Katherine and Wayne serve as seconded missionaries to Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA).  Wayne serves as the in-country liaison officer with IMA for financial and accounting matters.  Additionally, Wayne has been helping Congolese people through a development project to grow more food. Katherine is working with a group of Congolese Christian professionals in training community leaders, urban and rural, to be promoters of health in their communities. 

 

Wayne writes: It is now the dry season in Congo and during the dry season the weather gets cooler.  Cool weather means folks can grow vegetables that would not thrive in the rainy season’s heat.  And vegetable growers will want to grow EGGPLANT!  I can’t stand eggplant.  I don’t like its purple color; its chalky, pulpy interior, and especially its woody flavor!  

In our Devru project we help folks who live near urban markets learn how to grow vegetables because it is very profitable.  We teach them how to prepare a seed bed, how to sow tiny vegetable seeds, and how to care for the growing crop.  We often provide them basic tools:  watering can, a rake and a hoe to prepare the soil.  Finally, we give them seeds to get them started and invariably they insist on growing, among other things, EGGPLANT!

I rejoice in women being able to produce tomatoes, carrots, onions, lettuce, and green pepper for sale in local markets, often for the first time.  Folks hard pressed to earn $30 a month can suddenly earn several hundred. Their families also benefit from having more nutritious food. But WHY eggplant?

When I visit areas where Devru funds are being put to good use teaching folks how to grow vegetables, I grimly survey beds of eggplant (among other vegetables) aware I was an accomplice.  Try as I may I can’t dissuade folks from growing eggplant.  It sells well in local markets for reasons I am beginning to understand.

Pondu, an important vegetable dish served in Congo, is similar to boiled spinach. A good friend, Kihomi, makes a particularly delicious pondu so tasty I insisted she come over and show us her technique.  On the appointed day, she arrived with all of the necessary ingredients:  a large quantity of Cassava leaves, palm oil, onions, hot peppers, and eggplant.  “What’s the eggplant doing here?”  I asked.  “Oh, you can’t make good pondu with out eggplant.  Pondu takes lots and lots of eggplant!”

So it is with an air of resignation that I use funds you send our way to help my Congolese brothers and sisters grow more food knowing that a small portion will be used to grow EGGPLANT.  Despite me, the Lord is blessing their efforts, so for their sake and on their behalf I thank you.

• Pray fro Katherine and Wayne as they minister for Christ in Congo.
• Pray for the continuing success of the Devru project in helping the Congolese people overcome poverty by having an income from crops they grow.