International Committee of YMCAs. World Service.

In the late 1940s, in order to begin the work in the Belgian Congo, the Danish YMCA promised an experienced secretary and committed to the supporting funds necessary for a five year period of establishment. This early dedication by the Danish YMCA encouraged the Belgian National Council to also step in and commit for later financial support. In 1949, the Danish YMCA confirmed that Mr. I. Grube Overgaard would be the chosen secretary and sent him to Belgium and to the Congo for preliminary visits. He arrived in Leopoldville to begin active work in November of 1949.

At the arrival of Overgaard there were already two native associations; one in Stanleyville and one in Leopoldville, which had been started by former Belgian YMCA members. These associations had no affiliations with any missions and their membership was open to members of any Christian church. Overgaard set himself up in Leopoldville in order to begin the establishment of a more official association. The relatively small and dispersed population of the area made an association building infeasible; initially, a boy scout hut and the office of the Y's general secretary served more than 400 members.

...