The Young Women's Scholarship Program in the Central African Republic

In the Central African Republic (CAR), barely half the population can read or write and only 22% of women are literate.   The Young Women's Scholarship Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) aims to improve the level of women's education.  Girls who have successfully completed elementary school are eligible to compete for scholarships which will fund their education through the high school level. 

 

Pastor Rachel Doumbai of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in CAR (EELRCA) and I recently visited thirteen of these girls, aged 11-18.  They are studying at the Catholic Technical High School, a boarding school in Maigaro, in western CAR near the city of Bouar.  Reine and Delphine (photo above) are two of the four girls who will graduate in May and hope to continue their studies this fall.

 

Reine wishes to study law, and perhaps become a lawyer or a judge.  Delphine plans to study biology at the university, then go on to medical school to become a doctor.  In a country where infant mortality is near 20% and the average life expectancy is around 40 years, Delphine will certainly be able to make a difference if she achieves her goals. 

 

All thirteen of these girls are extraordinary; in the CAR it is unusual for a girl to finish elementary school, much less graduate from high school or university.  ELCA and its partner church, the EELRCA, are doing their part to encourage girls to stay in school and to become community leaders.  If you wish to make a gift that will bear fruit for many years to come in one of the most impoverished nations of the world, please send it to ELCA Global Mission at the following address.

 

Rev. Twila Schock

Director for Global Mission Support

8765 West Higgins Road

Chicago, IL  60631

Telephone:  773.380.2641

Twila.Schock@elca.org

www.elca.org

 

Checks should be made out to ELCA Global Mission and labeled "Young Women's Scholarship CAR."

 

Thank you very much!

 

Deborah

 

Joe and Deborah Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, the Central African Republic.   Pastor Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua.  She also works with the FCC (Women for Christ) and the Village School Project to improve communication between the CAR and the United States. Joe serves as technical advisor for PASE, which provides clean drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation to villagers.

 

Emmanuel Health Clinic in Gallo, Central African Republic

Tuesday (January 19) was the inauguration of the Emmanuel Health Clinic in Gallo in the western Central African Republic. Deborah and I attended the event along with some 2000 others, including representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Germany, Hermannsburg (OELM), Global Health Ministries (GHM), and Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry (LPGM).   Until now the health needs in Gallo and the surrounding villages have only been served by a small Lutheran dispensary, with the nearest hospital an hour away over a dirt road full of potholes.  The Emmanuel Health Clinic boasts a modern operating theater, laboratory, maternity ward and 18 beds.  The opening of this clinic will greatly boost health care in this underserved, poverty-stricken region. 

For humanity as a whole, the health improvements achieved since 1960 have been unprecedented. In the past 50 years, mortality among children under five years old has dropped by two-thirds world-wide. There are a few countries, such as the CAR, where these improvements have not occurred. According to the United Nations, the CAR is in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis, with the population shrinking due to lack of medical care, insecurity, and economic collapse. The CAR is currently third from the bottom (out of 182 countries) in the Human Development Index. Despite this, little humanitarian service—in terms of money, personnel, or supplies—has flowed into this country. 

In CAR, roughly 300 to 400 excess deaths occur each day due to the lack of a functioning health system. The country's security problems and poor infrastructure are not the greatest barriers to relief and development, rather the biggest limit is lack of global interest. If we want to improve the lives of the poorest citizens on our planet, perhaps CAR, where the barriers to doing good are small and the potential to do good is large, would be a great place to start.   Small efforts, such as the Emmanuel Health Clinic, will make a huge difference in a corner of the world that has been neglected for too long. 

The photo above shows Deborah translating for Pastor Tim Iverson, Executive Director of Global Health Ministries, during the inauguration ceremony.

Joe and Deborah Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, the Central African Republic.   Pastor Deborah teaches at the Lutheran Theological School in Baboua.  Joe serves as technical advisor for PASE, which provides clean drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation to villagers.

New Clothes for the New Year

One of the beautiful things in Africa is the locally made fabric and all of the clothing made from it. Cotton has been grown in this part of Africa since before independence. The local cotton was made into cloth and is dyed the old-fashioned way in small batches. Consequently, churches and other organizations can have fabric specially made for an event. They then sell the fabric and often everyone has clothing made from the same material.

 

The Women for Christ in Central Africa (FCC) have just released their 2010 fabric (see photo above). Women from all Lutheran Churches in the Central African Republic will be buying the material and then trying to outdo each other in the style of their clothing. The goal is for the women who attend the 2010 Women for Christ Conference in February to demonstrate their solidarity by all wearing the FCC fabric.

 

Joe

 

Joe and Deborah Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, the Central African Republic.   Pastor Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua.  She also works with the FCC and the Village School Project to improve communication between Central Africa and the United States. Joe serves as technical advisor for PASE, which provides clean drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation to villagers.