First Bayaka (Pygmy) to Graduate from Lutheran Bible School in Central African Republic

Please pray for Paul and Pamela Madoukou, members of the Bayaka (Pygmy) people of southwestern Central African Republic (CAR).  Paul and Pamela are the first Bayaka to study at the Lutheran Bible School in Baboua. They are training in Bible, human rights, agriculture, and health.  When they return home after their graduation this coming December, they will be capable of teaching their fellow Bayaka in their own Bayaka language. 

The Madoukous are from Banza, a village 14 kilometers (8.5 miles) from Nola, the capital of Sanga-Mbéré Prefecture.  This region of CAR is rain forest, populated by the Mbémo and Gbianda peoples, as well as the Bayaka, who live in the forest.  The Bayaka are nomads who hunt animals and gather wild food.  They are often discriminated against and are frequently unemployed. When they work as domestics, field laborers, or hunt animals for someone, they are not well-paid.  Paul Madoukou tells of an example of this discrimination: "When I was a child, I played soccer with my Mbémo friends.  After the game, they accused me of stealing 500 francs (about $1).  Their parents put me in jail for two days."

Since 1992, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of CAR has sponsored an evangelism program among the Bayaka, and has created a Bayaka-speaking congregation in Banza.  Many of them have been baptized.  Every Sunday they hear the Gospel.  Their children are now going to school.  This program has helped the native ethnic groups and local authorities to understand that the Bayaka Pygmies and all people are created by God, and that they are entitled to the same human rights as everyone else. 

(This article was written by Pastor Patrice Mbere, professor of New Testament at the Lutheran Bible School of Baboua, CAR.) 

 

Photo: The first Bayaka student at the Lutheran Bible School in Baboua, CAR, together with his wife Pamela and their son Joseph.

 

Happy Mothers Day from the Central African Republic!

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and grandmothers reading this blog! We'd like to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the Central African Republic, as well, even though the official date of celebration here in CAR is later this month.

 

The Central African Republic is the country with the highest maternal death rate in Africa. According to a U.N. report issued in March, 1,355 mothers die per 100,000 live births. Under-five mortality is 176 deaths per 1,000 live births and infant mortality 106 deaths per 1,000 live births. (For more details see United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) http://ochaonline.un.org/humanitarianappeal/webpage.asp?Page=1918).

 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic, along with its partners in the U.S. and Europe, is helping by running two medical clinics – one in Gallo in western CAR, and one in Bohong, in the northwest. These clinics offer pre-natal care which can help prevent maternal and infant deaths, along with modern delivery rooms and post-natal check-ups for infants.

The same U.N. report states that, in addition to malaria, water-borne diseases are one of the major afflictions suffered by Central Africans. PASE, (the French acronym for the church's water management project), is constructing spring boxes to provide safe drinking water for villagers. This is an inexpensive, sustainable method for providing clean water. Each spring box costs an average of only $2000, but can provide water for hundreds of villagers for decades with little or no maintenance required. Since it is usually the women of the household who fetch water for the family, what better gift to give for Mother's Day than the gift of clean water? 

If you want to help, contact Rev. Twila Schock, Director for Global Mission Support, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. Telephone: 773.380.2641, Twila.Schock@elca.org

 

Photo: Anastasie Feikomo and her infant, Deborah, face a brighter future because of literacy and health classes offered by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR. She is the wife of future pastor, Vincent Mathieu Sodea. Both Anastasie and Vincent are students of Pastor Deborah Troester, instructor at the Theological School of Baboua, CAR.

 

Joe and Deborah Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, the Central African Republic. Pastor Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua. Joe serves as technical advisor for PASE, which provides clean drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation to villagers. Their daughter, Christa, attends eighth grade at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon.