-
MoanzaStrip.jpg
-
CrowdedLoad.jpg
-
MoanzaStaff.jpg
-
DrLombo.jpg
-
WhiteCross.jpg
-
HeathZone.jpg
-
NursingSchool.jpg
-
DeliveryRoom.jpg
-
KatherineNBaby.jpg
-
MoanzaChurch.jpg
How do you reach Moanza? It takes an airplane for short take offs and landings, a skilled “bush” pilot, someone willing to go, and others to send her through their gifts to the World Mission Offering.
Who should care about Moanza? It’s so far away. Yet, people there need to know the love of God and relief from suffering – physical and spiritual. The church there needs trained leaders.
Katherine visited Moanza last week, to encourage the staff at the Baptist hospital and deliver White Cross supplies. She was willing (eager!) to go. She could go because of Mission Aviation Fellowship’s(MAF) plane and pilot, and because of your gifts to the World Mission offering (did you give?!) which are still the largest single source of funds supporting International Ministries missions around the world.
Moanza is just plain hard to access. Providing health care services in Congo just plain stretches the limits of creativity. While it feels like Moanza is at the end of the world, Jesus mandate to “go into all the world” does include Moanza, and many other places around the world equally as hard to access :
Moanza Strip.jpg
The view from the grass runway looks towards the “end of the world”. Jack Rumohr, retired IM missionary crafted the airstrip in spite of the hilly terrain. It ends just short of the door step of his former house. His vision was for greater access to the gospel and health care. Since the departure of Jack and Trissie Rumohr from Moanza, planes rarely land there. A message radioed two weeks ahead requested the station leaders to get the grass cut so MAF could land.
CrowdedLoad.jpg
The plane taxis to a stop to the delight of everyone in town. As the White Cross supplies are unloaded, they are efficiently transported to the hospital store room. An entrepreneuring “photographer” appears from nowhere to take photos of people, young and old, in front of the airplane, no doubt for a price.
MoanzaStaff.jpg
Welcome to the hospital, which serves a population of over 150,000 in an area approximately 100 miles across in all directions. The people of that health zone are isolated by geography and infrastructure. Trucks pass that way every two months, or less, providing a rare contact with the outside world. The road is arguably one of Congo’s most difficult. People live on what they grow (cassava, peanuts) and what the season provides (caterpillars, fruit, mushrooms). The gospel was preached throughout the area, but only portions of the Bible have been translated into the Suku language, and tribalism and animistic customs are deeply rooted. Isolation and animism breed suspicion, ignorance, hopelessness, fatalism.
DrLombo.jpg
Dr. Lombo, the medical director, and Dr. Theo, health zone director, give Katherine a tour of the hospital. The hospital must maintain and pay salaries for 24 staff members and 2 doctors with receipts from patients. While fees are low, many patients can’t pay their bills. The hospital intermittently gets some assistance from non-governmental health organizations working in Congo. Other than the annual gift of White Cross supplies, International Ministries provides no input to the medical work at Moanza, though, because of support through the World Mission offering, missionaries Katherine Niles and Dr. Bill Clemmer are in Congo providing overall technical support to Baptist medical work.
WhiteCross.jpg
Dr. Lombo, the medical director, shows off a tray of operating masks, caps, drapes and gloves – all gifts from White Cross. Sterilization is done with a pressure cooker and a charcoal fire. The operating room is lit with solar panels, 12 volt batteries, and fluorescent tubes, a donation from project funds, and completely appropriate for a non-electric institution. The batteries at Moanza date from 2003 are now unable to hold a charge. There isn’t money in the hospital budget to replace the batteries, so the staff now borrows one to keep the vaccines refrigerated. Surgery is done by lantern light.
HeathZone.jpg
Dr. Theo discusses the realities of supervising 20 health centers over a vast geographic area. A map on the wall shows the location of each center. Dr. Theo is responsible to oversee the supply of basic medicines and vaccines, and to supervise the community health work (water and sanitation). A motorcycle from a previous project facilitates his visits to health centers, but the hospital budget must cover the cost of fuel, hence visits are rare.
NursingSchool.jpg
The nursing school at Moanza is one answer to the staffing needs of rural health centers. Here, the second year class poses for a picture. The doctors and nurses at the hospital are part time professors. Tuition at the Moanza nursing school is $15.00 a trimester. What kind of education can you offer for that much money?
DeliveryRoom.jpg
In the delivery room, Miriam, the nurse midwife, hangs a curtain of sewn rolled bandages to make space both for labor and delivery. The delivery bed crumbled long ago, so a hospital bed donated by the German government is adapted for the purpose.
KatherineNBaby.jpg
The mission of the visit to Moanza was to encourage staff and deliver White Cross supplies. Twins born during the night were the first to benefit from newborn shirts and blankets. As Katherine dressed and swaddled the babies, their young mother stoked the blankets in disbelief. She never expected something so soft and new to be wrapped around her own tiny, soft, new infants.
MoanzaChurch.jpg
Rev. Musualu and Rev. Kitambala stand in front of the church. It is nearly in the center of the Moanza station. A “wing” is being added to accommodate the many who attend on Sunday morning. Is the church making a difference in people’s lives there? It has, and it must. Patients coming to the Moanza hospital have physical illnesses, but are also burdened by fear, hatred, guilt, and jealously. They need to know God’s love and freedom in Christ. Can ampicillin and clean water alone loose all their ties? In Moanza, in DRC, and around the world, what people believe profoundly impacts their health. Those who call themselves the church, must point the way to Jesus, the source of health and wholeness.
Because of the World Mission offering, and people willing to go, The Baptist Community of Congo (CBCO) and International Ministries have partnered together for almost 100 years. In places like Moanza, stretching creativity and skills, that partnership is needed as much as ever. You can get involved. Give to the World Mission Offering. The World Mission Offering provides the largest single source of funds to support IM’s mission around the world. What if you already gave? Then Thank you! Your contribution provides vital dollars needed to sustain and grow the work in DRC. How else can you get involved? You can join the team. Be willing to go! The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. People die without having heard the Good News that heals disease and releases captives.
MSWord version available on this site also.
Who should care about Moanza? It’s so far away. Yet, people there need to know the love of God and relief from suffering – physical and spiritual. The church there needs trained leaders.
Katherine visited Moanza last week, to encourage the staff at the Baptist hospital and deliver White Cross supplies. She was willing (eager!) to go. She could go because of Mission Aviation Fellowship’s(MAF) plane and pilot, and because of your gifts to the World Mission offering (did you give?!) which are still the largest single source of funds supporting International Ministries missions around the world.
Moanza is just plain hard to access. Providing health care services in Congo just plain stretches the limits of creativity. While it feels like Moanza is at the end of the world, Jesus mandate to “go into all the world” does include Moanza, and many other places around the world equally as hard to access :
Moanza Strip.jpg
The view from the grass runway looks towards the “end of the world”. Jack Rumohr, retired IM missionary crafted the airstrip in spite of the hilly terrain. It ends just short of the door step of his former house. His vision was for greater access to the gospel and health care. Since the departure of Jack and Trissie Rumohr from Moanza, planes rarely land there. A message radioed two weeks ahead requested the station leaders to get the grass cut so MAF could land.
CrowdedLoad.jpg
The plane taxis to a stop to the delight of everyone in town. As the White Cross supplies are unloaded, they are efficiently transported to the hospital store room. An entrepreneuring “photographer” appears from nowhere to take photos of people, young and old, in front of the airplane, no doubt for a price.
MoanzaStaff.jpg
Welcome to the hospital, which serves a population of over 150,000 in an area approximately 100 miles across in all directions. The people of that health zone are isolated by geography and infrastructure. Trucks pass that way every two months, or less, providing a rare contact with the outside world. The road is arguably one of Congo’s most difficult. People live on what they grow (cassava, peanuts) and what the season provides (caterpillars, fruit, mushrooms). The gospel was preached throughout the area, but only portions of the Bible have been translated into the Suku language, and tribalism and animistic customs are deeply rooted. Isolation and animism breed suspicion, ignorance, hopelessness, fatalism.
DrLombo.jpg
Dr. Lombo, the medical director, and Dr. Theo, health zone director, give Katherine a tour of the hospital. The hospital must maintain and pay salaries for 24 staff members and 2 doctors with receipts from patients. While fees are low, many patients can’t pay their bills. The hospital intermittently gets some assistance from non-governmental health organizations working in Congo. Other than the annual gift of White Cross supplies, International Ministries provides no input to the medical work at Moanza, though, because of support through the World Mission offering, missionaries Katherine Niles and Dr. Bill Clemmer are in Congo providing overall technical support to Baptist medical work.
WhiteCross.jpg
Dr. Lombo, the medical director, shows off a tray of operating masks, caps, drapes and gloves – all gifts from White Cross. Sterilization is done with a pressure cooker and a charcoal fire. The operating room is lit with solar panels, 12 volt batteries, and fluorescent tubes, a donation from project funds, and completely appropriate for a non-electric institution. The batteries at Moanza date from 2003 are now unable to hold a charge. There isn’t money in the hospital budget to replace the batteries, so the staff now borrows one to keep the vaccines refrigerated. Surgery is done by lantern light.
HeathZone.jpg
Dr. Theo discusses the realities of supervising 20 health centers over a vast geographic area. A map on the wall shows the location of each center. Dr. Theo is responsible to oversee the supply of basic medicines and vaccines, and to supervise the community health work (water and sanitation). A motorcycle from a previous project facilitates his visits to health centers, but the hospital budget must cover the cost of fuel, hence visits are rare.
NursingSchool.jpg
The nursing school at Moanza is one answer to the staffing needs of rural health centers. Here, the second year class poses for a picture. The doctors and nurses at the hospital are part time professors. Tuition at the Moanza nursing school is $15.00 a trimester. What kind of education can you offer for that much money?
DeliveryRoom.jpg
In the delivery room, Miriam, the nurse midwife, hangs a curtain of sewn rolled bandages to make space both for labor and delivery. The delivery bed crumbled long ago, so a hospital bed donated by the German government is adapted for the purpose.
KatherineNBaby.jpg
The mission of the visit to Moanza was to encourage staff and deliver White Cross supplies. Twins born during the night were the first to benefit from newborn shirts and blankets. As Katherine dressed and swaddled the babies, their young mother stoked the blankets in disbelief. She never expected something so soft and new to be wrapped around her own tiny, soft, new infants.
MoanzaChurch.jpg
Rev. Musualu and Rev. Kitambala stand in front of the church. It is nearly in the center of the Moanza station. A “wing” is being added to accommodate the many who attend on Sunday morning. Is the church making a difference in people’s lives there? It has, and it must. Patients coming to the Moanza hospital have physical illnesses, but are also burdened by fear, hatred, guilt, and jealously. They need to know God’s love and freedom in Christ. Can ampicillin and clean water alone loose all their ties? In Moanza, in DRC, and around the world, what people believe profoundly impacts their health. Those who call themselves the church, must point the way to Jesus, the source of health and wholeness.
Because of the World Mission offering, and people willing to go, The Baptist Community of Congo (CBCO) and International Ministries have partnered together for almost 100 years. In places like Moanza, stretching creativity and skills, that partnership is needed as much as ever. You can get involved. Give to the World Mission Offering. The World Mission Offering provides the largest single source of funds to support IM’s mission around the world. What if you already gave? Then Thank you! Your contribution provides vital dollars needed to sustain and grow the work in DRC. How else can you get involved? You can join the team. Be willing to go! The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. People die without having heard the Good News that heals disease and releases captives.
MSWord version available on this site also.