Humanitarian Services in the DRCongo

Latrines for the City of Hope

2010-04-16T08:04:00.000-06:00

In March 2009, we visited the City of Hope -- a City without much Hope actually-- on the top of a large sand pile, with little to recommend it [see blog of March 2009]. The people have worked hard, other NGO's have tried to help. There are now community latrines (not a favorite with the population -- locked at night!), a large pavilion, and a small well, powered by solar panels. We have received permission to create four more wells and provide latrine slabs and training for hygiene.
On April 19th, we participated with HPP and the local NGO in the symbolic distribution of the latrines to the community. HPP has organized the community into 5 blocks with committees and an overall committee for the project. These committees will supervise the hygiene training.

This is what the typical "before" latrine looks like, bare ground or a small hole.

This is a demontration latrine to show the people what they will need to do.

Our site monitor, Bombyck, designed a "post hole digger" to assist as people dig through the compressed sand. Those pictured are upside down.

This hole is about deep enough, but not wide enough for good sanitation.

The local NGO, UNIVADE, was trained to produce the 8,000 latrine slabs.

Each slab has a cover for protection from flying insects.

The truck delivering the wood necessary to brace the latrine slabs struggled on the wet, sandy roads. The first delivery was of poor wood, so Bomcyck took the 12 hour trip to hand pick wood from the lumber yard in Matadi.

Still working on the treatment of the wood!

The ceremonial presentation of slabs was made to the heads of each committee.

At the ceremony, one latrine slab was placed.

Finished

The new latrine is located behind this house.

The committee heads are very happy.

A ceremonial (thank heavens) demonstration -- life here requires good knees.

Clothes

2010-04-15T09:47:00.000-06:00

Congolese love bright colors and unique designs. They work with fabric to create unique ways to bring the color and design together. One of the cottage industries for young women is to learn to sew. To have a dress or men's pants and shirt made, you choose the style, you choose the fabric (often locally made) and they measure you and produce the clothing. Usually it works out pretty well. Women have new dresses made for special occasions and it is not unusual to see women at a funeral or wedding in dresses out of the same fabric.

Men are not shy about clothing either! Men's clothing can be out of any design -- sometimes even pastel eyelet.

Here are some examples of clothing we have seen here......

The following pictures are from Madame Dorcas's school of sewing, where young orphans are being taught how to sew. The dresses they are wearing are of their own creation.

Dancing at our friend's wedding, two women have new, beautifully designed dresses.

Three boys from our ward at Church in their matching outfits, shirts and shorts.

Angele and Dieudonne have established a sewing school for young women in the Montngafula Stake -- these are the clothes they have made for sale at their shop.

Elder Kola teaches a class in his classy black and white shirt.

Another special celebratory dress -- this time in a special fabric.

Our friend, Dr. Florence Ngoy, with her new baby. Dr. Florence is wearing a dress made of fabric that celebrates the international day of the woman.

Our Site monitor Eric and his (then) fiancee Deena --- and our friend Maguy with her son.

Water for Lutendeli

2010-04-15T07:22:00.000-06:00

Lutendeli is a community which covers an area of rolling hills on the western side of Kinshasa. The area overlooks African countryside and the section for this well, Couret, borders a pineapple plantation. The small houses have yards -- areas to grow gardens. Access to water has been an on-going problem. In the area, LDS Humanitarian Services has also funded a latrine project and garden projects.

Gardeners greet us with song.

Watering the garden when there is no rain takes many hours.

This woman single-handed turned her garden plot into a garden of Eden, complete with tomatoes in small holes and a pig at the bottom of the garden.

Latrine and hygiene training included sanitation. This a handwashing station -- pull the plug in the bidon and you have a small stream of water.

Sanitary latrine -- has a cover to keep the flies away.

The man in the pink shirt is the chief of the village. He moved out of his house so that the pipe for the well could be stored there -- his community's treasure.

The cement stand for the water reservoir is formed. Community members dug the trenches for the pipe to the water stations.

At the turnover ceremony, President Tabu of the Ngaliema Stake greets the crowd and turns over the well to

the community.

President Tabu, Montgafula Mayor, Minister of Rural Development

The reservoir is filled with water and people line up to get waer at one of the five water stations. One woman said, "I prayed for water and you brought it!"

Hair

2010-03-21T11:12:00.000-06:00

In the Congo, women's hairdo's are part of their dressing. At first it is hard to recognize our friends, because their hair always changes. Women wear a lot of wigs and have elaborate braids and do's with their natural hair and with synthetic hair woven in.

These braids last about ten days -- if the women wash them too much, they become fuzzy, so this is not a long term hair-do!

The mystery is how do they get their daughters to hold still for this?

This is the typical man-do -- shaved or short!

More hair styles in the future!

Drilling a well -- Mutumbo Hospital

2010-03-03T01:21:00.001-07:00

At the Mutumbo Hospital well site, we watched the drilling of the bore hole. This is one of the drill bits. The drill hit hard rock and the drill bit was changed for a larger one.

The drill rig is positioned, ready for the drilling to resume.

Brut force is used to make sure that the drill bit is on securely.

This is the hole that has been dug so far.

The drilling process resumes.

Chemical is added to the circulating water to kill the bacteria so that the water used in drilling will not contaminate the well.

The drilling has reached the end of the length of the first pipe, a second pipe is to be added for more depth.

The pipe is fitted tightly so that there will be no problems in the hole. The drilling process goes on for thirty more length of pipe until potable water is found.

Finished well with reservoir, now serving the hospital for clean surgery and dialysis.

Visit to an Orphanage

2010-03-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

Often we are asked to visit NGO's that we cannot really help -- the budget is tight, their needs don't fit our guidelines, etc. This orphanage is run by a group out of the US and Canada, African Help Line Society -- Congolese who have made money and have found a way to help in their homeland. There are 68 children living in the compound with ten war widows who take pretty good care of them, and an unfortunate group of mentally handicapped. The children sleep on the dirt floor under the benches, if it rains they cannot sleep but stay huddled under the porch roof. The whole compound is about the size of a small house at home. They are beautiful children.

The orphanage is trying hard to get the children adopted, advertising on the internet, but there are many children available around the world and these people do not have the resources to help with the transportation. The young men and the older girls will not be adopted anyway.

Members of the NGO come to work with the children.

The madame has to be a bright light in their lives.

Ceremony in Tshiabobo for the Luputa Water Project

2010-03-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Lily talks to women of Tshiabobo at the source -- where they have obtained the water for many years. It takes at least two trips a day for the women to obtain enough water for their families. In between trips they must work in the fields. These jobs fall to the women and children in the family. Another woman tells of the effect of carrying 30 liters of water on her head twice a day for her life.

The Luputa water project completed the first phase, to Tshiabob in September 2009. The missionaries arrived for the celebration with local Church leaders. Crowds of villagers awaited the opening of the water stations. Tshiabob is a village of approximately 10,000. The project will continue to Luputa, a city of 160,000.

The chief of Tshiabobo, with sash and headress, with his family. This is a great day for him. The men of Tshiabobo have participated in digging the ditch that brought water from three springs in the hills. They and the men from Luputa supplied the labor, laying pipe, filling in the trenches, in order to have the water in their village.

The bowery is full of people attending the ceremony from as far away as Kinshasa.

President and Sister Binene of the Luputa District of the LDS Church listen to the opening skit. President Binene will address the crowd.

The governor of the province, Kasai Oriental, addresses the crowd. He says that the government has the money but not the will to do what the Church has done. He says the Church acts as Christians, working for others.

The Chief visits the water station.

The governor cuts the ribbon to the first station.

Palm fronds decorate the entrance to the water stations and are also used to decorate the way into the village.

The water stations have great pressure while Tshiabobo is the only villge on the system, but they should have sufficient water for years to come if the water committee functions correctly. They must determine a way to have people pay just a little bit for the water in order to maintain the system. One pipe costs about $500 -- a fact that really surprised the committee.

Neonatale Resuscitation

2009-07-12T15:09:00.010-06:00

Neo-Natal Resuscitation: Most babies are born and breath with minimal assistance, but some babies need extra help. For every 100 babies born, ten will have problems. Eight of those babies can be saved with simple resuscitation procedures. Unfortunately, there are places in the world where these procedures are unknown. LDS Humanitarian Services sends doctors to assist medical personnel as they learn the procedures for NRT. Doctors have been coming to the DRC for four years -- now good training is being given by in-country doctors, like Dr. Arthur Ngoy, who donates his vacation time to train his colleagues.

People arrive early for a training session held in Kinshasa in the Catholic Medical Services Center.

Sister Bernadette Claus, head of the Catholic Hospital System in the DRC, gives her "stamp of approval" to the work done by Dr. Ngoy, Dr. Max Grover and Dr. Michael Preece.

Instruction includes classroom instruction and hands-on practical training.

The training goes on the road to medical personnel in Lubumbashi, Kolwezi, Mbuji Mayi and Matadi.

An experienced trainer, Dr. Valerie Empamposa watches a new trainer instruct the class.

Members of the Church in the various cities assist with registration and lunch.

Dr. Ngoy has been honored in Spain and Belgium for his work with NRT in the DR Congo. He has trained doctors from Cameroon and Rwanda. His work during the last year he has personally trained over 1,000 people and developed a network of doctors who will perpetuate the training in their cities with the materials provided by LDS Humanitarian Services and assistance from members of the church.

Dr. Ngoy's work progresses because of the support of his wife, Dr. Florence Ngoy. Here he holds their beautiful daughter, Claire.

Members of one of the many classes held in 2009-2010 proudly display their certificates.

"Real" Africa: a Visit to Luputa

2009-07-12T12:58:00.016-06:00

Our visit to Luputa began with a flight to Mbuji Mayi (moo-gee mi-eee or mi -- aa). The flight was seven hours late, but we were still met by the LDS Branch President Zachary Tshanga and his wife, Helene. They had been at the airport all day, sending off a group of LDS missionaries from Luputa in the morning, and waiting for our flight late in the day. Helene is as warm and kind as her smile suggests!

Mbuji Mayi is about 600 miles further inland than Kinshasa and further south. It is a diamond mining area. Like all mining enterprises since the beginning of time, people flock to the area hoping to get rich and the only people who get rich are the bosses and the people who sell merchandise to the miners. The area is quite poor and with the change in the world economy, miners are leaving to find work elsewhere. At one time, the Kasai Orientale Province was the breadbasket of the DRC. Now food is primarily imported.

After a night at the Ka Be Deluxe hotel, clean but no hot water, we started out early with our driver Omer (O-m-air) on the road to Moene Ditu (Moe -an -eee Dee-too). Omer is a wonderful guy who is a frustrated race car driver. He speeds. The road is two-lanes, paved and lined with people walking to work and to the market.

This is one of the numerous villages we passed, people, children, goats and chickens rush to get out of the way. One thing we have learned about Africa, what you see from the road is just a small part of any village, so these are probably a little bit larger than we thought.

Most of the houses in a village are adobe walls with grass roofs, but we caught this quick picture of a house being built. The owner will cover the sides and the roof with thick bundles of the tall grasses that grow in the brush.

This the the view from the road, into the bush. It goes on as far as you can see. There are no animals in this area; Omer seems surprised that we would even ask. There are too many people. So, at least close to the roads and villages, the people and domestic animals roam freely.

The last part of the journey is on real back-roads!

We visit the source of the water for the Luputa project, three springs that have been protected and piped to a point where the pipeline for the project begins. The ADIR contracts, headed by Dominique Sowa, show the work at the springs.

The chief of the first village to receive water, Tshiabobo, arrives.

The chief is part of the group that walks the pipeline through the bush.

Hand digging the trenches through the bush was not easy. This was the participation required from the villagers in lieu of payment for the water project. Each day a truckload of men were picked up by the contractors to work on the trenches, digging, laying pipe, gluing joints and covering the trenches. The cost savings allowed the project, which is very expensive, to continue.

Natural barriers like stream beds had to be dealt with. Here the pipeline lies under this ravine so that future storms and erosion will not affect it.

A sign marks the spot where the pipeline crosses the main road beyond Tshiabobo.

The area has the remains of the Belgium Colonization -- this church was part of a Methodist community which has been semi-abandoned. All over the area there are Catholic monasteries and churches.

Children watch us -- we are looking for the water stations that will be completed in Tshiabobo.

At this point, the water is almost to the village. The men are covering pipe. Dominique tastes the water from the spring, fruits of his labors.

The digging goes on to complete the trench.

Luputa -- a city waiting for water.

On the road again, the most common transportation is the men and their bicycles, not to ride but to haul goods on a trip that takes about five days.

Bush country, searching for a new source for the growing population.

Church leaders check out the water!

Another project: Luputa casava. Mantioc/Casava cultivation and safe processing. Research fields have been prepared by IITA. One grand purpose is to reestablish farmers who left the fields for the diamond mines and are now displaced with starving families. People in Luputa will have better cultivars to sell.

Lutendele -- A Water Project

2009-05-26T02:46:00.007-06:00

Lutendele is a group of villages on the top of small hillsides on the outskirts of Kinshasa. The access to Lutendele is around the river road, a beautiful, scenic area, with terrible road construction. We climbed back up into the foothills and came to the road to Lutendele. After we went through these "mud puddles," someone met us and told us the bridge to the village we were going to was out and we should go around -- back through the puddles. We went back to the main road and took a scenic drive along the river -- past the rapids. The main road was blocked by a cement plant. So we went back through the mud puddles to the place where the bridge was out.

After about 30 minutes of walking on a very hot day, we came to a beautiful village, with homes that have larger yards and lots of tress and shops spaced along the main street. The village is bordered by a Belgian palm oil plantation, so the vistas are beautiful and unsettled. What was most exciting for us was the number of men digging the ditches for the water to flow to the various water stations. Participation is one of the requirements of LDSHS projects, and Lutendele is a shining star of participation.

An ADIR engineer ensures that the digging has reached the appropriate depth. ADIR is a very competent group and we see them so much that we have become great friends.

This is the village primary school. It is a realitively nice school for a small village, where schools are generally run by an interested party. The campus is clean and the buildings are neat. As with most of the older schools, the rooms are fairly dark and equipment includes a rudimentary chalkboard and chalk.

The homes in Lutendele have these wonderful address boards. Each house has a number and a street. These are very difficult for foreigners to understand because there are no street signs and it is hard for us to think of the dirt path in front of the house as a street. People here are proud of their addresses and give their addresses readily, even though it would be very difficult for a stranger to use an address to find a home in the villages.

The Lutendele well will have an electric pump and a water tank to provide storage and water pressure. The electricity will come from a fairly stable substation at a local Catholic monastery. this structure has the forms for the cement base of the water tank.

Creating the forms for the cement is a tedious process with hand tools.

The ADIR crew is busy at the drill-- this is a water driven process. The water is circulated through retaining ponds where a silicone treatment is added. This treatment helps to stabilize the sand in the hole so that it doesn't collapse back into the hole. Kinshasa is like a large sand pile. At 24 meters, the drill hit a large rock and drilling slowed considerably.

The man in the pink shirt standing by the police officer is the Chief of the village. He is a very smart man, who calls this well the "Jewel of the Village." Without this well, they have no water. He is watching carefully the process and has ensured the support of the village.

The police are an ever present force in village life. Here the village policeman has shown up for the action and to show his support.

Local women walk past the drill site on their way home from market.

The ADIR team, Eric Kahunda our site monitor, Elder Moody, Brino (one of our ADIR friends) and the Chief stand in front of the Chief's home. He has vacated his home in order to store the pipe for the project -- to keep it safe. He is really committed to this project, which will help it be more successful.

Camp Luca

2009-05-21T12:42:00.007-06:00

When we started towards Camp Luca we were on roads with fewer pot holes and it seemed as if we had found a little bit of heaven. Then our site monitor, Eric Kahunda, ask us to turn left and at that moment the world changed from a better road (a very bad road by Utah standards) to a very narrow road. Many fewer vehicles but many more taxis, always we weave through the pot holes or we slow way down to keep from destroying tires, shocks, rods, axel and every thing else that keep the tires on and in place. You strain to not hit the many pedestrians who weave in and out amongst the cars and trucks. And then we were by a very large cemetary with high grass covering the 3 and 4 foot tall head stones. Suddenly there are no cars and trucks, and then there it is a bog, a fifty yard or so stretch of very scary looking mud with very deep ruts with buildings on both sides. There are three or four young men shoveling the mud around and they converge on the truck. There is this fierce discussion in Lingala between Eric and the young men, it seems to go on and on. As best we could make out the conversation, it was a warning to "not try this place." We were surprised to hear Eric say, "continue." A little speed and four wheel drive should take us well into the middle, then sliding and moving we are through it. We were so greatful that we did not have pedestrians to worry about hitting as we got through. The next few holes were shorter but just as deep but through these there were pedestrians that we hoped to not slide into. We are absolutely struck by the fact that there were no other vehicles on the road or even parked. We start the "dart and weave," which means fifty feet turn right and 100 feet turn left and on through a path between houses and small dirt yards. So very narrow, that Eric has to get out and move the small vendor tables so that we can pass. The umbrellas, like a larger golf umbrella, hang in the air, just an inch of clearance on one side and two inches on the other. We pass the electrical substation, no power in this area for the past month. Then on until we are asked to stop. Eric gets out and walks to a small house, he comes back and tells us that they will watch the truck. We walk along a small narrow road and we see a picture, something surreal, a very, very thin beautiful woman in a beautiful dress sewing in the out doors and with some dresses hanging from the tree. We walk another 100 yards or so and we are at the well sight and at the home of Edmund, head of the water committee. People in the yard go and find Edmund, he is small about 5 feet tall and some what portly. He looks 65 even 70 but probable is 50. He rehearses to us the history of the well. No water for the past month because there is no electricity. Maybe, there will be electricity in two weeks. The well has worked well. Edmund has money to make repairs, the water committee has functioned.

The water tank at Camp Luca, now empty because there is no power available to power the pump.

The water station would work well, if there were power!

Then we start one of those surprising walks, down paths, this way and that way down to a small stream. People, friendly people and children walk along with us, all of the children looking at these two strange people.

Edmund talks to us about the pipes that washed away in the rain, leaving stations permanently dry.

We find a way down a ravine to see another water station. The children lead us. Then we cross the small stream and up the other side to another would-be functioning water station, except for the fact that during a particularly fierce storm, the pipe was damaged that crossed the stream.

We start back down into the stream bottom, taking the risk that we can get across at this new location. We find that we can manage and suddenly we are close to a group of women and children at little spring next to the stream getting water.

This is currently the only water source for drinking and washing.

Beautifully dressed women in the village.

We come to locations where there are other functioning water stations. We climb out of the stream bed and begin an hour of wandering along small revines into neighborhoods, all of them desperate for water. Many of these neighborhoods walk a kilometer to get water. As we wander, we come across women with their small booths selling manioc, corn flour, a deep fried scone looking bisquit (a very attractive brown and golden color) and some clothes and other items.

We find one latrine that the Church has sponsored next to a school. The school is in session, here are eighty children in school, we have been walking with another eighty or so who should be in school but are not because they can not afford it. All this time we are learning about the neighborhoods from Edmund, Eric and a few others, there is no water except that which you carry. The suggested plan for another water project is to use the very high outflow from the current well, put on a bigger pumps and move that water tintact maybe that is not so bad because there is the advantage that money would be gathered to make future repairs. We started out talking about feelings in each place that we visit. First, there was the need to have someone watch over the truck, this is a negative sensation, then the woman sewing a positive feeling. Many, many people later, we find joy in being there, being with people that you can love and people who you feel are fun and good. This was a trip that felt good.o these other neighborhoods. The plan would serve many many people who need potable water, it involves moving the water up another 70 or 80 meters and as much as 2 kilometers and make all the desired connections.

The view of Kinshasa downtown in the distance.

Edmund and his family

Pascal pays the dot

2009-05-20T12:50:00.010-06:00

The dot, or the bride price, is the amount the family charges a man for marrying their daughter. There is some theory that they have spent a lot of money raising her and educating her, so the man should pay an amount equal to her worth. All members of the family can request their part of the action, the aunts and uncles, grandparents. It can take a while for the money and goods to be earned.
Our friend Pascal completed earning the dot for his fiance, Gloria. The ceremony of the dot is the family's acceptance of his offering and their marriage. They also had a civil marriage and a ceremony in the LDS church.

Gloria's Grandmother awaits the appearance of her granddaughter. The yard is ready for a party with huge speakers, lights and decorations.

Pascal works with the missionaries so they have permission to come to the party!

Gloria's female relatives begin the festivities, with a traditional tribal dance. Everything is perfectly choregraphed

Grandpa shows the fabric that Pascal gave to Gloria's mother. Grandpa got a new suit. He reports that the dot has been fully paid.

Where is the bride? Pascal is lucky. Because the missionaries are in attendance and can't stay late, the family forgoes the usual attempt to get more money from him and brings out the bride.

The dancers lead the procession. All the women of the family join in.

Pascal awaits his bride with the escort couple -- not his parents or her parents, a couple chosen as a guide for the marriage ceremonies.

The feast begins!

The dancing continues!

Finally the bride and groom dance.

A very happy mother watches on (on the left.)

The missionaries get involved too! Not quite so colorful!

For the Mother's -- Maternity Ward

2009-05-08T00:16:00.012-06:00

This week we visited the St. Joseph's Hospital maternity ward in Kinshasa. This is the largest hospital in the Catholic Hospital system here. The head of Obstetrics, Dr. Arthur Ngoy, is our champion for the NRT -- meaning he has made it possible to bring NRT to his colleagues across the DRC. He takes his vacation time to teach in outlying areas.

The staff in the maternity ward delivers an average of 450 babies per month. They have eight bed in pre-delivery, three stations for delivery and rooms for healthy mothers, for c-section mothers and a rooms for those mothers who cannot pay.

On the morning we visited, Dr. Ngoy had already delivered three babies by c-section. The nurses and doctors here do such a service -- they have little equipment, no monitoring devices and very crowded conditions.

This is Dr. Ngoy with one of his morning patients in the C-section recovery ward.

The nurses and doctors are located in the rooms where women get ready to deliver. They are located in the middle of the room so that they can watch everyone. The drapes in the corner separate the examining area.

The people not smiling in this room are having contractions!

The following three pictures are of women in recovery after c-sections. With no real monitoring equipment, the doctors have to make judgements about the health of the mother and the baby. They choose to err on the side of surgery.

For all of these women, the only food they will receive comes from their families. Families also need to find the medicine prescribed by the doctors, as there is no pharmacy on-site. For women who have been abused, social workers can provide some limited assistance.

These are the mothers who had normal deliveries and are well enough to go to the wards. Their new babies are with them. When it is too crowded, two women will share a bed -- two women, two babies in a bed. They dress their babies in beautiful clothing and proud papa is waiting to take them home on the transport or if they are lucky, in a taxi.

She seems awfully young, but it is hard to tell.

Women who cannot pay for the hospital services are treated, but they go to a room for those who cannot pay. It is very crowded. The woman in the second picture is bathing her new baby on the floor by her bed. She is visible in the first picture as a pink spot by the bed in the middle right of the picture.

Here, one woman waits to go home. Another group of women wait for a clinical appointment for a variety of maladies. In the crowd, there is a proud papa holding a white blanket -- he waits for his baby's final check-up before going home

People of Africa I

2009-04-16T13:56:00.003-06:00

This couple have been married a week! Edy and Carin are friends of our friend Bombyck. We were in an area near their shop and had a break between appointments. Bombyck was very excited to see them. He lives on the other side of Kinshasa so contact is probably rare. Friendships are very important here. They became acquainted when Edy was an LDS missionary in Cameroon, Bombyck's home.

They are standing in from of their shop where they sell a variety of hardware, light bulbs, grinding wheels, flashlights, batteries, screwdrivers, and electrical equipment like outlets and sockets. At night they close the front of the booth, lock it and walk across the street to their apartment.

In order to marry, Edy had to pay a dot (pronounced dote) to Carin's family. All of her family, including aunts and uncles had the right to demand goods from Edy so that he could marry her. He paid 1,000 dollars, bought new pots and pans for her mother, a vest for her father, two men's suits for other relatives, and assorted tools for the rest of the family. It took Edy one year to raise the dot. This includes asking friends and acquaintances for help. When he finally turned everything over to the family, they were culturally married -- that was the ceremony.

The dot makes it hard for young people to get married. Often men marry much younger women because it is so hard to become financially stable enough to pay off the family. Paying the dot makes it hard to start life together with even the bare necessities. Of our small acquaintance, three Congolese men are working to earn the dot. The flip side of this tradition is that if anything happens to Edy, his family can take everything back and Carin and any children can be left with nothing.

Child of Woe

2009-04-16T13:34:00.003-06:00

Often when we are going through the "villages" that are the suburbs of Kinshasa, we are followed by laughing children. Many want their picture taken. Others are interested in us, the strange people. Because they speak Lingala, they are pretty confident that we cannot understand anything they say about us.

Last week, we were in an area that was very poor. It was on a hill beneath the cemetery with no room to expand. The market lined the narrow road. Off the road, we passed these children as we walked to visit a pig "farm." On our way by, both little girls were carrying younger children. When we came back, one baby had gone to sleep and was on a cloth under a tree. The little girl in this picture still had her charge. She is a very small girl. Unfortunately, many children have no childhood in this difficult world.

The Handicapped Center

2009-04-12T12:37:00.006-06:00

Health care, hygiene and prenatal care in many countries have reduced the number of birth defects, diseases which debilitate, and accidents which dismember. In a developing country like the DR Congo, there are people with extreme challenges. Here there are no laws about access, no assistance with transportation, and no medical care from birth to assist as a child learns to live with a disability. We met with two men who have worked with the handicapped in their area, Willmar and Emanuel. Willmar is a young man with a big heart. Emanuel is a man with a big smile and his own disability, leg braces and crutches, perhaps from childhood polio. They are part of an organization which tries to help the handicapped develop independence. They had a relationship with the Barlow's ,our predecessors, and have come once more to talk to LDS HS. We visited some of their outreach programs.

This is the Handicapped Center where people gather to talk to volunteers and to get whatever help is available. Look closely at this picture. Can you identify the four people who use shoes on their hands to get around? The woman in front of the door had the biggest smile we have seen in the DR Congo, yet mobility for her was extremely difficult as she had no function in her lower body.

This small, homegrown NGO has established a sewing center in a market area. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, one group sews at the center. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday another group sews there. The goods are marketed from the shop.

This is one happy seamstress.

One of these young women is deaf. The other has a disability affecting her mobility.

This man is blind. He had just finished tailoring a pair of men's pants.

This is a father and son. The father has learned to repair shoes that others have thrown away and sell them. He has a withered leg. The son has no use of his legs.

This woman has learned to make African dolls. She lives with her family. Her legs are also in braces.

The group also operates a small pig farm. The pictures of this did not work out very well, probably because we took them so quicky.

The NGO has asked for wheelchairs and crutches. They would like help restarting a bakery, but we are not able to supply flour for the operation. They are up against a market economy, and a huge bakery in Kinshasa that makes baguettes which are exceptionally cheap and delivered across the city. There may be other training opportunities we will be able to help with.

Kinshasa Streets Chapter One

2009-04-08T14:56:00.005-06:00

Kinshasa streets are often pieces of pavement between potholes. There are sometimes patches of deep sand which require four-wheel drive, low gear. Most commonly, there are deep "puddles" of water where someone throws pieces of cement as a patch (or not). Nonetheless, nothing really prepared us for the road to Maleuka. Maleuka is a community at the top of a small hill in Kinshasa. In the Western US, this would be a foothill. Here it is a mountain. Rivers of water run down the middle of this street at each major rainstorm, creating a "gully" which cars, taxi's and transports (vans) must navigate each day to move people in and out of the area.

It is hard for a picture to do justice to this ride, but we decided to try. Remember, this is a city street. In our four-wheel drive truck, we navigated this street by going in and out of the ditches in the middle, much like a skier traversing across the side of a mountain.

Up!

Down!

And at the bottom, a van was stuck in the muddy ditch. We finally inched forward. Most of the

pedestrians simply didn't stop, some didn't even look up, even though we were pretty big and dangerous. Finally, our driver inched forward past the truck -- then we slid and bang, our left rear corner hit the blue truck. Our first dent, a lot of people yelling advice --- low range four-wheel drive got us out, but pedestrians actually walked between our truck and the building on the right as we were trying to maneuver -- they had all of a foot of clearance.

Fighting Erosion -- Living on a Sand Hill

2009-04-08T13:47:00.006-06:00

Maleuka is another community in Kinshasa. In 2008, LDS Services d'Entraide (Humanitarian Services) partnered with Humana People to People (HPP) in Maleuka. HPP works on improving a community over a five year period. They train community leaders and establish programs within a ten point program. We provided money for two of the programs, latrines and adult literacy program.

We toured Maleuka with HPP representatives in April 2009. One of the problems the community faces is erosion. In this picture you can see one of the community streets, at one time paved, is eroded and covered with refuse from the last rain storm. HPP has assisted with sand bags and training in how to prevent erosion.

A short walk brought us to a much more serious erosion problem. Over time a stream of water had destroyed a road. The boys in this picture are standing at the previous level of the road.

When a landowner complained about people using his yard as an alternative road, the community was essentially split in half and access between the two sides was non-existent. Initially, HPP and the Spanish Government gave the community sand bags, but after the first effort washed away, a supervisor was brought in to provide the expertise to handle a serious problem.

Lesson learned: serious problems often take skills and require training.

A view from the top shows the depth of the problem. Along the edge, it is possible to see a home that is within a few inches of being the next home lost in the chasm.

The community participates in solving the problem. On both sides of the divide, people fill sandbags with sand from volunteer's yards.

At the bottom, community members place the sand bags. This is difficult work because the bags are very large (about double the size of those used in the United States), it is a hot day and there is no breeze down in the ravine.

Bombyck goes down for a view from the bottom. Notice the bamboo reinforcements. This is the strategy designed to keep the area from washing away again.

From the bottom, the size of the problem is more obvious. The man in the white t-shirt is a community supervisor, also a member of the LDS Church from the community.

It is so good to see a community working together to solve a problem. The resources provided by HPP and the Spanish Government made the difference.

City of Hope

2009-03-29T15:07:00.017-06:00

The City of Hope, Cite D'Espoire, is a settlement of refugees who fled the war in the East. We understand that they moved from the East to the banks of the Congo River, where their new community was flooded. They then moved near the railroad tracks, an unacceptable alternative so the government moved them to an area of rolling hills on the outskirts of Kinshasa.

The road to the City of Hope is a deep sandy track through a busy neighborhood on the outskirts of Kinshasa -- leading to these open vistas.

The following are views of the area surrounding the City of Hope, taken by Elder Mike Wright from Johannesburg, who accompanied us on this trip. On the day we visited, the hills upon which the settlement was built were breezy and hot. Our car thermometer registered 102 degrees.

In 2007, Elder and Sister Barlow, the country directors for LDS Humanitarian Services at the time, initiated an emergency relief project for the City of Hope. They passed out hygiene kits and other supplies, including orange tarps. The orange tarps are still in use today.

As visitors to the settlement, we were impressed by the neat homesteads and the villagers' attempts to work in the difficult environment. The city is divided into five large areas for governance.

City Center buildings have cisterns for the collection of rain water during the rainy season.

Every city needs a marketplace; this is the marketplace for this area of the City of Hope.

None of the plants indigenous to the hillsides provided food or were what the villagers were accustomed to. On this homestead, food producing plants were carefully transplanted from local areas, planted and watered.

Upon arriving in a central area of the community, we met under a bowery with the elected President of the City of Hope. He told us, "God has sent you and we are greatful to him." Our contractor, Dominique Sowa, talked in both French and Lingala about the possible plans for the wells. Elder Moody talked about the importance of the water committee and the need for women to be on the committee. The President and his colleagues agreed to elect a water board. For Dominque, the City of Hope presents several challenges: the sandy roads into the area provide difficult passage for heavy drilling machinery, the wells must be very deep (about 90 meters) to reach the water table and finally, there is no electricity available to the villagers to power pumps. Dominique has suggested a foot pump that has been successful for deep wells elsewhere.

As usual, we drew a crowd. The children were simply curious, but the women were intensely interested. Obtaining water is their job, and the current system is very difficult and strenuous.

We needed to see where the villagers obtained their water for our proposal, so we walk across the hill and down the hillside to the valley where the only water was available. One of the women told me how hard it was for the pregnant women to walk down the hill and then up again with a load of water on her head. This is the climb down to one of the water stations which is spring fed.

At the base of the hills, near the water source, the villagers planted neat vegetable and casava gardens.

It is difficult to see from this picture, but the water from the faucet was a very small stream. It is still the rainy season. During the next few months, the water will disappear completely

A crowd waits for their turn at the water station and a few happy children pose for pictures.

There is a long walk to the next water station where we find a similar small stream of water. Filling containers with this flow of water is very slow, resulting in the lines of villagers waiting.

By each water station, there is a small pond which the villagers use for washing and bathing. The children happily splash in the water to cool off on the hot day, but some of the villagers have developed rashes because the water is salty. The ponds never become larger during the rainy season, nor do they shrink during the dry season.
The container below is filled with the water from the pond. So, how did their mothers get these school boys' shirts so white? No wonder they are tired.

A Success Story: Clean Water Initiative

2009-03-28T06:15:00.007-06:00

When we were returning from the City of Hope, we passed Mikundo, an area where LDS Humanitarian Service and EBAT provided five wells in 2007. We stopped by the community offices and were greeted by the chief. He escorted us to see the success of the wells.
Ebat specializes in wells that are hand-dug. These can only be about 30 meters. They dig and line the wells with a cement cylinder as they progress down. The last few meters are dug underwater!

The community leaders showed us this water station. The plan for these communities was to drill five wells, then to lay pipe from each well to create water stations in village centers, so that the distance the people have to walk for water is shortened. Because these wells are less than 30 meters, the hand pump is considered a good solution. It is reasonably easy to maintain and not dependent on electricity.

The chief reported that the water committees for these wells is working well and will be responsible for any repairs necessary.

The water stations also serving as community gathering places, especially when strangers come to visit!

They would like more wells and water stations, because the community is large and needs water badly.

We provide entertainment for women and children waiting in line for their turn at the water station.

At the second water station we visited, there was a large group of people, washing and waiting for their turn at the pump. This woman pumped water for someone else, then filled her own blue bowl, and as we watched, easily put it on her head and carried it up the hill.

There she goes!
And another woman waits her turn.

As usual, we are a novelty for the children, except for one young boy, who is not happy to see us!

A Peaceful Place

2009-03-17T18:03:00.004-06:00

The backroads of Kinshasa are busy, noisy and dusty. After driving through noisy, busy, and dusty neighborhoods, we were pleased to find this LDS chapel, peaceful and clean behind the walls that separate it from the activity in the street. There was a beautiful outdoor baptismal font, an outdoor primary (children's meeting rooms) and classrooms.

A lovely classroom on the side "porch."

The street outside was very busy. School children in their white shirts and blue pants or skirts were going home from the early session of school. People were buying and selling, and traffic made it's way along the dusty street.

Our First Site Visit

2009-03-17T17:54:00.004-06:00

After taking backroads and alleys in an area of Kinshasa, our driver Bombyck took us to the location of a well, pump and water station approved in 2006. This was discouraging because the well was not functioning and some parts of the distribution system had been stripped. The well was designed to use solar power. The solar power failed. The contractor brought in a diesel generator and left diesel to power the generator. The water committee did not collect sufficient money to keep the generator operating. This is a valuable lesson because the water committee must be well trained and invested in keeping clean water flowing. Usually, the best tactic is to have women on the committee. One of those women should collect and hold the money. The bright spot is that electrical power is now only .3 of a kilometer away. The well should be hooked up in the next two to three months maybe ( maybe is always added to time in the Congo because nothing ever happens on time.) We will make appointments with the Chief of the area and begin the process of training the water committe so that this community that has limited unhealthy water can have clean water ( the target is 10 liters per person per day).

The children found us very interesting -- visitors far from the main road.

We Arrive in the DR Congo

2009-03-17T17:22:00.004-06:00

The first thing we noticed was the people, people everywhere. Kinshasa is a city of approximately 7 million people. There are lots of cars and terrible traffic. The next thing we really noticed was the noise -- people shouting and honking. The women dress in beautiful colors, the Congolese people are truly beautiful.
Our apartment is not far from the Congo River and from our office in the LDS Mission Home. We are acrossed the street from one of the many UN compounds and not far from the embassies. On the corner of the street there are two sisters who sell us fresh fruit; next to her there is a man who sells tropical plants. Our apartment needs some work so we will be visiting him often. There are small stores around town, but we will have to get our driver's licenses and learn the system before we venture too far. It would be very easy to get lost.

2009-02-15T18:13:00.003-07:00

We have been meeting with our precedessors, the Barlows, to learn about the projects we will be working with in the DR Congo. It's a rather daunting task. It appears that we will be spending time travelling to oversee ongoing projects, identifying new projects and writing grants to fund the projects. We will not be working directly on many projects, which I would have loved but, this will be all right.
Currently in the DR Congo Mission (which consists of five countries), there are five major LDS Church Humanitarian Initiatives implemented:

Clean Water: there are currently three major water projects on-going in the area. The projects include involvement of the community as they elect a board that will over-see the project and the on-going operation of the project, contracting and supervising building the project. In a "suburb" of Kinshasa, women and children spent three to four hours accessing water for survival, climbing down a steep ravine, and carrying the water back up the hill in containers on their heads -- imagine the quality of the water after all those people had been in it!! The community elected a water board and water hydrologists were brought in from the US who designed the pumping system, piped throughout the community. The water board was involved in the design and will oversee the long-turn running of the system. Now, people can step outside their homes and for a small fee, access high quality water. One of the water projects we will be "overseeing" will eventually supply water to over 200,000 people.
Neo-Natal Resuscitation Training: The Church sponsors training for health care professionals so they can save babies who struggle taking their first breaths of life. This training has been such a success in the DR Congo, because the doctors who have been trained by Church Neo-Natal specialists are excited and organize training sessions for other health care professionals. The Church supplies the kits and a chart for the protocal, and sends in master trainers....but this effort has been what the goal of the humanitarian service is all about, assisting people in countries to become self-reliant.
Vision Care: we will be involved with training of doctors in vision care, especially eye surgeries for conditions that have been previous untreatable. Great doctors from the US have made initial visits already, and future visits are funded.
Measles immunization:
Wheelchair projects bring wheelchairs to people who are often totally immobile. The Church has four different types of wheelchairs available for different purposes and terrain.

Area initiatives are based on identified needs. In one school, the Barlows were able to supply 600 books for a school library from humanitarian services. At the ceremony celebrating the books (apparently, there is always a ceremony), Sister Barlow asked the principal how many books they had in their school. The answer, "600!" [school stories are my favorite!!]

We were originally so excited to go Lubumbashi, DR Congo on a procelyting mission and work directly with the people of the area. We have grown to love this assignment, even before we start and are excited to be leaving.....in less than a month we will be on our way. Love to you all, Joan and Les

A New Beginning

2009-02-01T17:56:00.002-07:00

Les and I received a call to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on January 30th, 2009. In the LDS culture, we refer to the request to serve in an area as a "call." We had been communicating with President Livingstone of the DR Congo about serving there so we have read about the history of the country and talked to people who had lived there. We also met a wonderful couple from Lubumbashi who were in Utah in October. We are excited for the challenges and experiences ahead.