Dear Friends,

With a mixture of delight and ambivalence, Mrs. Rita, the nutritionist at the Kintambo Health Center, unpacked several large boxes donated by UNICEF.They contained medicine and supplies for more aggressive care of children with malnutrition.Rita and her staff would now have large, stainless steel cooking pots for preparing protein rich corn/soy porridge, scales for monitoring the children's weight gain, and medicines for treating infections commonly seen in malnourished children.Mrs. Rita, a trained nutritionist, and daughter of a Congolese Baptist pastor, has been working at the Kintambo Health Center almost voluntarily for more than a year.She loves her profession, and the children with whom she works, but her ambivalence over this new equipment is founded.Only last week she admitted little Loya to the nutrition center for the second time in as many months.Several days with diarrhea had again critically reduced her fragile nutritional status, and Loya's grandmother couldn't cope.Loya comes from Camp Luka, not far from the Kintambo Health Center.She was relatively healthy when she went home.Loya's return to the health center insists to us that it takes more to impact malnutrition than medicines and diets rich in protein and calories.Because of the complexities of the causes of malnutrition, we planned a visit to Camp Luka keen on gaining some insight.

With Dr. Jerry (medical director of the Kintambo Health Center) and Mrs. Rita as my guides, we made this first visit by taxi.Leaving from the taxi stand in the busy Kintambo market place, the taxis lined up looked much the same: rusted, patched together, often windowless, some dragging hunks of chassis.We got into one, which groaned under our weight.Strips of tape and wire held the remnants of the bumper in place.With no way to secure a license plate, the taxi circulated without one.The chauffeur looked as dilapidated as his vehicle.His name was Papa Mbula (Mr. Rain), an appropriate name, for his vehicle sagged under a cracked and decaying sun roof, so rain regularly soaked the car seats.Papa Mbula employed a special technique to close the car doors as a group of guys pushed the taxi to start it.Secured inside by bits of banding iron on the door latches, we set off.However, as if in spite, as we rattled down the road, the taxi doors spontaneously swung open as we rounded the first corner.We almost dumped Rita into the street.On the second corner, we learned a method of catching the door and securing it, just as it started to open, and by the time we got to Camp Luka, we were expert door stabilizers.At the taxi stop on the dusty outskirts of Camp Luka, we counted ourselves to make sure all 3 of us were still aboard before paying our fare.

The narrow, sandy, roads of Camp Luka bristled with people.Cement store fronts and bamboo stalls selling sundries encroached onto the path.There are few ways to make a living in Kinshasa.People hope for gainful employment (which is rare), they buy and resell consumable goods, or they steal.Though mid-morning, on a school day, I don't remember ever seeing so many children. Some scampered after creatively homemade balls; others picked through clutter, another group quarreled vociferously, while a bunch more played make believe market place.No one paid them any particular attention to the children as cars and dust flew.One very young girl, in a faded, thin dress, sat by herself under a stand selling soap, cigarettes, and matches.She busied herself plopping hard tiny green lemons into a rusty tomato paste can, only to dump them out again.It didn't appear as if she belonged to anyone. Children called to Mrs. Rita as we walked by, recognizing her as the one who dishes up their porridge at the nutrition center and Rita knew many of their stories: how children's nutritional needs easily get neglected in the shuffle the city life.

We eventually arrived at one of the community churches where we met Alex, a lab tech and evangelist.With Rita, Alex attended the training of trainer's workshop in Community Health Evangelism that we held last January.Like Rita, he is involved in the community because he works in a small clinic organized by several of his Christian medical friends who felt burdened by the lack of medical care in the community.In a small courtyard a group of 15 leaders waited for us: a school director, 3 pastors, a school teacher, a sewing teacher, and others.They had a sincere compassion for the misery faced by so many of their neighbors and came together with a desire to tackle some of the problems which often overwhelm them.We talked about malnutrition and why children are hungry.Lack of money was a factor in a country where unemployment is 90%.Young men and women go down town in Kinshasa each day seeking temporary labor for minimal wages while their children wander the streets.Children eat white bread and soft drinks – both cheaper and more accessible than milk and peanuts.Few affordable sources of protein increase the challenge of feeding children.Few have land to garden.Pregnancy in young teens is common.Loya's mother is 16.In all likelihood, she grew up in the same impoverished conditions.Illiteracy rates are high.During the political unrest in Congo this decade, schools were closed for a couple years.Alcohol (especially beer and palm wine) are a pervasive business totally disruptive to social order.There is a church on every street corner, but none of them are addressing the problems through which malnutrition flourishes.

Since that first visit to Camp Luka, we have made several more.The group has lots to learn about how to reach the community and mobilize them around malnutrition, and other common health issues.Rita and Alex are prepared to accompany them in the task, as they count on the word of God for inspiration and the Holy Spirit for the wisdom and courage.It is the Good News of Jesus Christ that will transform the problem of malnutrition as people begin to understand and believe in their maker and creator.

When you give to the World Mission offering, lives in Congo can be touched for Jesus.Your gifts enable God's word to be put into action through International Ministries in places like Camp Luka.Thank you for giving.Your partnership through your gifts and your prayers brings hope to our Congolese brothers and sisters.This year again, abound in hope, and give generously to the World Mission offering.

In Christ,

Wayne and Katherine Niles