They Taught Us

by John Yoo

John Ludden and I were privileged with the invitation to lead a 2-day Worship Conference for worshipers and worship leaders from approx. 20 churches in Goma. They asked us to teach biblical foundations of worship, the heart of worship and some practical organization of worship ministry. Leading the conference was as thrilling as it was challenging. There was a moment though, that I hope to remember for a very very long time. It came in the form of a concert of praise to conclude the conference. All of the church worship teams (including our "California Team") gathered in one chapel to sing and worship together in one voice. It started with performances from each church, and gradually grew into lively, united worship as we raised chairs in conga lines while dancing and singing to Swahili praise songs. I closed my eyes for a moment to focus on the combined sound and received a tremendous gift. Our Congolese brothers and sisters were teaching me the joy and strength of worship through the reality of their hope in Christ.

(above is a group photo of the worship leaders who participated in the conference)

Reconciliation in the DR Congo

by Peggy Sue Wright

It has struck me that we keep talking about and encouraging ourselves and others that we need to work with the community, that our God, and thus we need to be, is merciful and just, but how does that work in the context of strife and the devastation that comes in the wake of conflict within a community. How do the women who are victims of sexual violence that HealAfrica works with, work with their community that let them down? How does a community find justice and mercy at the same time? How can reconciliation be done in a Christian context in a place that has so much history and conflict? What can we as Christians who are ‘outside’ of the conflict say anything about reconciliation? What do we encourage in our discussions and technical presentations?

These have been threads of thought and prayer for me since we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. How does a community rebuild and what do we as Christians say to others about rebuilding? How does a community move beyond the horrors of genocide and war without building a cycle of revenge that perpetuates itself down through generations? What does our God say about it? What do we as Christians say, and support? How can we even say anything about reconciliation given our position as ‘outsiders’ without being judgmental or hypocrites?

Listening to the different discussions, preachers and prayer, it seems to me that one of the unique aspects of our God is he is communal and in being communal has to reconcile his triune aspects. But also, and maybe for humans more importantly, he is always reconciling with us as we are all sinners and need reconciliation with him. He achieves this reconciliation with us by knowing us thoroughly and intimately and by holding us accountable. Though there are consequences of our actions that God allows, he also is merciful and through the cross fully accounts for and forgives our sins thus reconciling us to him. For us as Christians and humans maybe this means that for reconciliation to happen, and to even be able to happen, in the presence of some of the worst of human evil and sin, we need to know the perpetrator, and hold them accountable for their actions. We aknowledge that through Christ’s ultimate payment, they are to be forgiven, and that as with us that does not mean there are no consequences, but there is full knowing and accountability, there is justice, and then there is reconciliation through dealing with the consequences and through reconciliation through Christ’s amazing gift of grace.
The picture is from the Garden of memory and reconciliation at the Kigali Genocide Memorial looking out across Kigali. It was one of the things that lead us to pray for and think about what is reconciliation in the face of such history. This town and country has to be able to reconcile the genocide shown in the memorial with the town that needs to function now. How amazing that our God can even take care of this and all reconciliations.

Wheels On The Bus Go...

by John Yoo


Sometimes weird things happen in Goma. They almost seem to us like dream sequences.
I don't know what it's like on the moon, but the streets in Goma definitely have crater-sized pot-holes. Lava rock everywhere. My Toyota Camry back at home wouldn't survive a day here. We ride in a bus. Pascal is our driver. We mostly see motorcycles and other buses on the streets...if you can call them streets. From time to time we see a tractor convoy.

Wednesday's ride back to Maji (where we stay) was ... eventful. At first I thought we were dragging a big rock. Then I heard John Ludden say, "yeah, that's our tire rolling ahead of us." Final Diagnosis: Left Rear Tire. Completely torn off the axle. There we stood on the side of the road - ready to walk the rest of the way home. And then all of a sudden, Joseph Ciza was standing among us. It seemed that he had beamed in out of nowhere. In reality, he was riding on a "moto", saw us stranded, and stopped to see if we were ok.

This was one of our many speechless moments.

Brightness Amidst the Haze

Land of the Long Grey Cloud

That is the Maori name for New Zealand, and it could well describe Goma during July, the middle of the dry season. Although instead of clouds formed by the evaporation of water, these clouds are formed by the fine volcanic dust that hangs in the air. The dust is in and on everything, giving Goma a gray tinge to go along with the gray smoke spewing from the Volcano, the gray lava rocks that form the walls and foundations of buildings, fences, and homes, as well as the roads most people take to their homes. There are, however, starkly contrasting exceptions to the gray. They come in the form of the wonderfully colored dress (vibrant reds, yellows, greens, and blues) of both men and women, the spirited greetings we receive from the HEAL Africa staff, the music at morning worship, and the generally optimistic and spirited personalities of our Congolese friends here.

As clichéd as it may sound, the people are truly the sliver lining of this place on the Eastern border of the DR Congo. Which is why it is so painful and saddening to see and hear how difficult the lives of many are, largely because of those who decide not to be part of the silver lining and instead choose to create divisions and war, tearing at the fabric of their societies at the expense of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children.

This week our team has blended in to the rhythm of HEAL Africa extremely well and this morning I was told by the personnel manager that we brought a “very good team based on the feedback he has received from all of the staff we have had the chance to interact with. At the moment half of our team is in Minova, about an hour and a half east from Goma around the lake. They will be returning this afternoon after a 2.5 day conference for local community leaders with a focus on gender equality.

It is hard to believe how fast this trip has gone by. Just three more days here in Goma and tomorrow is a full one! We will go to chapel in the morning at 7:30 as we have done all week, and then we will split up to go to 3 different churches. Tim will be speaking at our translator Zico’s church, Yvonne will be preaching at our friend Pastor Samuel’s church, and I will be speaking at our friend Bizi’s church. Those services will run from 9-noon. Three hours of church, which I know from experience will feel like an hour at most. There will be a lot of singing and dancing. Than from 2pm – 5pm John Yoo and John Ludden will give an hour praise and worship training followed by a concert of local praise and worship bands, including your very own First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley Goma Team Choir. A full day indeed!

There's No Time Like The Present

By Leah Tang

I’m struck by how time moves here. The sun rises around 6 and sets around 6, every day, every night. There really isn’t anything like an appointment schedule in the clinic, or a sense of highly scheduled days. A few anchors in time exist, but everything else is “tentative and flexible,” just like our mission team’s itinerary.

Some of our team members are meeting with various individuals from outside of HEAL Africa. They have to coordinate their schedule, confirm their meetings, and arrange travel and/or translator availability. Things have to be pretty punctual. Others of us are working with HEAL Africa staff. I am working with the Hospital’s and the Outreach Programs’ accounting groups. Their needs are similar, but different, so I generally don’t try to meet with both groups together. I try to schedule times to work with each of them, but because their workload is so dynamic, our meetings are rarely confirmable. I will find myself juggling the tentative availability of different groups, having 90-120 minute meetings spontaneously, or having afternoon sessions suddenly cancelled. If this was back in the states, I’d be frustrated and fit to be tied. But this is the Goma-Leah and I’m just going with the flow, working things in, adapting, and accommodating to changes.

I’m astounded by the flexibility of the HEAL Africa staff. My initial concern during our first few days here was how much of an impact and inconvenience we were creating for both patients and staff. The staff would drop everything they were doing to tell us about their area, their work, and their challenges. I’d squirm to move on so that they could return their focus onto the patient. Now I see things a little differently. They work things in, they adapt and they accommodate. Patients do get seen and cared for; work does get done.

What do I take away from this reflection? Maybe we are too structured back home. I think that if we could schedule when Jesus returns, we’d probably schedule our activities around it. Maybe things get done when things are “ready” to get done, and not always in accordance with our mortal schedules. Maybe, in a world so fraught with political and logistical changes, the only way to get things done is to be flexible and to let things happen in God’s time. The HEAL Africa staff here seem to have faith that things would get done. As Ryan reminded us in his sermon this morning, “God is always on time.”

Kigali Roosters to Spectacular Lake Kivu

by Charlotte Martinez

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Awakening in Africa...to crowing rooster, of course. Red ball of sun rising over the hill.  Good sleep after after an evening of hilarity with the Lincoln's, Ryan and Liz, who served us a delicious meal of goat and fish brochettes, grilled with veggies and crazy good potatoes.  Re-connecting with John Ludden, his face glowing as he shared his experiences the last four weeks in Uganda.  Ended the evening in prayer together.  Such Shalom.

Today was our visit to the Genocide Museum.  Beautifully, tastefully done.  Painful experience; deep grieving.  Beautiful gardens with names like THE HOPE GARDEN, THE RECONCILIATION GARDEN...rooms of photographs of families and loved ones.  Brutal period in Rwanda, but great hope as we witnessed building and stories of reconciliation.

Fantastic drive from Kigali to Goma.  Some of us kept repeating, "We're in Africa!"

After a lengthy, dusty wait at the border crossing, arrival a Maji was stunning.  We gasped with wonder as we wandered the gorgeous grounds...beautiful gardens, lawns overlooking Lake Kivu.  I still can't believe we're here.

We're Here!

by Leah Tang

Sunday, July 19, 2009

It took us about 36 hours from the time we met at SFO to the time we checked into out hotel rooms in Kigali early on Friday late morning.  There were two red eyes, three plane changes, a "bus stop" in a fourth country (Burundi) before arriving in Rwanda.

I won't give away the events or details since our arrival (you got a hint of that in Charlotte's posting), but I will leave you with some tantalizing highlights:

• Grilled brochette at Ryan and Elizabeth Lincoln's
• The Gisozi (aka the Kigali National Memorial or the Rwandan Genocide Museum)
• The Rwanda-DRC border crossing
• Maji Matulivu and meeting Lyn Lusi
• Singing at Bizi's church
• A skit about the corruption of a pastor...at the ordination celebration of Pastor Bolingo
• Tour of HEAL Africa

We are thankful to have arrived safely and begin our orientation to HEAL Africa.  The people we've met thus far are truly inspiring, both in the challenges they face daily, their commitment to servie, their faith in God, and the love of their people.

We are also so grateful of our friends and family who are supporting us on the trip.  There will be several more posts before our mission is done, so check back soon!

Three Promises

Reflections on Goma and HEAL Africa by Laura Sera.
I am normally very careful about making promises and I am certainly not given to making them when I am a visitor in another country. I learned early in life about the value of promises and yet while in Goma with Global Strategies for HIV Prevention I made three promises: one to John Bizi, one to Joseph Ciza and one to myself.

John Bizi
John Bizi is a very busy man at HEAL Africa; he is in charge of keeping the medical equipment in working order. This is no easy job. The equipment he has to work with comes from other’s cast offs from all over the world. The equipment that finally makes its way to Goma often arrives incomplete or without operating instructions and it is John’s business to try to figure out a way to make it work. He is gifted and tremendously skilled but some things are just too difficult without written instructions. This patient and generous biomedical engineer had one request of me and that was to encourage someone with a background in medical equipment to volunteer in Goma for a couple of weeks and work with him. I promised him I would put the word out. As we said our farewells he prayed for me, for my health for the journey home, for my family waiting for me and for God to send me back.

Joseph Ciza
I first met Joseph Ciza in Nigeria last November and spent 2 weeks with him in PMTCT training for Global Strategies for HIV Prevention. Seeing him again in his homeland of DR Congo was truly joyous. He is an amazing man of courage and compassion and his journey with God and HEAL Africa has led him into the tremendously dangerous work with the rebel armies of North Kivu province. Before we arrived in Goma he had held a 3 hour workshop with rebel soldiers on the topic of human rights and gender-based violence. I have never known a person like Joseph. We visited his home and met his wife and children and heard about his dreams for the future. My promise to Joseph was a silent one. I promised to pray without ceasing for his safety and the wellbeing of his family.

Me
As for my last promise, it was to myself. I didn’t know it then but it would be a promise that would be made easier by the movement of this people and place into the far reaches within my core. It’s almost like there has been a stretching out of memory deep within, making itself right at home in my heart; faces, stories, need, pain, joy, suffering all mixing into a poultice that covers me like a balm. So my promise is this: to remember all I have seen and all I have met and to give those memories feet.

Laura

More Images from HEAL Africa

Photo Credit: Laura Sera

Who Is...

Click on the links (organization names or webpages) below to find our more about these ministry partners.

First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley

Global Strategies for HIV Prevention

HEAL Africa

Morning in Mugunga Camp

Morning in Mugunga camp, originally uploaded by Julien Harneis on September 4, 2007.

Just 10 kilometers outside of Goma thousands of people are fleeing the fighting in the surrounding regions and are setting up camp in places like this. Click on the links below the photograph of Mugunga Camp to see a series of images capturing the growing tragedy of internally displaced people on the move in North Kivu (the provence where Goma is the capital). If you'd like to read a first hand account of what's happening in Mugunga click HERE for a post by Eric Nguyen who is in Goma right now building on the IT / networking efforts of Melissa Ho who was a part of the August Goma Team from First Pres. The estimate of the number of people who have fled their homes because of fighting between rival militias and the Congolese Army is now running as high as 600,000 people. The combatants include Laurent Nkunda's Congolese Tutsi militia who are fighting the Interahamwe (Rwandan Hutu rebels in the DR Congo since 1994), other warloards and the DR Congo Armed Forces. 18-19,000 UN Peacekeepers are in the Congo trying to create pockets of safety so that humanitarian workers can reach these people.

In an email this past Thursday (2 days ago) Lyn Lusi sent the photograph above and writes,

This is what happens to civilian victims of conflict: the UN negotiated a 'humanitarian corridor' to go up to Masisi centre and Jospeh Ciza (the Head of nursing at HEAL Africa) took the ambulance and emergency medical supplies. In Masisi hospital, he found this poor man who was shot last Saturday (six days ago!). The staff there had no dressings or supplies of any sort. Ciza brought him back to HEAL Africa in the ambulance. Despite the appalling smell, he does not have gangrene, thank God. Please pray for his recovery. This man is the lucky one. What about all the others...?

The rainy season is starting and at elevations above 5000 feet (Goma is at 1500 meters, around 4500 feet) it is getting wet and cold.

Please pray for peace in eastern Congo.

Tim

Eve Ensler Discusses Her Experience in Congo

In this August 27, 2007 interview Eve Ensler discusses her experience in eastern Congo. The city and the hospital she visited in Bukavu in May 2007 are on the south side of Lake Kivu. Goma, the city where our teams worked in August and September 2007, is on the north shore. Warning: This video contains disturbing verbal descriptions of sexual assaults.

September 7, 8 and 9

Some Reflections from Randy Bergen:
Thursday night was exceptionally stormy; it rained hard with thunder, lightning, and wind all night. It was nature making all the noise however not fighting. But the UN helicopter gun ships returning over the lake at dusk from the west drove home the point that this is a part of the world in conflict. Friday morning in Goma seemed just the same as other days, the streets had the same amount of activity and work at the hospital was unchanged. Goma seems safe but with this wet weather the conditions for the people displaced by the fighting another 2000 feet up in the hills must be very difficult.

Goma is on the northern tip of Lake Kivu, a huge lake which is part of a chain of lakes that run north-south through central Africa. It is about 5000 ft elevation, so it gets chilly at night. Just north of the city is an active volcano that still glows red on clear nights. In 2002 lava flows from this volcano destroyed much of the city, including the HEAL Africa hospital. Some of the city burned, like the hospital, and the rest was covered in many feet of lava. Most of the city rebuilt on top of the lava, but there is a section of the main street where the buildings remained intact, just buried. They just built another floor on top of the old second story. That section of the city looks eerily like the inland part of Banda Aceh where the main force of the tsunami wave had spent itself but as it receded it left behind a thick, black layer of mud from the ocean bottom. Most of the roads are still an obstacle course of jagged lava rocks. If I ever give up medicine and settle here I am going to open an auto tire dealership.

The hospital is a series of mostly small buildings, the largest 2 being the central hospital rooms for mostly pediatric and gynecological patients and the OR building. Across the street is the chapel, a row of buildings that include the pediatric HIV clinic, and the Jubilee Conference Center. It is a beautiful building with rich hardwood details and on the second floor a view which is the best in town of the perfectly shaped cinder cone of the volcano.

The house where the Luci’s live (Joe is the chief surgeon and Lyn is the program administrator) is where we all stay. It is right on the lake, west of the main town. It is a huge home with spare bedrooms galore for all the visitors; a large common dining/living room; a beautiful garden; and a covered porch by the lake where we have many of our common meals unless it is pouring rain. To sit under the porch watching the light change and the kingfishers dive for food and to listen to the waves or the rain on the metal roof and to realize that I am in Central Africa, in a place so troubled by violence, 9 times zones away from home is surreal at best.

The rest of the (second) team from 1st Pres- Art, Bridget, and Laura, left Friday morning. I miss them but there are other wonderful people to be in community with here. Besides I get to move into Art’s room where there is hot water. My work started with a talk at the General Hospital and another case presentation. This time a 9 year-old with chest pain who as far as I could tell had no evidence of a cardiac problem. It was the 4th time she had come in to the hospital for this in the last few months. The last time they had started her on digoxin. I tried to suggest that there were other reasons for chest pain in a 9 year-old with a normal cardiac exam, like living in such a stressful place, and maybe they should see how she did off digoxin. I then worked with Dr Vindu in the Pediatric HIV clinic the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

Saturday was a short morning pediatric HIV clinic but after clinic I went over to the hospital and the general pediatric clinic. There Dr. Denise and Dr. Amani, 2 other young MDs interested in pediatrics told me that before inpatient rounds that they had to tell the family of an 11 year old boy who had been losing weight that he is HIV positive. They wanted to translate my “consultation” with the family. Then they told me it was not part of their culture to just tell the family. I then said maybe I should learn how they did it so maybe they should tell the family and someone could translate for me. They said no they would rather I go ahead with the consultation. It was the mother and paternal uncle whom I told. The mother obviously got the implications for not only her son but herself and her other younger children. She made the comment that there was once a rumor that her husband had a second wife but she didn’t believe it. The family is not from Goma so if they wish to pursue treatment they would have to make a decision to relocate because we would have to see him regularly. We will see the family on Monday in clinic. Inpatient rounds included the 8 year-old boy with an abdominal infection from Thursday. We had expanded the antibiotic coverage by adding Flagyl, for anaerobic bacteria, and he was now without fever and had a much improved exam.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing; the highlight was a group of us visited a chimpanzee rehabilitation center about 100 meters down the road from the house. There were 3 baby chimps playing around the grounds. I am not sure that playing with humans is the best way to “rehabilitate “chimps but it sure was a trip to hold them.

Sunday was a day of rest. There was a beautiful sunrise over the lake silhouetting the mountains of western Rwanda behind it. We had a leisurely breakfast and then went to church. There is a chapel at the hospital where there is a 7:30 service in Swahili, which is mostly attended by the hospital patients, and a 9:00 service in French, which is mostly attended by the hospital staff. Everyone in their festive Sunday best filled the chapel and its annex to overflowing with prayer and song. Prayer and song that comes from a community that struggles in a physical environment of hardship that is beyond my understanding. The sermon was “Persevere- we are here because of the endurance of Another”. It was a moving 2 hours, especially during the prayers, even though I understood few of the words. The tradition here is for everyone to join in with their own prayer as the minister prays. As the mixture of languages and voices being raised in praise grew louder and louder I thought again, as I did at the beginning of this e-mail, of thunder. But this was the thunder of a glorious, bright, Sunday morning, a morning to celebrate The Light.

Blessings from Goma,



Randy

Another perspective - and technical update :)

Eric Nguyen is in Goma independently trying to get some IT work done, following up on some of my projects and embarking on his own, including the deployment of some management software.

For more info and updates, check out his blogs here:
http://mindtangle.net/2007/08/30/live-from-goma/

Melissa

What I Received From the People of Goma and Central Africa

Some Reflections on Goma by Ryan Irmer (that's Mount Nyiragongo, the volcano that destroyed major portions of Goma in 2002, in the background):

I didn’t know what to expect when I made the decision to join the group led by Tim and Bridget to Goma, DRC. I remember hearing stories, looking at pictures and videos from my wife, Amelia’s, previous trip to Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda that gave me a little bit of perspective. What I also remember quite vividly is how many people said to me, “When you go, you will find that you are going to receive much more than you can actually give.” I acknowledged what they said but I didn’t truly understand or appreciate that until after I came back and found that to be very true.

What I received from the people of Goma was a deep sense of thankfulness that resonates within me to this day. It was a thankfulness to God who continues to answer their prayers in ways that God and these wonderful people can only know. This thankfulness to God was evident from the beginning of their day in chapel services where their worship through song, dance, and prayer was contagious and uplifting. I cannot emphasize enough how important it was for each of us to begin each day where the focus was on God’s goodness while reaffirming His words of truth, protection, and hope. Starting each day helped to refuel and refocus us spiritually in a way that would provide us with the necessary gifts to enter into an environment that was filled with pain, suffering, abject poverty, ignorance, and violence.

From the first day where we had an opportunity to tour HEAL Africa’s various hospital rooms and witness how many people were being treated by the staff. I have rarely seen a group of people utilize their talents and limited resources in such an efficient, compassionate, and competent manner. The needs were many and everyone did the best they could with whatever they had. From street kids who were practicing Yoga, to women working in the sewing room while awaiting another fistula surgery, to AIDS patients who received visits from counselors, people were being helped and healed by the work of these people and through God’s mercy not only physically, but also emotionally, and spiritually.

One of the strongest memories I have is of our experience at Pastor Samuel’s church on Sunday morning. We arrived at a church that was surrounded on every side by either public toilets or an airport runway. At one point, I actually had to pause my message to wait for a plane to take off only hundreds of feet away from our worship service. This three hour worship service was one of the most remarkable experiences that I have ever had. The church was filled with young and old, men and women who were worshipping with all of their hearts, all of their souls, and all of their minds in a way that revealed God’s true character.

Like virtually every person that we encountered, these people were dressed in a colorful, beautiful, and handsome manner that displayed the pride they had in themselves and their desire to give their best to their Savior. I’m at a loss to describe how much joy, thankfulness, love, and praise filled these people in every aspect of their worship. This was a three hour church service that I didn’t want to ever end!

My experience in Central Africa and my interaction with the people there has brought me back to America with a fresh and new perspective on life. I am exceedingly thankful for the abundance that God has provided in my life and with how He is working throughout the world. By beginning each day with acts of worship and prayer that refocuses our attention away from ourselves and the problems around us and back towards God, we can keep Him at the center of our daily lives. Though I am even more aware of circumstances that are upsetting, confusing, and heartbreaking, I find myself having an outlook that is more like the people that I met. Because of their example I am finding ways to proclaim God’s goodness, His steadfast love, and His amazing ability to enter into these situations and provide relief, comfort and most of all hope.

More Images from Goma

Picture Captions:
Above: Children at HEAL Africa's school
Below:
(1) Ryan, Dan, Naomi, Paul and Sarah's bag (attached to Sarah) in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday just before Dan found out that the clothes he is wearing in this picture would be the only clothes he would have until Thursday.
(2) Dan working out in Goma.
(3) Coach Irmer. Doing a little scouting??
(4) Naomi (who preferred "motos" to cars and vans).
(5) Melissa (when she was not climbing on top of one of HEAL Africa's buildings).
(6) Sarah and Stewart with matching, very cool, bracelets.
(7) Harper and Bridget who put it all together for us behind the scenes.

Two Updates from Goma

Dr. Art Ammann, the president of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention (the partner organization we went to Goma with) has been in Congo for the last few weeks with a team that included medical professionals from First Pres. (Laura Sera and Randy Bergen). Art has written a couple of reflections that we wanted to share with you on the Goma Team blog.

September 1, 2007
First – some news has been reaching the US that there is increasing rebel activity in the area surrounding Goma, Congo where we are located. Yesterday, the roads to Binza and Masisi were closed. These are two areas where we (Global Strategies for HIV Prevention) will be implementing prevention of mother to child transmission HIV transmission programs. We just completed our training workshop for 24 nurses and 3 doctors from 2 hospitals and 8 clinics in the region. The team from Masisi was still in Goma when the rebel activity increased, and they are safe in Goma waiting out the tension. The team from Binza was preparing to return home when the fighting erupted in the area between Goma and Binza where they live. Joseph Ciza, a nurse we work with who often goes into rebel held areas to treat patients affected by the war, arranged for the UN peace keeping mission, MONUC, to fly all of the people from Binza home! They arrived safely and we pray for safety and peace in their region.. Here in Goma, along with the team from Masisi, we are safe. The UN security forces have been here in Goma for many years and in fact, are headquartered just down the road from the Lusi's home. Regardless what happens around it, Goma remains stable in large part because of their presence. Dr. Jo Lusi, the surgeon who heads HEAL Africa has been hovering over us and is checking in constantly with the UN. The Global Strategies teams stay at his home, a wonderful retreat at the end of the day.

Although we departed San Francisco over 1 week ago, we have been in Goma only 5 days. It takes 3 days of travel to get here. We just missed the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley (FPCB) team. They were the first of 3 groups from FPCB to come. They still talk of the group here, the impact that they had in pastoral care and are already looking forward to their return.

We came as the second group – primarily an assessment overview team. Morgan Davis, the chair of the Global Strategies board of directors, and his wife Sandy, Congressman McDermott and his wife Therese from Washington State, Laura Sera, a nurse from FPCB and myself (Dr. Ammann). Assessments ranged from investigating the hospital needs to nursing educational needs and orphan programs. For everyone except Congressman McDermott and I, it was their first eye opening trip to the Congo. Each night we would “download” during and after dinner. One of my favorite evenings was when Bridget Nolan gave a detailed history of the Congo to Congressman McDermott. The Congo receives virtually no US aid compared to its neighboring country, Rwanda.

The workshop for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV finished with the support of the local Ministry of Health, a necessary requirement. The 24 nurses and 3 doctors have been certified. We are optimistic that our programs will move forward even in the face of rebel activity.

The third team is the medical team. Dr. John Schmaelzle, a urologist, arrived yesterday. It was also his first trip in the Congo and his first time to Africa. He was greeted with a full surgical schedule and lecture topics. Randy Bergen, a pediatric infectious disease specialist arrives in several days. He will be helping Dr. Vindu who is now caring for over 500 HIV infected children. Many are now on treatment for HIV and nutritional supplementation as malnutrition is quite severe in Goma. Randy will also be giving lectures to staff, students and doctors.

Laura Sera is connecting. We hope to encourage a volunteer nursing program. She is meeting with nurses going to the nursing school, conducting training sessions with the nurses at HEAL Africa, and doing a lot of one on one connecting while also gaining knowledge about the many ramifications of HIV on the community.

Next week is a full schedule of surgery, seeing patients, teaching and meeting with key individuals who we work with to manage our programs. These meetings are key as they are the individuals who keep things going when we are not here. Communication is difficult once we leave so we pray the meetings will be productive and clear.

Bridget Nolan as been responsible for all of the coordination of all three teams – a daunting task. We are appreciative of her skills and patience in carrying out the complex logistics of travel, accommodations, water supply , medicines, meetings, phoning, and emails. With over 25 people ranging from pastors to nurses, doctors, internet experts, business men and a congressman, over a 4 week period she is challenged daily.

Pray for strength for the people visiting, and for safety and wisdom. Pray for the people here who are encouraged by those who came but must remain under difficult circumstances.

Sincerely -

Arthur J. Ammann, MD, President

________________

September 4, 2007
When Jesus saw the crippled man lying by the Bethesda pool he asked, “Do you want to recover?” The man had been lying there 38 years “Sir,” he replied, “I have no one to put me in the pool.” Jesus answered, “Rise to your feet, take up your bed and walk.” John 5

We were reminded of the man who waited by the pool of Bethesda for someone to put him into the water to be healed. John Schmaelzle, a urologist, had arrived on his first trip to Africa and HEAL Africa in Goma, Congo. In the States he wondered what he would be doing, what resources were available for surgery and who he would be working with. On his first day of surgery, one of his patients was a man who had been operated on 4 years ago following a crush injury. The surgery to repair his urethra failed. He waited 4 years for someone to come to HEAL Africa with the expertise to make him well. It was a wonderful match – the patient in need and John Schmaelzle who had the expertise to help. Indeed it was like the story of the man waiting by the pool of Bethesda to be healed.

It was also Randy Bergen’s first time in the Congo. Randy is an infectious disease pediatrician who came to HEAL Africa to help Dr. Vindu, a Congolese physician, care for 175 HIV infected children who were being treated with antiretroviral drugs (the first in Eastern Congo). With funds from First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, we are providing desperately needed nutritional supplementation. Randy’s first day involved seeing children not yet on treatment, reviewing his teaching schedule at the hospital. I stopped counting at 7 lectures scheduled in 10 days.

Laura Sera continues to connect in Goma. She is giving her second lecture right now to the nursing staff and tomorrow will be working in a well baby clinic before going to meet with the local nursing school. Her trip and the contacts she’s made have reiterated the important need for continuing education for nurses and their enthusiastic response to a nurse educator like Laura coming to teach new skills. Many sentences with regard to Laura start with “When you come back…”

From Laura…

Children have a hard life in Congo. On Monday morning I had a poignant visit with a little girl and her mother in circumstances that reflect the harsh reality of HIV/AIDS in Congo. It was the most difficult mixture of happiness and sadness I have ever seen. This mother, in the process of planning an adoption for her daughter, has already placed her young son. The reality of being an HIV infected widow in the Congo brings with it a heavy burden. Having had episodes of being very ill with the disease, she has become anxious to place her daughter; it is her greatest worry. The sorrow felt so raw as we talked of her plans for her daughter but the mother seemed joyous. Her daughter would be safe and loved and would have a future where she was going.

I have also been talking with a young boy at HEAL Africa. He spends his day in a wheelchair, his right leg partially amputated. Today he asked me to take him home with me. This serious young boy was at home in a rural village when rebel troops attacked. He ran away from the soldiers but fell into a ditch and a soldier came and cut him on his right leg. His father brought him to HEAL Africa where he has had several surgeries on his leg. It was the seriousness of this boy, his intense, quiet plea, his eyes that held a world of pain within them that continues to move me each time I see him. I wonder what is ahead for him. Children are very vulnerable in a war zone. HEAL Africa, our partner, brings children like this one real help for their present needs and hope for their future. I thank God for the work that is being done by the caring staff of this organization and for bringing me here. It has been a gift.

We finish our stay in Goma in several days. The commitment of these people is extraordinary. Their needs sometimes so great that we don’t know where to begin. We pray for our health care workers who attended our workshop who must now return to there homes in rebel held regions. Joseph Ciza, an amazing nurse called in advance and talked to one of the rebel leaders to request that our health care workers be kept safe. This area of the Congo is a strange mix of peace and war. We pray that peace will triumph.

Sincerely -

Arthur J. Ammann, MD, President

Children of Congo

HEAL Africa is a multi-faceted, holistic, visionary ministry with many partners. They are first a hospital that has a special mission to care for women who have been brutally assaulted by rebel forces in eastern Congo. Their mission statement reads: Our mission is to provide holistic care for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo: training health professionals, strengthening social activists and providing physical, spiritual and social healing. Femmes Plus Nord Kivu is one of HEAL Africa's ministries, providing assistance for widows and orphans. This short video is of some of the children we met on our visit to this community. Click HERE to learn more.

Lumo

Don't miss the nationwide broadcast of "Lumo" on PBS beginning September 18. This is a documentary about the work of HEAL Africa told through the experience of one woman.

PBS Press Release: In eastern Congo, vying militias, armies, and bandits use sexual assault as a weapon of terror. Lumo Sinai was just over 20 when marauding soldiers attacked her. A fistula, common among victims of violent rape, rendered her incontinent and threatens her ability to bear children. Rejected by her fiancé and cast aside by her family, she awaits reconstructive surgery. "Lumo" is her story, tragic for its cruelties but also inspiring for the struggle she wages and the dignity she displays, with the help of an extraordinary African hospital, to overcome shame, fear and the affliction that robs her of a normal life.

The Goma Team along with Global Strategies for HIV Prevention will host a special preview presentation of this important film on Sunday, September 16 at 7:00 PM at First Pres in G 202. Our full team report about our time in Goma will be presented on October 14 at 12:15 PM and 6:30 PM in G 202. Our church serves a lunch and a dinner every Sunday, so pick up a meal for $5 and head on over to the presentation. The meals are served in Westminster Hall and the report will be made on the second floor of Geneva Hall on the campus of First Pres. Berkeley.

See an excerpt of "Lumo" online by clicking HERE. Select PREVIEW once at the Goma Film Project's website. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area you can watch "Lumo" on KQED Channel 9 on Tuesday, September 18 at 11:00 PM.

Images from Goma

Timo Acosta with kids in front of the HEAL Africa chapel.

































Children at Femmes Plus, a ministry to widows, their children and AIDS orphans supported by HEAL Africa . When Ryan Irmer pulled out a soccer ball these kids went nuts!

































Paul Yeager leading a training seminar for doctors, nurses and staff of HEAL Africa about providing pastoral care to patients. That's our friend Pastor Samuel doing the work of translating.











On the right is Stewart Lunanga, another one of our translators, who made it possible for people to understand our sermons, receive our pastoral care and benefit from Ryan's coaching tips on the basketball court. He speaks English, French, Swahili and German. He would like to go to college and study engineering (he's interested in hydroelectric power generation). He is a great guy.











Melissa Ho with women from the Grounds for Hope community. They cheered when SHE got up in front of them to preach a sermon! They passionately worshiped God in the face of great disappointment.






















Here are some children that we met in the pediatrics ward at HEAL Africa.






















Here's the view from the outdoor eating area where we had breakfast and dinner together at the Lusi's home and guest house on Lake Kivu.

Lost in Translation

One of the great privileges Dan Carlson and I had was the opportunity to help lead a retreat for the Nehemiah Committees, which are part of HEAL Africa's multifaceted ministry. As their name implies these teams are committed to rebuilding their communities. They started their work after Mount Nyiragongo, the VOLCANO that is just north of Goma, ERUPTED in January 2002. Seeing that they could not look to the outside world for the degree of assistance they would need they made the decision to build partnerships among the churches in Goma to do the work of rebuilding their city. Five and a half years later that work continues.

Dan and I were invited to lead what turned into a prayer retreat with these men and women. After discussing the format with Pastor Bolingo, the chaplain for HEAL Africa, we decided to walk the committees through the Lord's Prayer, praying the prayer as we went. "Lord, in Goma, in eastern Congo, may you character, your heart, your Name be known. May your kingdom come and let your will be done in this city, in North Kivu, in the hearts and lives of the Congolese, the Interahamwe, the other rebel forces. Give to the people all that they need to be your people. Grant to them the grace to receive forgiveness and to forgive. And when they are tested protect them from the Evil One who wants to get them not to trust you." It was a remarkable experience to think through the prayer and pray through the prayer with these courageous men and women.

There was a moment of comedy while I was teaching the fourth petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." In an attempt to lighten the mood a little bit I decided to tell a story that had been pretty funny when I told it in Berkeley. I did not get the same reaction in Goma, at least not at first. Instead of smiles and laughter I got furrowed brows and anxious glances at Pastor Bolingo. In a somewhat weak attempt to get people to think about our uncontrollable wants and desires (in relationship to our prayer for daily bread) I told the story of what happened in July when I was car-camping with a group of young adults in Lake Tahoe. A HUGE bear got into the church van in the middle of the night and started eating a cheesecake that we had mistakenly left in the cooler which was inside the van. How that happened and how I got the bear out of the van is another story.

All of our teaching to the Nehemiah committees was translated from English into French (one of the languages of the Congo). As I told the bear story I was met with blank stares. Fortunately, Paul Yeager interrupted my teaching to inquire whether they knew what a bear was? Maybe the fact that they had no reaction to what I was saying was because they didn't understand how big and intimidating a bear living in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California can be. It soon became clear that it wasn't because they were unfamiliar with bears. It was because the translator thought I said "BEER", not "BEAR". So my story, when translated into French, was about a HUGE BEER in the back of the church van and the BEER was eating cheesecake. No wonder they looked at me like I was psychotic. Once they understood that there was a BEAR in the back of the van they were with me. That was a talk that was almost lost in translation.

Peace,

Tim

Pictures... and some technical stuff...

Hi all!

(from Melissa)

Check out my photos from Goma on flickr, including some pictures of our adventures putting up the wireless routers to link the hospital to the learning center (and Internet room and library) across the street.

I'm so incredibly blessed to be here at the end of a very busy three months in Africa. Where most of the time I'm very occupied by my various research projects and consumed by the need to produce publishable data, here I have the freedom to just do whatever's needed. But more importantly, I'm getting a chance to do what I love as part of my church. It's so exciting to work with everyone on this team, to see another member preach at morning chapel every day, and to see God at work in this place, using our variety of gifts and skills to really serve HEAL Africa and to learn about how we might be able to continue serving in the future. Tomorrow/Sunday we're splitting our resources - our team will be preaching at three different churches after we attend the 7am service at HEAL Africa together.

Internet access is mostly okay - it works best in the mornings and in the late evenings, whereas it pretty much grinds to a halt in the late afternoons. During the day most of us just use the Internet room in the hospital, but for evenings when we are at home, I picked up a wireless modem that uses RwandaTel (a mobile phone company) to provide internet connectivity. (For you technophiles, it uses EVDO over CDMA.) I'm using ad hoc wireless routers from meraki.net to share my Internet connection so everyone else can just connect via WiFi. I'm using the same routers to set up networking for the hospital, and already have a link spanning the ~300 meter (I haven't actually measured it) distance between the Internet/Library room and the hospital. We have about 6 routers with us on this trip, so I could just try it out to make sure it works. To cover the entire hospital, we'll need quite a bit more... (btw if anyone is interested in getting wireless routers for their homes, the meraki routers are quite good and fairly inexpensive - $50 each for the indoor routers).

I spent some time earlier today speaking with Dr. Vindu in the pediatric HIV clinic about electronic medical records and how she wants to use computers in the hospital. Almost immediately she suggested OpenMRS, an open source project in collaboration with Partners in Health and already in use in major projects in Kenya (hi rachel!), as well as the Millenium Village Project in Rwanda. At the close of our conversation I asked her what she thought was her most pressing need for the clinic. I expected her to say something like more doctors, more medicines, or even to ask for more computers and better data management. Instead, she said the most pressing need was for the families that were caring for the HIV-infected orphans. About 240 of the 360-some children in the clinic are orphans, being cared for by relatives or other community members, who are often quite poor themselves, and cannot afford the school fees (including books, uniforms, and supplies) for the orphans. Indeed they often cannot afford the fees for all of their own children. Not only am I amazed by the selflessness of this request, but also heartbroken that such a basic need is not being filled. Of course there's a whole list of other needs to be filled at this hospital as well... we just have to decide where to start. In the meantime, Naomi's working very hard on a mural to cheer up the children in the clinic.

Okay early church tomorrow and I need to get to bed. Thanks for reading and please keep praying! Pray especially for the teaching at the three churches tomorrow, and for Rebecca, the 7 day old premie in the incubator at HEAL Africa.

Melissa

Life In Goma

Saturday, August 18, 2007

The time here in the DRC is flying by just as I expected it would once we reached this point in the trip. We have just 3 full days left (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday). We head back to Rwanda on Wednesday at about noon. It’s Saturday and I’m finished for the day, having gone to chapel early this morning where we saw Timo deliver the sermon. It was very well done. He has a remarkable capacity to make connections with people. Out of all of us, he has mastered the most Swahili and uses what he knows with great effectiveness. All five of the men on the team (Timo, Dan, Paul, Ryan and I) have had the opportunity to preach a sermon at the 7 AM chapel service the hospital holds most mornings for patients and staff. All of these guys have done a great job behind the pulpit! Every morning there are a couple of choirs that sing, interspersed with congregational singing (some of these moments have been captured on video and if you get the chance to watch these videos I think you’ll be able to get a sense of the utter joy and worship that flows from the patients, doctors and staff). Tomorrow morning all five of us will be in four different congregations. Dan and Ryan are teaming up to preach at one church, Timo is on his way to a Pentecostal church service which lasts 3 hours, Paul will be speaking at the worship service for the patients of HEAL Africa at 7 AM (the whole team will be attending that service together) and I will speak at the French church’s worship service that is held in the HEAL Africa chapel at 9 AM.

What we’ve done the last couple of days is a good example of the way our work has developed over the week. Melissa, with the help of the IT staff at HEAL Africa, took an rolling, adjustable IV bottle stand, cut off the top and bottom of it and used the pole to mount a wireless antenna on top of the hospital. They then walked across the street to the Jubilee Center, climbed the stairs to the second floor, wrapped a shirt of some kind around one of the IT guys and held him as he leaned out the window and nailed the other wireless antenna to the side of the building. Melissa tells me that she is getting a solid connection between the two antennas which will help HEAL Africa create a communication link between the buildings. She’s in conversations this afternoon with one of the doctors about their database needs.

Naomi hopped on the back of a “moto” (one of the hundreds if not thousands of motorcycles in Goma that function like a taxi) to buy paint for the mural she is painting in the pediatric HIV clinic. She is painting a wonderful African scene filled with animal in the jungle. She’s using oil-based paints so the windows are kept wide open while she works. Sarah has been helping her with that project as well as assessing some of the educational needs of the children at the hospital.

Timo has been discussing many of the engineering needs of the hospital with the staff and will be heading off with Ryan to join a soccer (that is football) ministry on Sunday afternoon. HEAL Africa sponsors sports clubs in Goma and the surrounding region. They bring a football team from the hospital to play another local team and before the game and during half-time the HEAL Africa leaders talk to those who are playing and those who have gathered to watch about respect for women and about HIV. Recently they had a woman referee the match.

Paul has been working with the counselors and staff of the hospital, exploring issues of spiritual care for patients. He had a room packed with doctors, nurses and hospital staff on Friday afternoon. Paul also helped Dan and me as we led a day and half retreat with the people from the Nehemiah Committees which were formed to help rebuild the communities of Goma after the volcano devastated the city. The founders of the Nehemiah Committees knew that they could not wait for assistance to come from outside the country. So they acted to provide a wide range of services to hurting people. Dan did a great job leading the Nehemiah Committees through a discussion of "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors." Yes, we to are teaching through the Lord's Prayer here in Goma. To lead a discussion on the question of forgiveness with people who have been through what has gone on here is not an easy thing to do. It was an amazing discussion.

Bridget has continued to be a champ. She keeps all the pieces of our mission together. She connects us with people, makes sure we have transportation, solves an incredibly wide range of practical problems and quietly comes alongside each of us to see how we’re doing. She is an enormous gift to our team. I can’t imagine doing this with out her.

As I write this we’re at the Lusi’s home on Lake Kivu and we’re experiencing an incredible wind and rainstorm. The lightening has just started with bright flashes of light and loud clashes of thunder. It’s awesome!! The waves of the lake are crashing onto the deck and there is a waterfall of water coming off the roof. I love Africa!

Thanks for your prayers!

Tim (for the entire Goma Team)