Brass For Africa

Congo Support Network update 22 January 2010

Aussie team currently visiting Congo

Isesomo

The team have less than a week left in Congo. Please continue to pray for their protection and strength to make the most of the days left there. Josh Maule in Butembo with Isesomo needing to do more hours of interviewing and researching. He writes, "I am now separated from the dental team who have gone to Aru in the north of DRC, living with Isesomo — my biography subject — and enjoying lots of time to interview him and those who have known him over the years. It's going great; but it's really draining to listen and take in so much information, especially when so much of it involves conflict."

Some of Josh's reflections on Congo:

In Butembo every road is dirt and bumpy. When it's hot, the dust whips up. When it rains, it floods and turns to mud. Travelling by car you can expect an absolute max speed of 40kms/hour on a good stretch and an average speed of less than 20. So life is slow. It takes hours to go anywhere. The only exception is a place called Beni where a tarmac road is being built by the Chinese. They are mining nearby.

Most Congolese live in mud huts. The post office closed in the 1980s. The once working Coke factory lies dormant. Wealthy residents have pipes hooked up in their houses to connect to the main water supplies, but it doesn't exist. They continue to use 44 gallon drums filled with water for showering and flushing toilets, hoping one day town water may be connected to their taps.
White people (muzungu) rarely visit. Everywhere I go I am met with bewildered stares and excited children screaming 'muzungu, muzungu!' Sometimes they even touch me to see what I feel like.
Hospitality is immensely important. If you are a special person here — and being white guests, we are — then every time you enter a house you will be met with a massive spread of food and soft drink. This includes goat's meat which tastes awesome and is never eaten normally by locals. They only eat bugale made from Kasava roots. Goat and any other meat is for special occasions only. So I'm not losing weight here.
The peace is shaky. On our second day in Butembo, we saw hundreds of IDPs (Internally Displaced People) in the field in front of the church waiting for the distribution of non-food items from the UN. They had been driven out of surrounding areas — some almost a year ago — and have not been able to return. In addition, when we went to Kamango near the Ugandan border, we stayed in a crazy run down motel (I had bird-sized insects in my room). The local chief organised for three armed guards to wait outside the hotel all night — unsure of the momentary peace.
Money is scarce. School teachers, police and officials are not paid. So everywhere we go extra "taxes" are often the norm.
Despite all the injustice, often even within the Church, the amount of grace and forgiveness offered is staggering. They need your prayers.

Josh Maule These are just a few thoughts. This place is visually beautiful. The hospitality is inspiring. The joy overwhelming. But it is also infuriating and very saddening. Everyone here ask for your prayers.

Joshua Maule
21 January 2010

Please pray

For the Dental Team now in the north of DRC, particularly pray for strength for the remaining days — they have seen many hundreds of patients in these past few weeks. Andy & Anne Marie Dodd, although not dentally trained, have been vital members of the team — assisting with installation of equipment and vital maintenance as well as nursing sick members of the team (who are now well on the road to recovery).

Please pray for them as they assess the Dental work in the eastern area of Congo and the best way forward — for wisdom as they meet together to discuss the future with the local medical and dental team. Some areas seem to have great needs and no resources, others have some basic resources but not many patients, and in some clinics there are issues with staff.

Please also pray for Grodya as he returns to Kampala (Uganda) to re-sit an exam for the Dental course he is completing.

Pray too for the local team as they return to their home towns — many by local bus transport — for safety and a real sense of encouragement in their work and ministry to go with them.

Graham Toulmin
22 January 2010