Photos From Cal

Cal teaches Congolese doctors at Tandala Hospital about biblical principles of compassion.

A TouchGlobal sponsored child -- Eyenga -- in his modest home near Gemena.

Photos From Martin

Thank you for praying for the safe arrival of the Congo team. They landed at SeaTac shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday.

Don't miss worship next Sunday, when they will share with Elim some of the highlights of their trip.


"These beautiful children belonged to the woman who carried our water for us. She had to walk 30 minutes each way, carrying about 75 pounds of water on each trip. That child held the baby for about five hours ... it was incredible!"










Cal delivers his first Congolese baby.


















Linda taught pastors' wives, with the assistance of TouchGlobal's Rachel Martin.
























"This was lunch being prepared during the Pastor’s conference -- right behind the church building! As people worshiped and listened to speakers, you could hear the pigs squealing in the background."

Final Post From Cal

Editor's Note: This post was received yesterday, while Cal and Martin and Linda were still in Gemena. At this moment, they have already flown from Gemena to Kinshasa and are boarding the plane for Paris, beginning the long trip home. Please pray for traveling mercies!


Dear Family and Friends,

As we near the end of our trip, I would like to reflect on some of the things that we take for granted and are not as thankful for as we should be.

1. Family. I know that all of us here miss our families. While the team we are with and the Congolese are wonderful, they are not those closest to us. It has been fun to share pictures and stories of my family with some of my Congolese friends and this helps me feel closer to them even though they are thousands of miles away.

2. Light. Outside of urban areas, lights are not to be found. There are limited lights in buildings IF generators are running. There are no street lights. It is much darker here at night.

3. Showers. Here, the best you can do is a bucket of clean (but not drinkable), water that is fairly cool. Sometimes you shower in an actual shower stall, otherwise it could outside in a building that has a reed wall around it. Also, even if you shower, you usually feel sweaty again within the hour.

4. Electricity. Here, this is very limited and dependent on the generators. You have to plan carefully when to charge up things like phones and computers. It is amazing how much we depend on electric equipment.

5. Telephones. There are not landlines anywhere outside urban areas. Cellular service is erratic. For example, in Tandala they use a "skip signal" and while it works some of the time, it is not reliable.

6. Coolness. It is always warm and muggy here. The breeze can help a lot but if you are inside a building, especially if there are many people, it can get very uncomfortable.

7. Roads. Out here, the roads are mostly dirt and in poor repair. The rains really tear things up.

8. Toilets. Here, if you have a toilet, it will not flush unless you pour a bucket of water into it … and then only incompletely. In other areas, you have the African equivalent of an outhouse -- though much more primitive.

9. Running water. This is not found in the northern Congo and when you wash your hands, they never feel completely clean or completely rinsed.

This is not a complete list … nor meant to be a list of complaints! It is just that when you are away from these conveniences, you realize how much we take for granted in our culture.

Yesterday, we met with a group of orphans that CECU sponsors through GlobalFingerprints. Many of them had their uniforms and one had his backpack. Since school is out right now, many sponsored children were not around. Each parish has a supervisor from the CECU that checks on these kids at least once a month.

This is an open program and many of the children are not from CECU churches. You may recall that there was a Muslim boy named Mohamet whom the church sponsors. He broke his leg and the supervisor saw that he got to Tandala for care and visited him during the five months he was hospitalized.

One of his brothers attended chapel at Tandala regularly and said he wanted to become Christian. Even the local cleric was impressed by the love of Jesus shown this boy. They hope to open up the orphan sponsorship program (GlobalFingerprints) very soon. We met with Pastor Deolo, who is in charge of this program, and he shared both his own personal testimony in his calling to AIDS ministry and how the program works through
the local churches to sponsor orphans within their particular caregiver situation. We look for more information to be shared about this in the fall when the DVD that EFCA recently did is ready for distribution.

Today we did two really important things. First we visited the Elikia ("hope" in Lingala). This is the church property near Gemena that the church leaders and Women's Ministry leaders have developed a vision for.
The property is over 100 acres. It now has an almost completed (and quite well built) building for the director and for a few widows. There is a second building being done, too. The local churches are using the space for
their "gardens" to provide food for those who don't have any and raise funds for the project. This center, formerly known as CEVO, is a Congolese solution to the problems with widows and orphans. I think it is inspired and has the capacity for self-sufficiency and duplication at other sites. The main idea is to create an area where older orphans, widows, and unwed mothers can come to learn lifie skills (academics, trade, agriculture, budgeting, etc...) and develop a deepening spiritual life. The problem is that many of the women in the Congo are uneducated and have no skills other than subsistence farming. If a child is orphaned, he or she will be taken in by other families but often is not treated well or educated. Thus, both groups end up facing huge obstacles to success when the husband dies.

The land came to the CECU church in the ‘90s after the prayers of several women in church leadership, including Rachel Martin, whom many of you have met. However, things got chaotic during the war in the late ‘90s and work was abandoned, until 2003. Then the church became concerned about the growing numbers of widows and orphans and decided to resurrect the project.

We did a prayer walk around the property today with President Selenga and Vice President Ibengi from CECU. It is located on a beautiful hillside and has a stream on one border. Unlike much of this area, the land is fertile and has not been abused by the slash-and-burn agriculture used here that destroys the land within a few years. As we spoke with President Selenga afterward over bottles of Coca Cola (a RARE treat for this area, as they cost more than $1 per bottle), I could not help being reminded of how Jesus fed the multitudes on a hillside in the Holy Land. One thing He asked of His disciples was to feed the people. When they could not figure out how to do it, a boy had to come to Him with fish and loaves. Then Jesus multiplied it and the disciples were able to feed all those gathered.

I believe that He is calling us to look at what we can give to this project, in terms of people and money, to make it a reality. It could really be something that could be to His glory. They have plans for a school for the
older orphans. Many of these would not have ever been to school but to put them into the equivalent of first grade when they are already 15 to 18 years old is not practical. They would also have trade schools (carpentry, masonry, sewing) and agricultural projects (that could be used both the feed the widows and orphans AND provide income ... the soil is good here and anything grown on it wisely would be very marketable in Gemena).

They also are looking to do it right. The construction on the first two buildings is being done well. They are actually using baked rather than only compressed bricks, having two bands of reinforced cement in the walls surrounding the buildings to make them last longer, and (as typical) using mahogany for the framing (termites can't chew it). I look forward to sharing the videos and photos of this with you.

The second thing we did today was meet with about 20 widows from the local CECU churches and just let them tell their stories. For brevity, I would like to share some common themes.

One, often when the husband dies, the man's family comes and takes all of the belongings from the widow. Widows cannot generally remarry, as culturally they are considered "damaged goods." Many of these women have young children, grandchildren, or other relatives living with them. In particular, the problem of their own children and their spouses having died leaving only the young and the elderly to survive. These women live in homes that are deteriorating as there is no man to repair them. And most of the time, they have no marketable skills so they end up trying to live on their gardens or collecting firewood or grinding coffee for a living. The gardens can be as far as a one-day walk from their homes and require a lot of work. Many of these ladies are elderly and have their own health problems. Some of them have adult children who would care for them if they themselves had jobs. Others feel that their children have left for Kinshasa and do not think about them
anymore.

We were blessed to be able to take a collection for these women to use through the CECU leaders and to pray for them. Some of the ladies on our trip had jewelry to give out and you should have seen the smiles. Speaking of smiles, I again saw the joy of the Lord in these women, many of whom serve as deaconesses or as Sunday School teachers or in the choir. And, even as they told us their stories, you could sense the happiness. One lady in particular said something to the effect that she had nothing but her worship of the Lord. Others related thankfulness to God for His provision of what little that they have. These ladies were really great testimonies to the type of faith you see here in the Congo.

We leave Saturday afternoon (this would be at about 8 a.m. Pacific time) for Kinshasa and then, after clearing customs, for an overnight flight to Paris. This is all presuming that the planes are on schedule and all our prior ticketing issues are worked out. We will know for certain when we are in Paris in time to catch the flight to Newark. Once we are in Newark, I will feel much closer to home. As I have said earlier, I expect to arrive in Seattle around 5 p.m. on a Continental flight from Newark. I will appreciate your prayers through all of this travel for customs, flight connections, baggage to go all the way through, etc... I would also encourage you to give thanks for the small things we have in America that we take for granted. And, of course, for your prayers for the people of Congo. This will likely be my last message before I am stateside.

May God bless you,

Cal

Hello (from Cal) from Gemena!

This is the fourth letter I have been able to send out. There is way too much to tell in these letters, but I hope to have time to share more when I get home. If I have missed you on any of the prior letters, let me know after I get back to the U.S. and I will update you. It has been hit-and-miss to get things out, due to lack of electricity and/or internet access.

Dear family and friends,

Today is July 31. Things have been so busy here that I have had little time to write. I asked to skip hospital rounds today in order to get time to get some things down in writing. I hope that this gets out sometime later this week when we are back in Gemena.

My week in Tandala has been both educational and challenging. Besides the medical work, which is complex, there have been many meetings both among our team and with various Congolese.

The bulk of our team is here in Tandala now. The pastors, including my pastor, Martin, came in on Friday. They had stayed in Gemena to participate in the Pastors' Conference and see the work the church is doing there with widows and orphans. With their arrival, this brings our total at Tandala to 13. It was really fun to be part of the line-up of people who greeted them on their arrival; almost as if I were a local myself.

We still tend to go our different ways during the day as there is much to see and do. My time is spent mainly at the hospital and its associated clinic. This has been a stretch for me both in terms of the severity of the diseases (many of which I have only read about or, at best, not dealt with since I was in training) and the conditions we work under. I am thankful that God has made the Congolese so tough, because much of what I see amazes me that the patient has survived so long with such severe pathology.

Usually we start the day with either what we would call morning report (medical teaching) or chapel; they alternate the days except for Sunday. This starts at 7:30 unless it is raining (then we start later). After this, we do rounds, then go to the clinic. Typically we work right through lunch until 3-4 p.m., then go home for the day.

There are several interesting nuances to this process. First, many of the women have no education so they cannot communicate basic facts that we take for granted, such as the location or duration of symptoms. Second, many here do not even speak Lingala, much less French, so a nurse has to translate their tribal language. Third, when a patient needs lab work or x-rays, even if they are on the ICU, they must go to that part of the hospital for the test (in part, this is done to assure that they pay for it).

And it is not uncommon to see families sharing a hospital bed. While the hospital has about 180 "beds," the capacity is higher. I am told that sometimes even three patients will share a bed. Fourth, the family is responsible for seeing that the patient gets food, water, laundry, etc. In fact, if you are not on the ICU, you only have a nurse around for a few hours during the day. Add to all this that there is no electricity or running water in the hospital, and I think you can begin to understand the conditions here.

I would like to share in this letter more about the doctors. There are four on staff, but the eldest is in semi-retirement due to health issues. The three young doctors are part of the nucleus of what I would call the "vital force" which I see here in Tandala. They are in their early 30’s and were classmates in medical school in Kinshasa.

I will give you their "Christian names” … Dr. Narcisse is from the area. He is married and has a 1-year-old son. Dr. DeGaulle is not from here but was a classmate of Dr. Narcisse in Kinshasa. He is also married and has 4-month-old son. Dr. Zacharie was a year behind these two and also is from another part of the Congo. All three are strong Christians and are active in a group called GBH, a Christian medical professional Bible fellowship.

Dr. Narcisse is the head of the Tandala health zone. Dr. DeGaulle is medical director of the hospital. Dr. Zach is also the headmaster of the nursing school. The dentist, Bofio, is actually a nurse with dental training. He is also a strong Christian and hospital administrator. He is married and has six children. He has been in Tandala for many years.

As I said earlier, these three doctors and Bofio are the real force for innovation and change. Last night, I had the opportunity to speak with the doctors on a subject which is important to understanding this system. I am sure that God has put this hospital and clinic system here in order to both provide compassionate care and also in order to give the staff a chance to let their light shine before all men. In fact, this is what I preached on during chapel last Saturday.

However, there are so many problems here. As an American, the tendency is to come in and say that they need to fix this, this, and this problem. However, I felt it was important to find out from the doctors what was most important to them. I also wanted to understand what they saw as barriers to fixing these problems and who would be responsible for maintaining the improvement if it was fixed.

One thing that our group of Americans believes is that God needs to lead us in helping our Congolese brethren in what they cannot do, but not doing for them what they can do. It was in this spirit that we discussed their priorities. I had this meeting without any of the former missionaries to translate; in part, because we all communicate well now and, in part, because I wanted to have the doctors share with me what they might not with the missionaries.

Their top priority was addressing a sense of isolation. Their idea for addressing this would be internet connectivity. This would include a reliable power source, probably solar, because gas for generators can be a big barrier here, both in terms of cost and of even being able to obtain gas during certain seasons. Solar would be a larger initial investment but would be cost-effective over time.

Ideally, they could then get VSAT for internet connectivity. Again, the initial cost is high but it is low maintenance afterward. Other than the obvious barriers of start-up costs and transportation issues, they also realize another barrier to this is have a person on staff who could understand the system well enough to troubleshoot and keep it maintained.

They really do sense a need for this connectivity, for several reasons. Most obviously, there is a need to be able to get continuing education and information on complicated cases. These guys are all general practitioners with less postgraduate training then almost any doctor in the U.S. They also hope to be able to stay in contact with mentors in the medical profession and in the Free Church globally. Finally, they are getting some really good data collected on various diseases and would look for those who could partner with them for publication of this information.

Their second priority was for more medications and medical supplies. This is another difficult issue, again due to the transportation barriers. They used to get help from the Congolese government in a program called SANRU III, but the funding for this has shifted to eastern DRC now. Now the only source of supplies and medications is the Free Church in America. Logistically, there are issues here of the cost of transportation from the U.S. as well as what can be sent. They tell me know that they have to ration which medications they use for which patient.

I can add that they are limited on what we would consider as basics in the U.S., such as surgical gauze and drapes. Where we would throw these away after one use, they will launder them and re-sterilize many times. I got my first experience in the operating room yesterday and it was shocking to see what they had to work with. They do believe that they have people who can manage this inventory well if we can get the supplies to them. I think we need to prayerfully consider how to help them with this; perhaps new partnerships or new mechanisms for getting supplies in?

Their third priority was for transportation. They have many outlying health centers to visit. Bicycles or motorcycles would be a great help. A truck would be even better. Thankfully, the dirt roads around here are being improved gradually after many years of neglect. There are people available to do the maintenance.

Finally, they have concern for a sense of "lethargy" here. They are not quite sure of the source. I suspect there are multiple factors. First: malnutrition, anemia, malaria, etc. during the early childhood years must influence people later in life. Second, there are probably cultural issues.

They were encouraged that the church has provided help in this, particularly oversight in how money is used. One of the doctors mentioned that you have to have oversight because, as he put it, if there is no oversight, a Congolese may "do bad." I followed this up by asking them why it was that they were not like this. I have found these men to be energetic and visionary. He shared with me, and the others agreed, that is was the church that had taught them this. He said that in the church, they were given a little responsibility and if they did well, more responsibility was given. If they did not handle it well, they would not be given responsibility. They learned to do well through this process.

As we thought about this, another of the doctors and I at the same time said that this was like the parable of the talents Jesus taught. This was one of the most encouraging things I have heard so far. I later found out that the pastors who had gone to visit Bau this same day had discussed the same biblical teaching as it applied to the success that they saw at Bau. It was heartening to see how God is making this role for His Church clear through several sources.

On Thursday, we leave for Gemena, and I may get internet connection again. Friday will be a debriefing day, first with the President of the Free Church in Congo, then as a team. Saturday we fly to Kinshasa, then fly out from Kinshasa to Paris around 9 p.m. Congo time (about 1 p.m. Pacific Time). We then fly from Paris to Newark and then Newark to Seattle, arriving at about 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Seattle (this will be like 3 a.m. Monday to us!).

I look forward to being back home with loved ones but will miss the people here. I have grown quite close to Bofio and the doctors.

In Christ,

Cal

Together Again!

What's your definition of togetherness? Perhaps this is a new one ... squeezing into a bathroom in a remote part of the Congo in order to pose in front of a small webcam (mounted on a laptop) and beam your smiling mug up to a satellite orbiting overhead, then down again to a stateside connection to the internet, then across thousands of miles of wires to your home town of Puyallup, Washington ... a journey of tens of thousands of miles, made in a few short seconds.

That's what Elim's three adventurers (Martin Schlomer, Cal Kierum, and Linda McCoy) did today ... Thursday night for them in the Congo, Thursday morning for us here in Puyallup ... connecting with this blog by Skype videocam for a several minute conversation about their trip. Here are some snapshots from the video.

The three travelers, back together in Gemena for the first time in more than a week, are all happy and healthy (although Martin reports being tired of eating goat).

Please be praying for the team as they resume their travels Saturday, boarding a plane for the flight from the airstrip in Gemena back to Kinshasa, then an intercontinental bound for Paris, then return to Seattle (via Newark, New Jersey).

Thank you, Lord, for helping our team to have a safe and productive trip thus far! We are anxiously awaiting their return.

Update From Martin: Partnering With African Leadership

Things are going VERY WELL here. We are wrapping things up. Tomorrow, we meet with the president of the Free Church to hear his vision and strategic ways we could partner with them. Africa is a land of many contrasts and contradictions. It is also the land of great opportunity.

The African leadership do not want a handout, they want us to partner with them in strategic ways. They are doing the best they can with what they have and are accomplishing incredible things. It is very important to them that Americans not forget them. They revere the missionaries who have come in the past because they recognize that without them, they would not have the Gospel. However, they do not want us to forget them. They realize that they must stand and reach their continent, and they are committed to doing so, but they face significant obstacles that require some outside help and leadership.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I met with around 400 pastors and leaders from a wide geographic area. We spent four hours each day talking about leadership from Scripture. They hung on every word we shared. We were told they had never been taught anything about biblical leadership. It is a real stretch to think that what has become common knowledge to us is new revelation to them.

Some may ask, "Can't they read the Bible?" They could if they had one! Many of the pastors don't have Bibles or have only portions of the Scriptures. Very few people in their churches have access to the Scriptures. There are many reasons for this. I will explain later.

I look forward to being home soon. I am tired of eating goat. Cal had to try caterpillars the other day. I didn't go there ... for obvious reasons.

See you soon.

- Martin