Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

Joe and Deborah Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, Central African Republic. Pastor Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua. Joe is a technical adviser for PASE, which provides clean drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation to villagers. To support the Troesters, or another of the ELCA’s 230 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

A mother and her 9-month-old child, who is being treated for malnutrition, at the Emmanuel Health Center in Gallo, CAR.

March 8 was International Women’s Day – a good time to reflect on the needs of maternal and infant health care throughout the world.

Here in the Central African Republic, one out of five children will not live to see their fifth birthday. The CAR has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 1,355 deaths per 100,000 live births. Women usually give birth at home in unsanitary conditions, with the help of family members or local birth attendants with little or no formal training. If there are any complications, the mother or child, or both, often die.

A bright spot in this sad picture is the Emmanuel Health Center, where a team of health workers provides pre- and post-natal care, safe deliveries and pediatric care, including treatment of malnourished infants and children. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of CAR runs two such clinics: Emmanuel Health Center in Gallo in western CAR, and the Maternal and Infant Health Clinic in Bohong in northwestern CAR. The church also sponsors a community health program, which sends health workers into villages to give vaccines and provides pre-natal counseling and follow-up care for newborns and their mothers.

In other news, thanks to an ELCA grant, we just installed a VSAT system that allows us broadband Internet access. This will make a tremendous difference in our work, allowing us access to information and websites that we could not access with our old system. Deborah has already found information on the Internet that has helped her students at the seminary.

Many people think that everyone has broadband, but this is not so. The Central African Republic is on the other side of the digital divide, and that divide has only broadened during our four years in this country. Most Central Africans do not even have electricity or running water, much less access to the internet.

Thanks ELCA for your help. And thanks to all of you who contribute to ELCA-Global Mission!

Deborah and Joe Troester
Baboua, Central African Republic

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Philip Nelson works with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic. June Nelson is a nurse in the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeon’s clinic. To support the Nelsons, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Philip and June Nelson

Dear Friends,

A young woman recently desired to be baptized. Her husband is one of a growing group of people in her ethnic group who have chosen to follow Jesus. She is a woman with traditional values. When she came to my house to be baptized, she couldn’t go against her upbringing and speak to someone as seemingly imposing as myself. I discreetly went into the kitchen and prepared some coffee while Pastor Abdulahi Jean and her husband spoke with her about why she had chosen to be baptized.

Eves dropping from the kitchen, I heard her tell Pastor Abdulahi that she had seen a difference in her husband after he was baptized, and that when she was sick here at the Ngaoundéré hospital, the Christians, especially Pastor Abdulahi, were so kind to her. She wanted to be a part of what she had heard about Jesus.

After I came out of the kitchen I asked her if she knew what the cross was and why it was important to Christians. Embarrassed she looked at her hands that were zipping and unzipping her small pocket book and shook her head indicating that she didn’t. After I explained the significance of the cross to Christians, we laughed together about her being embarrassed to talk directly to me. Our house worker and cook, Eve, then arrived with a longtime friend of the family, Tobi. These two women helped put the young lady more at ease.

Pastor Abdulahi started the service around our dining room table and had me read from the 28th chapter of Matthew where Jesus commands the disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations first baptizing them. Pastor Abdulahi baptized her with Eve holding the bowl of water. Our new sister left this morning with a smile and a cross to remember what Jesus did for her and for us.

This is the reason that I find joy in the work that we have been called to participate in here in Cameroon and Central African Republic. God is indeed wonderful and more powerful in our lives than any force or coercion. I do not give you her name because she is now vulnerable to others of her ethnic group who do not agree with her choices.

Phil

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The Rev. Deborah and Joe Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, Central African Republic. Joe is a technical adviser for PASE, which provides clean drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation to villagers. Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua. Their daughter, Christa, attends ninth grade at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon. To support the Troesters, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Marie Gbayina pours water for Rodrigue Koulagne to wash his hands.

October 15 was Global Hand Washing Day.  Why have a day dedicated to the prosaic act of washing one’s hands? Hand washing holds the key to preventing many serious diseases both at home and around the world. Remember when your mom told you to wash your hands before eating? It was good advice.  According to the International Water Institute in Stockholm, diarrheal illnesses could be reduced by 45 percent by washing hands with soap after using the toilet and before eating. Many other diseases can be passed from one person to another by people who don’t wash their hands. Hand washing is an important defense against the spread of cholera, typhoid, and even the common flu virus, among other diseases.

PASE, the Water Management Project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic (CAR), is working to provide clean drinking water to villages in CAR and also to teach good hygiene practices to villagers, such as the importance of hand washing. Providing clean water is only one part of preventing water-borne diseases. Hand washing is a crucial element in the equation.

This year PASE will be constructing latrines and hand-washing stations at schools and health centers in CAR in order help the “hand washing habit” take root.

Joe Troester

Philip Nelson works with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic. June Nelson is a nurse in the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeon’s clinic. To support the Nelsons, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Philip and June Nelson

Dear friends,

This last weekend was very exciting for me.  We brought a group of Imaniiya here to Ngaoundéré to two of the church services on Sunday.  The church members got a chance to see and meet the Fulani people that are coming to believe, even with the persecution that they have been through recently.

At night a group came over to my house and three of them asked to be baptized.   They asked to do this at night because they wished to do this in secret.  I am not a pastor so we called Pastor Abdulaye Jean, who is a chaplain at the Hospital here, to perform the baptism.  I will give them English sounding names to protect their identity.

Sally is a beautiful young woman of 17 has been going to high school here in Ngaoundéré.  She will be staying with a Fulani family in Ngaoundéré, who are Christians.  One of the wonderful things about this group of Imaniiya is that, even though they come from a Muslim tradition, they worship with their women giving them voice in their worship.

Adam, 36, has lost his cattle due to the persecution he has suffered since starting to follow Jesus that he went through.  He led the singing of the group and loves to make up songs to express his faith.  He will be returning to his village as a child of God.

Abner, 33, has been with the group in Gomana for several years and has joined the children in town to learn to read and write in French.  He is being taught by the son of the village chief.

On the south side of our house here is a rose bush that is blooming right now. The smiles on the faces of those baptized reminded me of the blooms that are just opening now full and beautiful, infectious both in radiance and warmth.  God is wonderful; please pray for these people as they go back to their village and take up their changed lives.

Blessings,
Phil

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The average life expectancy here in the Central African Republic is just under 40 years. That means we attend a lot of funerals. Yesterday we attended one that was especially sad.

Jonathan was the 8-month-old son of the Rev. Mirco and Rahel Kühne. They are missionaries from Germany serving here in Baboua. They both teach at the Bible School and have been busy raising their three boys: Aaron, Daniel, and Jonathan. On Sunday, Jonathan became ill with malaria. On Monday morning he died of complications from a disease that kills way too many people. The funeral was held at their house in the afternoon. He was buried yesterday by his swing, down by their garden.

Please pray for the family and for the many others affected by this series disease.

Joe and Deborah Troester
Baboua, Central African Republic
http://africanwaterlog.blogspot.com

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