Bens in Congo

The CSCODI Mama Dorcas Orphanage was created during the wars in order to help the helpless.  It is a remarkable story of people who have nothing being willing to step up for children who have even less.

Butembo Orphanage      In the Butembo Market for the orphanage

We received this heart felt request today, our first correspondence from Emmanuel since our December 2011 visit.  We will promptly wire transfer some funds.  This is why we will be directing profits from the activities of Congo Nishati Mpya to the orphanage.   Can you help?

Dear Michael.

Warm greetings in Jesus’s name.

I would like to thank you so much for the prayers you addressed to me when you met me in the Hospital. It was just when you visited us in Butembo (DRC) I have been released in the Hospital. At the present, I am in the convalescence at home.

I would also thank you so much for the pots you bought for the orphanage.  They have been so helpful for food cooking and we are still using them. May God’s blessings flow upon you and all your activities.

However nowadays orphans are facing a terrible situation about food shortage.

So, we would kindly request you to pray for us that God may open doors so that these victims may get food and drugs as well.

Finally I wish, you come back to Congo.  Thank you.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Rev Kasereka Kiharami Emmanuel

Congo Nishati Mpya = Congo New Energy

We are pleased to announce the creation of this new business venture in Butembo, DRC.  We are notably grateful for the local leadership of James Kataliko and for the inspiration of Patrick Cowles of Oregon to make this happen.

While pondering the immense needs of the Congolese after our third trip to eastern Congo, Brenda and I came to several conclusions, but foremost was that we needed to do something different.  Instead of the Congolese depending on charity and a non-existent government, we had a strong realization that they must be able to create their own wealth and this is best created by small business activities.  Constant war and exploitation has held them back economically, but we saw clear evidence that the entrepreneurial spirit was very strong and people yearned to be self-reliant.  We were repeatedly asked to become someone’s sponsor, which was short hand for “will you fund my new business venture”.  When much of our spare time was devoted to explaining the merit and functionality of drafting a business plan, it became crystal clear to us that Congo needs two key things.

First, Congo needs capital.  Most Westerners have forgotten that the basis of our capitalistic society is capital.  Someone had to save so someone can invest.  Throughout socialistic African cultures, the concept of saving in order to invest is defeated by the expectation that those with money will assist anyone in the village with a need.  This results in people spending their money as soon as they get it in order to avoid their obligation to help out a neighbour.  The unfortunate effect of having a culture which shares the wealth in this way is that the wealth becomes unavailable for investing.  In Congo’s case, what little people had was further eroded by war, government kleptocracy and the lack of the rule of law.

Second, Congo needs education and training on how to run businesses.  While they have the desire for self-reliance, proper governance and respectful management practices do not come naturally.

We realized that we could help with both of these items.

At this moment, I came across the work of Patrick’s Children in Uganda. Patrick Cowles has a heart for orphans in Uganda and created the Patrick’s Children ministry to support them.  With aid of Rotarians in Oregon, Patrick came up with the idea of providing orphanages with capital equipment capable of making wood briquettes for resale.  Using a small hydraulic jack with a circular form, briquettes can be produced using multiple organic sources: wood chips, saw dust, small twigs, paper, dry grass, charcoal fines.  Patrick’s Children is providing the necessary equipment for orphanages to produce briquettes and to then keep the profits.  Patrick essentially provided the capital and the training to allow the Ugandan orphanages to become self-reliant.

After corresponding with Patrick, I sought to take this general concept into Congo.  Kaluma Katembo of CSCODI offered his full support.  James Kataliko in Butembo enthusiastically agreed to lead the Congo side.  James and his colleague Richard travelled to one of Patrick’s orphanages in Jinja, Uganda to receive training and to pick up their equipment.  James planned out their production needs which included a small building.  The first briquettes have now been produced, although they need some drying time.  Richard will be the local manager.  (You can click on an image to expand it.)

Much like in Haiti, everyone in Congo depends on gathered wood to provide cooking heat.  This is leading to localized deforestation.  Wood briquettes require only water as an additive and so they make a lot of environmental sense.  With a sales price of roughly $.03 to $.05 per briquette but with the ability to make hundreds per day, once the capital costs have been deployed, Congo Nishati Mpya has the ability to generate a significant source of funds.

The agreed mandate of the company is to provide good local wages for multiple families while generating profit for the business.  50% of net profits will be maintained by the business for expansion while 50% will be used in support of charitable needs, initially for the CSCODI Mama Dorcas orphanage and the CSCODI school for orphans.

Access to bandwidth is a wonderful thing. Pictures have now been added to the original blog posts which you can click to expand. Video via our BensInCongo YouTube Channel will be added into the appropriate posts over the next few days.

Financial support for CME Nyankunde via Drs. Philip and Nancy Wood can be made through WEC via CanadaHelps. For ongoing information on CME Nyankunde, especially if you are in the UK, please visit the Friends of CME website.

Financial support for Healing Streams can also be made through CanadaHelps. The Brenda Ben Bursary Fund in support of educating promising students in Africa can receive donations through Healing Streams.

Quick access to earlier blog posts is available via the calendar on the left.

Key dates for reference:
Oct 22 – First post
Nov 24 – Depart Toronto (for real)
Nov 30 – Arrival in Congo
Dec 5 – Return to Bunia from Butembo
Dec 9 – Depart Congo

Thank-you again for your support and prayers.
Michael Ben
Brenda Ben

While the Congo election result is now being disputed, it is easy to forget that controversial election results are quite common. There are now demonstrations around the world with a large one scheduled for Kinshasa. The current results show incumbent Kabila winning over challenger Tshisekedi by 49% to 32%, but Tshisekedi (by all accounts a loose cannon) has declared himself president, something Al Gore never did against George Bush despite being urged to do so by some Democrats. Things will get ugly in parts of Kinshasa, although there is no expectation of violence in the east.

Kabila poster

The difficulty for the Congo Supreme Court is they are obliged to rule of the validity of the results by Tuesday (tomorrow) which leaves them no time to properly assess everything (ignoring the fact that Kabila appointed them all). A key factor on behalf of Kabila is that while fraud undoubtedly existed, his margin of victory is so big that someone would have to notice it. Yes, there was 101% voter turnout who voted 99% in favour of Kabila in his home province while the equivalent percentages in key Tshisekedi areas is around 60%. Yes, there are hundreds of ballot boxes missing from key Tshisekedi areas, but it doesn’t seem to add up to 17% of the vote (the total vote shortfall, 49% vs. 32%).

In Congo, the last five voters in a polling station are the ones who count the vote. Tshisekedi purposefully voted late so he could be a counter. By definition, it was his home poll, yet we heard that Kabila still received around 30% and Tshisekedi was happy with the local result. There will be objections, but I don’t see how Kabila will lose power.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city where we have had a great time. We’ll fly home tomorrow. No promises on timing, but we’ll try to promptly post pictures into earlier blog entries.

If you have any questions you’d like answered, post it as a comment on any blog entry and we’ll respond to the comment. Thanks for your interest!

After a smooth and uneventful flight on a Cessna Caravan, we are back in Entebbe. We had given ourselves a day cushion before our flight to Amsterdam Saturday night, but we fortunately did not need it.

On our way out of Congo (exit fees =$250), our bags were searched, apparently for gold, diamonds or weapons. I guess they don’t profile passengers in Congo very effectively.

Why they checked for our yellow fever vaccine certificate on the way out and not on the way in was another mystery.

What they did come across in their search was a small wood carving which suddenly needed an export document, despite being made from a common red wood. After some negotiations by Dr. Nancy Wood and a fortunately a ruling by another agent that we didn’t need a document, we passed through without being extorted for money.

UN helicopters at Bunia airport

Bunia from the air, looking south

The famous sign at Entebbe airport

The difference in Uganda from Congo is so striking. Electricity. Air conditioning. Paved roads. Maybe we just landed on another planet.

We are grateful to the The Co-operators for provided two notebooks for our use in Congo, which were then given to Joseph Rona Katawanga and to the head of the CME nursing school

Another visitor at the Wood's home, Ruth Wellard, from Guildford, UK, was teaching English to CME doctors and nurses

In the UN or Reconciliation market in Bunia, so called because it was created by the UN in support of the local minority tribe

Reconciliation market in Bunia, Orientale, DRC

As we wait for the election results, we are wrapping up our consulting work and are planning to leave Congo tomorrow for Uganda. We will catch a red eye flight to Amsterdam on Saturday night.

This was a productive day of interviewing people and starting the written draft of our report. Our work has come together well.

Elisha, Pastor Tsongo and Michael

Elisee Undehoso Okameli Isse Mundeke or Elisha, Assistant to the Executive Director at CME Nyankunde

Last Supper with the Woods (and the English class)

Here is an excerpt from a wonderful e-mail received today from an Anglican minister and husband to Mama Dorcas from the Butembo orphanage.
———————–
We were so delighted at your visit in Butembo most especially at the orphanage. I think you have experienced the life that orphans are living. But we thank God so much for having given us the spirit of compassion which has enable us to look after these victims regardless of the difficult issues we face over taking care for them.

Thank you very much for the prayers you prayed for me while I was hospitalised. God answered your prayers and now I feel well at home with my orphans. What a wonderful miracle that God has done through you.

Also we thank you very much for the assistance you gave to teachers and most especially food, soap, pots, sugar, cups, oil, parrafin, mattresses, torches and many things you offered to orphans. Now orphans are eating, sleeping, dancing, enjoying things you gave them. Thank you very very very much and God bless you and your children and all activities you are doing for people of God.

May God Bless your city, your country CANADA and everything you have.

We wish you a blessing trip wherever you will pass up to your home and greet all friends there on our behalf.

Revd Kasereka Kiharami Emmanuel and His wife Dorcas

The Congo wars had been progressing for a few years but the hospital known as CME Nyankunde had remained untouched. By far the best equipped hospital in north east Congo with 400 beds and 400 employees, there was a policy at the hospital of providing care to everyone. The Congo conflicts have been complex and fed by many factors in different parts of the country, but in the village of Nyankunde it was a local tribal conflict which was encouraged by the surrounding lawlessness.

The immediate trigger for the massacre at Nyankunde was a local chief who wanted to cleanse the village of 17,000 of another tribe. At his direction, 5,000 people were displaced out of the town and more were threatened. Further, this chief prevented access to the hospital, CME Nyankunde, to the other tribe, access which previously had been fully available. In retaliation, 100 heavily armed men of the displaced tribe with thousands of supporting tribesmen attacked Nyankunde on September 5, 2002. 1,500 were slaughtered, staff and patients alike. Although an innocent victim of the violence, the hospital was completely ransacked and destroyed. Many thousands fled through the jungle to the nearest large town of Oicha. There were six maternal deliveries made in the adjacent forests during the exodus.

Dr Philip Wood was at the hospital at the time. He heard the gun shoots, took in several people at his home for shelter and locked up his house. Gunmen banged on the door and demanded money and entrance. Dr Wood knew that entrance would mean the death of those he was hiding. He responded by saying he had no money there, that he wasn’t letting them in, but he would pray for them. After he closed his eyes to pray, he realized the gunmen had moved on.

The next day, Dr Wood learned that MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) had arranged evacuation flights out. Leaving his house, he saw scores of people he knew well lying dead on the ground. MAF took him to Bunia where he met with UN officials who, to put it mildly, were useless. Dr Wood proceeded to Oicha (just north of Beni) where he was instrumental in aiding the pre-existing patients and new casualties now streaming in from Nyankunde.

The town and hospital area was mined by the attacking tribal militia. (Who supplied them?) South African UN peacekeepers, who seem to be a completely different lot from the rest of the UN peacekeepers in Congo, eventually de-mined the town and residents slowly returned. But the village has yet to return to its former size.

CME rushed to re-establish the destroyed CME Nyankunde hospital in nearby Beni, expanding thereafter to Bunia. CME Nyankunde reopened in 2005 but as a shadow of its former self. The rebuilding undertaken since then has been impressive. A new building hosting operating room and intensive care facilities which is being funded by Samaritan’s Purse will be among the finest in the country.

Washing clothes as we approach Nyankunde

The beautiful drive into Nyankunde

Joseph Rona Katawanga met us in Nyankunde, along with the Nyankunde cashier

One of many buildings still destroyed

While much of Nyankunde has been rebuilt, much remains to be done

We had excellent discussions today with the Executive Director Dr Mike Upio Nzeni, universally known as Dr Mike. This impressive and brave doctor had relatives killed in the massacre and was the first doctor to return to Nyankunde. Dr Mike personally insisted that the South African soldiers teach him how to decommission hidden mines, claiming that Congolese need to be responsible for clearing the area, not foreigners.  At great personal risk, he proceeded to clear the hospital area of the lethal mines. Today he leads CME Nyankunde (succeeding Dr Wood) which from the ashes now has three hospitals, 240 beds, 270 employees, pharmacies, labs and hopes for significant expansions.

Dr. Mike Upio Nzeni, Executive Director of CME Nyankunde, or simply Dr. Mike

Looking down on Nyankunde. The largest building is the new operating room being built by Samaritan’s Purse.

Looking northwards from the hill behind Nyankunde

Dr. Mike showing us the new operating room under construction

A rebuilt but quieter ward

Chris Phillips, universally known as Tate (i.e. Auntie, a name of high respect). A physiotherapist from the UK, she has been volunteering at CME since 2008.

For more information on Chris, please visit the Friends of CME website:
http://www.friendsofcme.com/physio.php

A girl waving at us (being muzungu) while we drive through Nyankunde but notice the bullet holes

A quick stop at the market on the road back to Bunia

Michael Ben negotiating for mangoes on the road to Bunia

It wasn’t a happy dance like on pineapple purchases near Butembo, but a pleased girl nonetheless

Our drive to Nyankunde was made interesting as we caught up to a UN convoy of six troop carriers filled with soldiers in battle helmets. They are usually in blue berets. They stopped and jumped out at some local roadside houses, brandishing their guns straight ahead instead of the customary downwards and were all looking worried. It was probably a moment to take pictures when they couldn’t be bothered with us.

Behind a UN troop carrier (one of six) about to stop and make a raid

UN soldier involved with a raid (in centre of photo) with bystanders watching intently

Dr Philip Wood heard that four days ago, militia from NURL (National Ugandan Liberation Army) attacked a Congo army outpost near the road from Beni to Butembo in order to capture guns. Maybe this morning’s UN efforts were a counter seizure effort (we are roughly 120 km further north), but we have no idea.

When rebel militia returned to Nyankunde in 2008, a UN base was only 4 km away and in fact had been established there to be close to Nyankunde after the 2002 massacre. When asked for help, the local UN commander professed ignorance on where Nyankunde even was (straight down the road) and refused to send help (Rwanda anyone?). They only half heartedly acted when told that one of the CME Nyankunde staff was a Japanese citizen by sending enough vehicles to take out foreigners, but the Congolese (who were the ones being threatened on a tribal basis) were left to their own devices.

To watch the UN potentially being proactive was quite the surprise.

Unsurprising, election results have been delayed another two days. This creates an unusual situation as there is no constitutional provision for such a delay and the government can’t legally function, contributing to the uncertainly.

Meanwhile, with police clashing with demonstrators in Ottawa and Toronto over the Congo election, we have heard more about violence in Canada than about any violence in this part of Congo.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/12/06/toronto-protests-congo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/12/06/ottawa-congo-demonstration.html