saving for change

It has been a while since I updated on me personally! It has been a joy following and participating in the work of World Vision and reporting to all of you back in the States what is going down here in Gemena.

But there have been some exciting developments in my work, and I see God opening doors left and right.  Three weeks ago, my colleague and friend, Timothy Mambo and I started a training in partnership with World Vision, the Congolese Covenant Church (CEUM) and the Congolese Free Church (CECU) and the Catholic Church to form savings groups that teach women how to save, loan, and payback loans with interest in order to improve the lives and household economies.  It is a 6 week training, and only half way though women are eager to start savings groups, even before we finish the formation! This is really cool to see, because it shows me that we are teaching something that people are eager to learn and put into practice.  And this means when I leave after a year, these groups are likely to continue working and growing and helping women lift themselves out of extreme poverty. 

"Saving for Change" Training session.  Look at those ladies write! 

For those of you interested, here is the run down of what a “Savings Group” is:  15 – 25 women decide to meet weekly and start saving money that they will use to grow their small businesses.  They elect a President, Treasurer, etc., they decide how much they want to save, interest they will pay on loans taken out, and amounts to pay for fines when people are late or miss meetings.  They will decide together how long their loan periods will be and to whom they will offer a loan.  Additionally, these groups will serve as a platform to teach women about health, money management and growing their businesses.  Groups will also commit to social goals in order to improve their communities (ex. commit to use of mosquito nets in their homes, improve water purifying practices, planting moringa trees for improved health, etc.) After a year of saving, all the money is distributed evenly to each member and they start the cycle again.

We chose this program because people don’t have banks yet in Gemena, and teaching women the basic principles of savings and money management before microfinance institutions come to this area is a perfect way to get people ready to handle larger loan amounts if they choose.

Savings groups are planting the seed to an improved future for Gemena, and I am thrilled to be part of a program that has seen so much success in other rural isolated communities across Africa.

So pray for Mambo and I as we train 12 women to start these groups in neighborhoods across Gemena.  And pray for these 12 brave, strong, intelligent and driven women who will be the agents of economic change for so many women this year and in the years to come.

Stories of Hope and Resurrection: Week One

Stories of Hope & Resurrection: Week One

Post a Comment »Written on April 2nd, 2013    
Filed under: Ground Update, Hope & Resurrection, Missionary Update, News & Updates, Resources

Below are stories from Congo on hope and resurrection written by Christine Buettgen, a short-term missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If your church is interested in receiving these materials weekly via email, please email us at covenantkidscongo@covchurch.org and request them today.

“Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.”

Isaiah 65:20-23

Mervielle (left) and Mama Goma in their garden picking cassava.

Mama Goma gave birth to baby Mervielle, French for “Marvel, or Wonder”, in 1999. At that time, the second civil war was just beginning to reach the Equateur region. A stormy evening that August, Mama Goma had been in labor for more than seven hours at home, because it was far too dangerous to venture out to the clinic amidst the fighting. After this long labor with no anesthesia, Mama Goma and her husband decided they had to call a nurse to come to help them in their home. They weren’t sure if Mama Goma or the baby were going to make it. The phone network was down, yet they called and called again to get through to the nurse. They finally reached him, Praise God! After explaining the emergency situation, the nurse gave all the advice he could over the phone before he broke the news – “I cannot come to your home, it is too dangerous for me to leave. God be with you.” This was their last hope. Mama Goma was sure that this would be the end of her, her baby, or them both. She prayed that God would spare their lives, and help them find a way out of this terrible mess.

By the grace of God and a sliver of hope, Mama Goma gave birth to a healthy baby girl that night, and her own life was spared. The answer to one prayer led to requests for many others. Fighting in their neighborhood increased and their family was forced to flee to the jungle, where they lived for six months without decent shelter, eating fruit and bugs to survive, and all the while caring for a newborn.

Fast forward 14 years later, Mervielle is one of the brightest kids in her neighborhood with potential of being a transformational leader in her community. She has been raised to value herself as a girl, and she knows that she is just as capable as the boys in her class. Her dream is to help orphaned children go to school and receive the education they deserve. Her community is peaceful now, and she has no memories of the time of war her family lived through.

Mervielle with her cousin Nelly behind their home in Gemena.

Hope was that August night. Hope is Mama Goma not giving up or abandoning her newborn child to save the rest of her children as they fled to the jungle. Hope is that ray of light that was barely visible in those months, where every mother in Gemena wondered if there could be any future for their children. And now after many years of peace, and life starting to come back to the area, hope continues to grow. Maybe, just maybe people in this community can see their children continue on to University. And hope beyond all hope, they might one day find a job and have financial security for themselves and their own families.

Let hope grow.

check this out on the CKC website too!: http://blogs.covchurch.org/covenantkidscongo/stories-of-hope-week-one/#more-1953

WASH Update

Check  this   out  on the  CKC  website too: http://blogs.covchurch.org/covenantkidscongo/an-update-on-wash/#more-1962

WASH Update

Post a Comment »Written on April 1st, 2013    
Filed under: Ground Update, Missionary Update, News & Updates

The World Vision WASH team at a capped water source in the Bokonzo neighborhood.

Written by Christine Buettgen, short-term missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo

WASH is a World Vision program that works to provide communities with clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education. This is a priority for World Vision in Gemena because clean water and sanitation are the two biggest factors contributing to child mortality rates and the stunting of community development.

This week, we welcomed two World Vision visitors to Gemena: Emmanuel Opong, regional WASH director for Southern Africa Region, and Sandy Ngilambi, WASH manager DRC. They assessed our current water sources and assisted in the design of a WASH project plan to bring water to the 380,000 residents of Gemena.

I asked them a few questions at the end of two long days of water source site visits and project design.

What new insights do you have after this WASH site visit?

Our visit has given us a view of existing strengths and viability of pursuing other technologies in order to provide water to all. Our recommendations are now formed by facts on the ground. This is a bigger system than most other WASH programs. Our goal is to access enough clean water to serve 380,000 people in this peri-urban area.

In what ways will World Vision address the issue of community ownership in relation to the work to improve water sources?

Our community partners form foundational structures which we work within to map different types of water systems. Our goal is to leverage existing institutions instead of creating new structures.

What will be unique features of the WASH program in Gemena?

We will be utilizing multiple delivery systems and multiple technologies to respond to the needs of the community. Where geology allows us to dig a deep well, we will use that in order to provide 25 liters per person per day. We will also be utilizing springs and hand drilled wells at schools and health clinics. We will employ appropriate low-cost technology, always with the goal of supplementing and complimenting existing water structures.

Of course the sanitation/hygiene promotion component of this program is critical to bring change. If we can successfully co-create as we design water systems for Gemena, we will start to get people to think differently about water. Paying for water will be a new concept, but something that can be adopted as a cultural norm with sensitization and time. We will be using the church partners to educate about the importance of valuing clean water and using Biblical examples of communities valuing water.

What is most exciting to you about this particular program in Gemena?

This is a big project with many opportunities.

Great work has already been done by the community partners. These are groups of people with talent and knowledge that we can already tap into, so we aren’t starting from scratch. Moving forward from the work that was done 30 years ago, we are responding to the emerging changes that are occurring. We need to make sure people are not held back by old ideas, but spring forward, considering present conditions and future needs of the community. We are now asking new questions, expecting new and creative responses. Some might believe it is impossible to bring water to 380,000 people where the infrastructure poses so many challenges, but World Vision has succeeded in this before, and they will succeed again here in Gemena.

The Northwest Region World Vision Office is determined, with the support of its partners to bring potable water to Gemena. Bringing water will bring new life, and this is exactly what we are bound and determined to see.

Expecting Change

Post a Comment »Written on March 6th, 2013    
Filed under: Ground Update, Missionary Update, News & Updates

Written by Christine Buettgen, short-term missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo

I am reading “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver again, now that I am living and experiencing the country she based her novel on. There are many aspects of the Congolese culture that her characters experience which I relate to. The following excerpt is from a fifteen year old American missionary kid reflecting on her relationship with a young Congolese boy:

“It struck me what a wide world of difference there was between our sort of games – “Mother May I?”, “Hide and Seek”, – and his: “Find Food”, “Recognize Poisonwood”, “Build a House.” And here was a boy no older than eight or nine. He had a younger sister who carried the family’s baby everywhere she went and hacked weeds with her mother in the manioc field. I could see the whole idea and business of Childhood was nothing guaranteed. It seemed to me, in fact, like something more or less invented by white people and stuck onto the front end of grown-up life like a frill on a dress.”

- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Childhood in the Congo has a different meaning, a different length, a different purpose. World Vision has the following “vision” for its work as an organization:

Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness; Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so. 

What does a “life, or ‘childhood’ in all its fullness” entail? In Congo, it would be basic needs met, love and care at home, life with joy and not fear, and an opportunity for an education and brighter future. What is our own definition of a full childhood for our own children here in the United States? What is it that we provide for them that makes their lives full?

The main reasons most of us engage with Congolese children through sponsorship are probably because most of us see an injustice and want to help. But how do we expect our lives to be changed through this relationship? We should expect to be changed. Knowing the stories of Congolese children will impact how we interact with our own children. And it will make us question our priorities and remind of what is truly important, making us better parents and better human beings.

In my opinion, that’s the point.

A Visit from our Partners

A Visit from Our Partners

Post a Comment »Written on March 1st, 2013    
Filed under: Ground Update, Missionary Update, News & Updates

Welcoming party for the World Vision staff.

Written by Christine Buettgen, short-term missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo

This morning, eight visitors from World Vision US and World Vision International hopped on a MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) plane and said goodbye to Gemena after a packed three day visit. Among these visitors were the vice-president and senior vice-president of World Vision US as well as the directors of DR Congo and Southern Africa, and the director of Operations for International Programs to name a few. The buck stops with these folks at World Vision. They wanted to come to Gemena to see what everyone has been talking about.

The Evangelical Covenant Church and World Vision are breaking all previous molds by entering into this unprecedented partnership. All chips are in on this one.

Many of the visitors spent a night with registered families in mud homes, with no electricity, running water, beds, or even doors. They wanted to be able to report back to donors the reality on the ground, but we are well aware that we are not experiencing these families reality. We can go have a nice hot shower the next day, and fly home to our refrigerators and microwave ovens.

World Vision staffers meet with local leaders.

Before their send-off supper last night, the leadership shared these reflections from their visit:

“We are happy to see unity among the three church partners. What God has brought together no person can divide.”

“We are amazed by the number of Christians here! There are communities where World Vision works where there is not a single church in existence. It is clear that God is already at work here in Gemena.”

“God has called us to do something different here.”

“We must learn to listen to each other well. And we must think how we can make best use of this partnership.”

“We are well aware that partnership is not always the easiest way. May God help us all to be faithful stewards of this process.”

“Instead of praying ‘God bless our work’, we should pray ‘God, show us your work so we can meet you there.”

The local staff was encouraged and strengthened by the visit, and reminded of the great responsibility that rests on their shoulders. The evening ended with a prayer that reminded us all that this is about making a future of hope for God’s precious children, whom He will not abandon to hunger, disease, and illiteracy.

A Cohesive Vision for the Future

Check out these other posts on the CKC blog: http://blogs.covchurch.org/covenantkidscongo

A Cohesive Vision for the Future

Post a Comment »Written on February 20th, 2013    
Filed under: Ground Update, Missionary Update, News & Updates

Written by Christine Buettgen, short-term missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Every morning at the World Vision (WV) office we start our day with singing, devotionals, and a time to share prayer requests and check in on work that concerns the office as a whole. Often reports include updates on registered children who are sick or have had accidents and are in the hospital.

Last week, the news was particularly somber. In a neighborhood outside the city, it was reported that one of World Vision’s registered children, an 8 year old girl had been sexually abused by a man in the community.

All of us at the office were horrified at the news and immediate action was taken to follow up and support the victim and her family in this time of crisis. WV made certain the police had been contacted, lawyers called, and justice served in order to protect this child and the rest of the youth in the neighborhood.

As I processed this information along with the rest of the staff, this question was posed: What is World Vision’s role addressing these crises? For many on staff, they view the registered children as their own, and feel that it is the organization’s responsibility to look after these children like they would any person in their family. If the child is sick, make sure they get to the hospital. If the child is malnourished, encourage parents to vary their diet. If the child isn’t going to school, make sure fees are paid and uniforms are purchased to get that child back in class. If a child is abused, keep them away and safe from their abuser and provide necessary after-care.

The ideal and reality are at times disparate. World Vision Gemena has over 12,000 children registered, and over 3,000 have thus far been sponsored. There are already hundreds of pressing needs reported, and it simply is not feasible to think that the World Vision staff of 25 people can meet these demands on their own.

Mother with children.

This past month, the leadership at the Gemena office have been discussing how World Vision can support the needs of these children in a way that is sustainable; not setting up community expectations that cannot be followed through for the long term. The World Vision volunteers have been named the first point of contact with communities and individual families. If the volunteers cannot provide the support needed, they report to the churches, one of the three partner organizations who will advocate for the children. World Vision can’t provide support on its own, nor should it. Including all stakeholders and partners as a part of addressing children’s needs is essential to moving towards a cohesive vision for the future well-being of Gemena and its youth.

The sponsored child’s perpetrator was caught and imprisoned and is now awaiting trial. Please pray for this 8 year old girl, and pray for the countless other non-registered children who suffer similar abuse, but their stories are never heard.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 and is filed under Ground Update, Missionary Update, News & Updates.

Challenges of Transport

I found this transport map on BBC.com when I was doing some research on our country. We live in the Northwest Region in the major commercial center of Gemena. Astounding.

Inside DR Congo

• SIZE
• REBELS
• MINERAL WEALTH
• TRANSPORT
• POPULATION
• DATA

Despite the country's size, transport infrastructure is very poor. Of 153,497km of roads, only 2,794km are paved. There are around 4,000 km of railways but much is narrow-gauge track and in poor condition. Waterways are vital to transport goods but journeys can take months to complete. Overcrowded boats frequently capsize, while DR Congo has more plane crashes than any other country.