
With the assistance of the U.S. Embassy, 48 acres (190,000 m2) of land on Mt. Ngaliema near Camp Tshatshi and the principal residence of President Mobutu were secured under a long-term lease. In the mid-1960s construction of a campus began, incorporating elementary, intermediate, and high schools in addition to faculty housing, sports facilities, and a community center. This elevated the TASOK campus to the hub of the American—and larger English-speaking—expatriate community in Kinshasa from the period spanning the 1970s through the 1990s .
The planners of the campus maintained two sections of the campus in jungle condition and for a time in the early 1990s a reserve for Bonobo chimpanzees rescued from poor conditions occupied part of the unspoiled campus. Subsequently, however, a permanent home was built for those bonobos on the outskirts of Kinshasa.
Read more about this topic: American School Of Kinshasa
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