Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Which is Worst, Death from Ebola or Extreme Poverty?

Congolese do not get death certificates.  So, what does it matter if they die from Ebola, Cholera, or any other causes associated with extreme poverty?

It matters to me if someone dies from a treatable and preventable disease or illness.  Lack of access to clean water, nets, nutritious food, and basic health care kills thousands of Congolese each year.  Those deaths are preventable and treatable.  I suspect that Ebola is preventable, too.    

About 50-90 percent of the people infected with Ebola eventually die.  The highly contagious Ebola causes it victims to bleed out in the final stages.  The initial stages of Ebola is very similar to other diseases such as malaria, cholera, and others which causes extreme fever and diarrhea.  Therefore, anyone with those symptoms have to be isolated and observed. 

Currently, the Congolese health officials or others are being careful to make sure deaths are properly classified or attributed.  To date, 12 people may have died from the Ebola Outbreak near Mweka just south of Bulape.  Some deaths caused by other diseases such as cholera, malaria, shigellosis were excluded from the death toll.

 

Can You Sit and Study in this School?

If you are tired can you concentrate and learn?  Studies have shown that children do not learn well when they are tired or sleepy.  Imagine having to sit on a bench without a supporting back or a place to put your papers to take notes.  You would only fall asleep once.  That was the situation in most of the schools in Bulape.

Congo Helping Hands purchased the desks on the right of the photo.  Students were using the church benches during the week in their classroom.  It was better than sitting on the floor but barely.

The desks where purchased from a local craftsman for $35 each or $70 as pictured above.  Now student can study better.

The Top Three Gifts for 2008

What Do You Get Someone Who Has Everything?

That’s a hard task. It’s similar to the situation in the Congo. What Do You Get Someone Who Has Nothing?

It’s time of the year when you are writing your list and checking it twice. You want to find the ideal gift for your loved ones. How do you find that special present that they will cherish forever? Also, it is time of the year when Congo Helping Hands is making its annual list. We have checked it twice with thoughtful analysis and prayer, too. We have identified those projects which will make a difference next year, and the next, and next, and …

So what are the top three gifts you can give to a Congolese person who has nothing?

1. Palm Plantation. You can help us strengthen the palm plantation project at the Bulape Hospital. Some of the imported dwarf palm trees purchased in 2005 have begun to produce palm nuts. These nuts can be used to produce palm oil. Palm oil is a commercially viable product used for cooking and making soap. The hospital can start making money to help make up some of its annual deficits. The end result is continuous better health care for its poor Congolese community.

2. Mosquito Nets. You can save thousands of lives in the Bulape Health Zone. Malaria is a deadly but preventable disease affecting pregnant women and children. The insecticide treated nets fights malaria on two levels. First, it keeps mosquitoes off vulnerable persons. And second, it kills mosquitoes that come in contact with the net. The nets’ treatment lasts for three to five years. The end result is less deaths from malaria for years.

3. Safe Well Water. You can provide safe well water for thousands of poor rural Congolese. Clean and disease-free water will obviously save lives. But a nearby drilled-well can also improve the school attendance of girls. They will spend less than time walking miles to fetch water. Smarter girls will become smarter women and mothers. These women and mothers will improve their family and community life forever.

So how do you find that special gift for someone who has everything? You look, think, look, and then finally buy something. If you can’t find that special gift for your loved one, just remember you can give them the satisfaction of giving to someone who has nothing. We did the looking, thinking, and evaluating for you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Congo.

Nine Die, nearly Hundred others infected, and It's Another Outbreak

Death is so common in Congo.  So, another suspected outbreak of hemorrhagic fever like Ebola or Marburg barely made the news.  Nine persons have died which includes a newborn baby, its teenager mother and grandparents.  Also, another 92 persons are showing symptoms of the deadly fever.

 

The outbreak has not been confirmed.  Blood and stool samples were sent to testing laboratories in Kinshasa, and in Gabon and South Africa.  Immediate symptons include fever, muscle pains, headaches, vomiting, and diarrhea.  Later symptons include telltale bleeding.

 

The outbreak is located in the Mweka Health Zone in the Kasai Occidental Province of central Congo.    Mweka is just 20 miles south of Bulape, Congo Helping Hands' base of operations.

 

This current outbreak is in the same vicinity of confirmed 2007 Ebola Fever outbreak.  The 2007 outbreak killed 187 persons and infected another 264 persons.  Pictured is medical personnel in Luebo from the September to October 2007 outbreak.

 

Doctors Without Borders' (MSF) Congo Emergency Team has been deployed to the area to contain the outbreak.  The virus is easily passed to others who come in contact with fluids from an infected person.  Approximately, 90 percent of the infected die. 

 

One out of Ten Babies Die From Malaria

Malaria kills an estimated 180,000 Congolese each year.  It is the major killer of children.  A recent report cites that one out of ten babies die from malaria before their first birthday.  And six of ten children die from malaria from their 12th birthday.

 

The Congo government is stepping up the distribution (sale) of low cost nets in urban and rural areas.  In Bulape, Congo Helping Hands is purchasing nets for pregnant women and children.  The nets will be freely distributed.

You can support the project by donating $1.50 per net. 

Every Kid Loves Arts and Craft Time

Have you ever did string painting?  Quite frankly, I had never heard of string painting.  I think that these Congolese student had not heard of string painting either.  So, would they take a break to play with some pieces of string and paint.

The string painting proved that students everywhere love Arts and Crafts time.  Both girls and boys were equally interested in the making unusual designs with the string.  Quickly, each student found a favorite colors that was pleasing to them.

 

You can help bring simple arts and craft supplies to the students of Bulape.  Please make a tax deductible donation to Congo Helping Hands.

The Driver is Responsible for Everything

 Driving in Congo is like driving in no other place in the world.  The road hazards are the second biggest problem behind knowing where to go.

In Congo, road signs are non existence.  So the driver has to visually remember where to go and how to get from point A to point B.  Also, he has to remember the bad spots in the road.  Bad spots are pot holes filled with mud and water, known washouts, and quicksand.  These bad spots may require him to drive from point A to point D to get to point B.

Road hazards are new found faults in the road.  Normally, they are a fallen tree or a new unexpected washout.  Typically, the driver tries to correct the road hazard if possible.  If he can not correct it, he has to remember it on the trip back.

As a result, the driver is responsible for everything including road maintenance.  Using his machete to cut up a fallen tree is the norm.

 

Will There Be Peace?

You probably won't be singing the Rolling Stone's 1969 hit, Gimme Shelter, during your Christmas caroling.  However, it would be appropriate as celebrate this season of Peace.  "War, Children, Its Just a Shot Away!"

As I read the lyrics of Gimme Shelter, I had a flashback to Vietnam War. I remembered the pictures of soldiers in the field during an arranged cease-fire agreement.  A short period of peace was observed by both sides.  This Christmas season Gimme Shelter is again relevant and in the news.

This time, Ben Affleck and musician Mick Jagger teamed up to launch a short film called "Gimme Shelter" drawing attention to the plight of these Congolese families driven from their homes by more than a decade of war.  Many Congolese families, the fortunate ones, will spend Christmas in a UN refugee camp.  "Its Just a Shot Away!

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The conflict indirectly affects all of the Congo and the entire Great Lakes region of Central Africa.  Even these boys in Bulape are affected, too.

The Congo is a country without basic necessities of sanitation, running water, and electricity.  Resources that could be used to improve utilities, roads, schools, and the health systems are being stolen by the warlords and rebels.  "Its Just a Shot Away!"

Congo's rich mineral resources will bring us the Joy of Christmas.  However, there will be little joy for those families in eastern Congo this Christmas season.  There riches have made them poor!  There riches have made them homeless!  There riches have made them suffer and die!

Affleck teamed up with UNHCR and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in a new campaign to "help raise funds and awareness about the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the work of the UN refugee agency."

They hope to eventually raise $23 million in 2009 to help pay for items like clean water supplies and emergency humanitarian assistance kits. 

You Use Water for Drinking, Bathing, and Washing; Not at Once

Why do you like a shopping center?  It offers variety and one stop shopping.  Or you may like Meijer or a WalMart Superstore for the same reason.

How about if you had to go the same water source for all your water needs?  Adults may know better but these children consider it "one stop watering".  Some of the kids are washing their faces and feet.  Some children have come for water for drinking or cooking.  And some children will wash their clothes, too.

You know this is safe water for drinking or cooking.  The repair of the spring catchment system would make the water safe again.  The spring catchment system originally supplied water to the Bulape Hospital.

What about Safe Water for the Rural Areas

If you live in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, or Matadi, you may have won the safe water lottery.  You MAY have won because the World Bank water project is estimated to bring safe water to only 1.2  million of the 10.9 million URBAN dwellers of those cities.  Only about 11 million people have access to safe drinking water.

So, what about the other 40.7 urban and rural dwellers in Congo left without access to safe drinking?

Projects - World Bank Approves a Grant of US$190 Million for An Urban Water Supply Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

DRC has some of the largest water resources in the world, and although its hydro-geological resources are believed to be substantial, the country still faces considerable difficulties when it comes to supplying water to its population.

Currently, only 22 percent of the total population, or 11 million people, have access to safe drinking water in the country. This project will bring DRC a step closer to achieving the seventh Millennium Development Goal (MDG-7)—to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. It is estimated that through this project, nearly 1.2 million urban dwellers will have access to drinking water, which in turn will improve their quality of life (MDG-1), reduce infant mortality (MDG-4), improve maternal health (MDG-5), and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG-6).

"The lack of drinking water poses a threat to public health and it is the poor who bear the brunt of inefficient service," said Franck Bousquet, the World Bank’s Task Team leader.