Monday, February 20, 2012

Life is Raw

Most days life in Kinshasa is challenging, at best. The hyper-urban setting creates such a tension in just about every single interaction and moment. My reactions to the challenge vary; some days I drive about and think "life here is such an adventure"......not that it's easy - but I can enjoy the adrenaline rush of the place. Other days the "adventure" is not quite so.......stimulating. Instead I can feel a bit "beat up" by life....tired, annoyed, just longing for one, little thing to be relatively "easy" to accomplish.

Today I was struck by how "raw" life can be here. I realize how much we have been able to sanitize basic life in the U.S. (or in about any "developed" country). We sanitize certain actions or interactions by having laws in effect that help us, for the most part, to have some self-control.....when these laws are followed (whether because of a sense of common decency or a sense of just not wanting to get into trouble) certain behavior can be somewhat expected. We sanitize our environment by having zoning laws, littering laws, even noise laws. We even sanitize sanitation......with our consistent running water and indoor toilets, drainage ditches that actually....DRAIN (imagine that!!).

And we sanitize death - for the most part, death happens in hospitals, hospices, of if in the home, usually under the direction of home healthcare professionals. When death happens spontaneously we have immediate responders who arrive. They cover up a body, they clean up the scene of a crime or accident......barriers are put up until the area is cleaned so that people don't have to, or can't, see the signs of death. And believe me - I am for all these types of sanitation - they make life more pleasant, they even make the unpleasant parts of life more bearable, not so "in your face."

Today I was struck by how unsanitized or "raw" life is. While driving through the crowded city to our bible school, we suddenly found ourselves in a traffic jam where normally there wasn't one - at that time of day. We crept along and eventually arrived at an intersection where there had been an accident. The major "signs" of the accident were gone - there was no vehicle, no bodies......but on the ground, right in the crosswalk at the side of the road, there was a lot of broken glass........blood.......and what appeared to be part of a brain. Please excuse the grossness of that last sentence, but that's the truth. There were several of us in the car and honestly - I think there was brain matter in the crosswalk. And then, very poignantly, next to it, was a baseball hat......and around this scene were pedestrians, trying to cross the boulevard. Stepping around the "organic matter", just trying to get to where they needed to go.

Life is raw, death is raw, this blog post is raw......Welcome to Kinshasa. I think of biblical times.....When Jesus was on the earth it seems like life was pretty unsanitized as well. He was confronted with lepers who were cast out of society, he went to funerals that were held in homes, he saw hunger, death, and suffering up close and personal. And He continued His journey of spreading hope, loving despite the difficulties, and making a difference. He is my inspiration!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Holistic Witness


Churches are so important in community life - this is something that is particularly true in many African cultures. They touch a huge part of the population every week with their activities and services. Public health experts have, for years, known that if you really want to make a change - get the religious community involved!

I've been working with a church that has a vision of being a "holistic witness." They wanted to address the very real and present dang
er of malaria - which has killed many within their community - as a way to show people the love of God.

Because of a financial donation I was able to buy 500 mosquito nets and train church volunteers on malaria prevention and proper use of the nets. The pastor gave
the volunteers a short devotional to use while distributing the nets; tying the action of malaria prevention with God's love and His desire for us to be healthy.

The only requirement for a home to receive a net was that there needed to be a child under the age of 5 in the home and/or a pregnant woman (these are the two populations
the most at risk for death by malaria). People were not required to accept Christ, come to the church, or even hear the devotional if they didn't want to. But the goal was to let people know that they were loved by God.

Last week I returned to the church community to see how the project went. The energy and excitement of the volunteers was obvious as they talked about going door to door, teaching on malaria, handing out nets, and telling people about God's love.

As we walked around the community, visiting a few homes that had received nets, it was obvious that the project on been a success - for both the church and the community. Everywhere we went the volunte
ers were known, greeted people by name and could tell a story about that particular family. They were obviously well received and appreciated as people came up to greet them. Many individuals talked about how much they appreciated the church being involved in their daily, regular lives.

The pastor reported that, despite the church having no "church'y" criteria to receive a net, that every Sunday approximately 40 new people have been coming to church, because of the program. He also said that there were several families that had been very antagonistic with towards the church. But those families happened to have small children in them, so the church gave them nets and told them God loved them. It transformed their relationships and the disputes have stopped. The families still d
on't go to church - but they suddenly see it as a positive presence in their lives.

Change......Transformation.......one person at a time......one relationship at a time. Inward change can and should produces outward results......and sometimes outward change produces inward results. A holistic witnesss - it's what we're all about!!