African Water Log

The Star-Struck Magi

2012-01-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

The 6^th of January, Epiphany, is a day that is sometimes not associated with the Christmas holidays, (unless you are Puerto Rican). I was born and spent my childhood in Puerto Rico where El Día de los Reyes (Three King's Day) is just as important as Christmas. Traditionally, this was the day of gift-giving while Christmas was a religious holiday.

But of course Epiphany is not only celebrated in Puerto Rico. This year my school's annual drama performance was a rendition of "Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare. Twelfth night is another name for Epiphany, as it is the twelfth night after Christmas. This play was first performed on the celebration of Twelfth Night in Elizabethan England, hence the name.

So Epiphany is the day when people celebrate the arrival of the Magi to Bethlehem. It isn't the same as Christmas because they came approximately two years after Jesus' birth, when his star had appeared in the sky. That means that they did not come the same night as the shepherds, and they did not come to a stable (as many nativity scenes would have us believe).

Something one must ask though is what on earth were Magi doing in Bethlehem? Historically, Magi were priests of Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion. They were known for being magicians who had the ability to interpret omens and dreams and offered sacrifices to the stars and planets. They were sort of astrologers because they were said to keep watch from generation to generation for a star that would appear and indicate the arrival of a savior. In any case, they certainly weren't Jewish. So how could the star they followed to their Savior have been the same Messiah that had been promised to the Jews?

A star is, after all, just a ball of burning gas far, far away from the earth. How could it guide people? I don't know much about stars, but I know that if you started to follow one, you would be led in circles as it traveled from east to west and then back again the next day. So how were the Magi able to follow a star all the way to Bethlehem? Moreover, how did it stop and stay right over Joseph and Mary's house?

We know little about the Magi who left their comfortable lives to go to Bethlehem. Savior or not, it's still a pretty crazy thing to do. It's not like there was a paved, six-lane highway from Persia to Judah. Their journey shows that they were truly devoted to God and to this Savior that had come to the world, so much that they were ready to go wherever that star led so that they could worship him.

Jesus Christ came as a baby to be the Savior of all nations and peoples and races on earth. The Magi are a clear representation of this wonderful fact. "There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles; God is the same Lord of all and richly blesses all who call to him." (Romans 10:12)

The God who created a star to guide the Magi all the way to the Savior and made it stop above him, is the same God who calls each and every one of us "go" and to let our going be an act of worship to him. He is the same God who, long ago, slid off of his mother's lap to touch a huge heavy jeweled box with his tiny hands and looked up as rich kings with long beards and flowing robes knelt before him in worship.

Written by Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Hand-carved Wise Men from Bouar, Central African Republic, photographed in front of traditional Cameroonian indigo-dyed cotton fabric.

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

Central African Republic: seeking advisor to education programs

2011-12-29T05:15:00.000-08:00

Looking for a job where you can make a real difference in the lives of people? Consider the following position with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and come join our team in the CAR.

Provide assistance, guidance and perspective to the directors and staff of the literacy, Christian education and village education programs in the Central African Republic. Literacy and community development background or training preferred. For more information, visit www.elca.org/globalserve/search and enter keyword "Central African Republic."

There are many other positions available on this website as well. You do not have to be Lutheran to apply.

Photo: Young girl taking notes during class in a Village School, Lokoti-Yalewen, Central African Republic.

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

Merry Christmas from the Central African Republic

2011-12-25T01:24:00.000-08:00

Ndjoni Matanga ti Noël!

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Nouvelle Année!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr!

¡Feliz Navidad, Próspero Año Nuevo, y Feliz Día de los Reyes!

From Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: The Troesters in Central Africa, Christmas 2011.

Celebrating National Day in the Central African Republic

2011-12-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

This past week the Central African Republic celebrated its 51^st year of independence. National Day, December 1^st, is observed each year with parades, speeches, soccer matches, and other festivities, including a boat race with giant dug-out canoes in the Oubangui River in Bangui.

In Baboua, where we live, a parade was held, which included majorettes, motorcycles, school children, the Tai Kwan Do Club, and many other organizations. This year the parade was held on the newly-paved main street, which is also the major route from Cameroon to the capital of Bangui. This marks the first year we have had any paved roads in Baboua, or anywhere in the western region of CAR, outside of the main city of Bouar.

As we end 2011 and get ready to begin a new year, things are looking brighter than they have at any time during the past eight years since the 2003 coup. Peaceful elections were held in January, with the run-off elections in March, and peace agreements have been made with nearly all the former rebels in the country. A "Caravan for Peace" has been traveling through the troubled northeastern region, and opposing groups there have recently concluded a peace agreement as a result. The U.S. has sent advisors to help stop the predations of the Lord's Resistance Army, which has been causing trouble in the far eastern regions of the country.

If a country is at peace, then progress toward development can be made. In most regions of the country, farmers have returned to their fields and are enjoying good harvests. Roads are being paved, and children have returned to school. CAR still needs a lot of help, but the country can look forward to 2012 with optimism that at least the country is relatively free of violence and insecurity. If the peace holds, maybe even some measure of prosperity can come to this impoverished, but resource-rich nation. Let us pray that it may be so.

Photo: Flag-raising at the opening of the National Day Celebration in Baboua, Central African Republic. High school students stand at attention as a soldier salutes the flag.

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

Global Handwashing Da--2011

2011-10-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

October 15 is Global Hand-Washing Day. Why have a day dedicated to the prosaic act of washing one's hands? Because hand-washing holds the key to preventing many serious diseases both at home and around the world. Remember when your mom told you to wash your hands before eating? It was good advice. According to the International Water Institute (Stockholm), evidence shows that diarrheal illnesses may be reduced by 45 per cent by washing hands with soap after using the toilet and before eating. Many other diseases can be passed from one person to another by people who don't wash their hands. Hand-washing is considered to be an important defense against the spread of cholera, typhoid, and even the common flu virus, among other diseases.

PASE, the Water Management Project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic (CAR), is working to provide clean drinking water to villages in the CAR and also to teach good hygiene practices to villagers, such as the importance of hand-washing. Providing clean water is only one part of preventing water-borne diseases. Hand-washing is a crucial element in the equation.

This year PASE will be constructing latrines and hand-washing stations at schools and health centers in CAR in order help the "hand-washing habit" to take root.

Photo: Marie Gbayina pours water for Rodrigue Koulagne to wash his hands.

Troester Home Assignment Repor--2011

2011-10-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

We have returned to Africa from an enjoyable, but exhausting three month tour of the United States. We were able to visit our friends, relatives, and supporters in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We had 30 separate engagements, including visiting 18 different congregations plus attending the ELCA Caribbean Synod Assembly in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands and a Leadership Event at the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. The response to our presentations was positive and enthusiastic.

Now we are back in Africa. Christa has started 9^th grade at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Deborah has returned to teaching future Lutheran pastors and their wives at the Baboua School of Theology in the Central African Republic. Joe continues his work with water; however, the organization he works with is now the joint recipient with Mercy Corps of a major grant from the European Union. As always, more money means more paperwork.

We want to thank all of the people that helped us with our travels, by providing delicious homemade specialties, giving us a comfortable place to sleep, and patiently listening to our stories and presentations. We made many new friends and renewed many old acquaintances. We look forward to seeing you all again when we next return to the States in 2013. Below is a detailed list of all our engagements.

Presentations in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

· June 23 to 25: We attended the ELCA Caribbean Synod Assembly in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Deborah preached and we gave a presentation about our work in the Central African Republic.

· June 26, Sunday morning: Deborah preached at the Union Church of San Juan, Puerto Rico and we gave a presentation afterwards.

· June 28, Tuesday morning: Deborah gave a presentation at the Women's Bible Study at the Union Church of San Juan.

· July 3, Sunday morning: Deborah preached at Grace Lutheran Church in San Juan, Puerto Rico and we gave a presentation afterwards.

· July 10, Sunday morning: Deborah preached at her home congregation, First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale, Illinois.

· July 16, Saturday evening: Deborah preached and we gave a presentation at the contemporary service of the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Illinois.

· July 17, Sunday morning. Deborah preached both services at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Peoria, Illinois. We gave a presentation between the two services.

· July 20, Wednesday evening: We attended a potluck and gave a presentation at Christ Community Lutheran Church in Columbia, Illinois.

· July 21, Thursday evening: We attended a dinner and gave a presentation for First Presbyterian Church (Carbondale, Illinois) at Giant City Lodge.

· July 25 to 29: We attended the ELCA Summer Mission Conference at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

· July 31, Sunday evening: We attended a potluck and gave a presentation at a Mission Fair hosted by Epiphany Lutheran Church in Carbondale, Illinois. The Fair was held jointly with Calvary Lutheran Church in De Soto, First Lutheran Church in Murphysboro, First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale, and Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jonesboro.

· August 10, Wednesday evening: I attended a potluck and gave a presentation at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Venice, Florida.

· August 11, Thursday afternoon and evening, I gave three presentations at Living Word Lutheran Church in Katy, Texas; the first presentation for the children at the church day camp, the second for the high school students, and the third for the adults.

· August 12, Friday morning: I attended and gave a presentation for the CAR Committee of the ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod

· August 12, Friday evening: I attended a potluck and gave a presentation at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.

· August 13, Saturday: I attended and gave a presentation at the Synod Leadership Summit in Brenham, Texas.

· August 14, Sunday morning: I gave a presentation at a potluck at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

· August 17, Wednesday morning: I attended and gave a presentation to the Minneapolis Synod Water Committee. In addition to my work in the CAR, we discussed their work in Nigeria.

· August 17, Wednesday afternoon: I met with Mark Warpmaeker, Executive Director Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry.

· August 18, Thursday afternoon: I met with Tim Iverson, Executive Director and Scott Lien of Global Health Ministries.

· August 21, Sunday morning: I preached three times at the First Lutheran Church in Williston, North Dakota. I gave two presentations: the first was between the second and third services and the second was after the third service.

· August 22, Monday morning: I attended and gave a presentation at the WNDWELCA board meeting at Bread of Life Church in Minot, North Dakota.

· August 22, Monday evening: I attended a potluck of tatter-tot hot dishes and gave a presentation at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Rolla, North Dakota.

· August 23, Tuesday evening: I gave a presentation at the Park River Bible Camp for United Lutheran Church in Cavalier, Zion Lutheran in Hoople, United Lutheran in Langdon, and Our Savior's Lutheran in Park River

· August 24, Wednesday afternoon: I attended the Global Mission committee meeting of the Eastern North Dakota Synod at Peace Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dakota.

· August 24, Wednesday evening: I attended a potluck and gave a presentation at Peace Lutheran Church in Fargo.

· August 25, Thursday afternoon: I gave a presentation at a nursing home in Hillsboro, North Dakota.

· August 25, Thursday evening: I gave a presentation at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, North Dakota.

· August 27, Saturday evening: I gave a presentation at First Lutheran Church in Litchville. North Dakota. This was a joint presentation for First Lutheran Church in Litchville, Marion Lutheran Church in Marion, Spring Creek Lutheran Church in Hastings, and Trinity Lutheran Church in Litchville.

· August 28, Sunday morning: I gave a presentation for Mission Sunday at Milnor Lutheran Church in Milnor, North Dakota.

Deborah and Joe 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 ninth grade at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

School Set to Start in Central African Republic

2011-10-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

This week signals the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year in the Central African Republic. The Village School program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church is gearing up to serve over 4,000 students in 20 schools, nearly all of them in villages where students have no other educational opportunities. Both Muslim and Christian students attend these schools, which are vital to educational development in this country where barely half of the population is literate. Girls in particular often do not attend school because parents do not want to send their daughters to distant schools. Having a school right in their village encourages parents to send their daughters to school, as well as their sons.

The project is largely funded through gifts from congregations and individuals in the United States. Parents contribute, but with a median family income of barely $2.00 a day, these monetary contributions are rather modest. Parents construct the school and a simple home for the teacher, usually out of sun-dried mud bricks and grass for a thatch roof. Then Village Schools sends a trained teacher (or teachers), along with educational materials to hold classes. If the parents are willing to help, Village Schools will construct a permanent building, using cement and fired clay bricks. At least one remote village has collected all the materials necessary for construction of a permanent school and is waiting for funds to commence building. Another permanent school building is already nearing completion in the town of Baboua. If you wish to help, contact Rev. Twila Schock, Director for Global Mission Support and Global Gifts, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631, Telephone: 773.380.2641, FAX: 773.380.2410, Twila.Schock@elca.org, www.elca.org.

Photo: Village School Director Etienne Yaïman hands out new books and notebooks to students at the Village School office in Baboua, Central African Republic.

Feeding the Five Thousand

2011-09-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

The gospel passage this morning, "The Feeding the Five Thousand" is the material of Sunday School lessons that many of us heard when we were children. It was a nice story, with pretty pictures of Jesus, his disciples, and the crowds on a flannel graph.

But the writers of the gospels gave this simple story incredible importance. Aside from the resurrection, it is the only miracle that appears in all four Gospels. And if that was not enough, Matthew and Mark repeat the miracle as the feeding of the four thousand. Just in case you did not get the point the first time.

In the text immediately prior to today's reading in Matthew, Jesus learns that Herod has had John the Baptist beheaded at the request of Herod's daughter. That whole story is sick. Evil had triumphed and when Jesus hears this news he went off by himself in a boat to, what the bible refers to as, a deserted place.

We don't know why Jesus went to this deserted place by himself, perhaps to grieve, perhaps to pray, perhaps he himself was fearful of Herod, or perhaps to meditate on his own impending death. For whatever reason, Jesus wanted to be alone. What do we do when it appears that evil has triumphed?

Biblical Galilee was densely populated. Consequently, it was difficult to go somewhere unobserved. People saw Jesus get in the boat. They saw which direction He when. And a crowd of 5,000 men and uncounted women and children followed. Again, we do not know why they followed Jesus. Perhaps the crowds were expecting a declaration of revolution. Perhaps they just wanted a dinner and a show. But whatever the reason, these poor peasants from Galilee followed Jesus with all their needs and all their suffering.

When Jesus saw the crowd, the scripture says he had compassion for them. That would not be my reaction to being found by a crowd of thousands when I wanted to be alone, but it was His. Jesus saw the crowd. He saw the sick. He saw the need. And out of what he had he gave of himself and healed the sick. He met the need.

Towards evening, the disciples came to Jesus and said, "It's late. The people are hungry. Tell them to go someplace else and get some food." The disciples had been with Jesus and had learned to see the needs of people. They saw that the people were hungry and they proposed a solution. "God, you fix it! You tell them what to do."

Then Jesus told the disciples, "You give them something to eat." The disciples had exactly 5 loaves and 2 fish. All they had for their own supper. They knew that they could not feed thousands of people. They were overwhelmed by what they saw and the seeming insufficient resources at their disposal. Jesus was asking them to give away their own meager supplies. He asked them to risk it all, to take a chance on extravagant generosity.

Jesus took what the disciples had, their 5 loaves and 2 fish and he prayed. He blessed and broke the loaves. He gave them away. And everyone ate and was filled. There were even 12 baskets of food left over, one for each disciple. God's abundance was more than enough to meet everyone's needs.

The kingdom of God had come upon all of them that day. The mustard seed had somehow grown into a giant tree.

On that day when Jesus wanted to be alone, he saw a need and gave of himself to heal the sick and meet the need. Later the disciples saw a need and, with the help of Jesus, they more than met the needs of the hungry people in that deserted place. This story reminds me of the ELCA tagline, "God's work, our hands."

In addition, Jesus taught the disciples, that whatever they had would be more than enough in collaboration with Christ. The disciples were learning to cast their lots with Jesus, to risk what they had in His service. The disciples were being invited to invest their all.

More than a decade ago, I, like Jacob in this morning's scripture, was struggling with God. As a result of my struggles, I did what I had actually wanted to do for many years. I traveled to Haiti. I wanted to see that country for myself. I wanted to learn about the people. I wanted to see their needs. As a geologist, who specializes in ground-water resources, I wanted to know what the Haitians needed and what I could do.

The needs in Haiti are great. Many of the needs are quite obvious. Almost everyone in Haiti lacks an adequate supply of clean freshwater. Throughout Haiti you can see women walking with 5 gallon buckets on their heads. Many of the women are filling their buckets from streams that are obviously contaminated with human waste.

On my first trip to Haiti, I helped drill a water well near the town of St. Michal, a town of about 60,000 people. After we completed that well, the people pumped that old-fashioned hand pump at a rate that filled one five-gallon bucket every 60 seconds. Today, I have been told that they still pump that well at that rate every single day from before the first light of dawn until after dark. They do that, because that one well is the only source of clean freshwater for the 60,000 people that live in St. Michal.

On my second trip to Haiti, we went to the town of Bassin Bleu in the northwestern peninsula and trained a group of Haitians to drill water wells. When we completed the well in Bassin Bleu the parish priest was so excited he actually danced in the mud puddles around the well while wearing his vestments. After we left, that crew of Haitians continued to drill water wells at a rate of about one per week.

After 17 short-term mission trips to Haiti, I had to ask myself, "Who am I fooling?" And I applied to the ELCA-Global Mission and they sent me to be a Water-Resources Specialist for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic. It is dangerous to listen to the Gospel. Perhaps the ushers should be passing out crash helmets instead of bulletins.

My wife and I struggle as we work in the Central African Republic. There are so many needs, it can be overwhelming. Our resources are meager. At times, it appears that evil, sickness, and death have won. But with God's help and your prayers and support, we continue God's work in a deserted place. Some days are a tremendous struggle. But on some days, needs are met, the hungry are feed, and the thirsty have clean water. Praise God!

I saw a need in the Central African Republic. With God's help and with your support, we are giving clean freshwater to thirsty people. I want to thank you for your help in that effort. But more than that, I encourage you to look around for needs that need to be met, wrestle with God, and give of yourself to meet those needs. By giving ourselves, we become the true presence of Christ to others. Look at your own resources, as insignificant as they may seem, and risk placing them in Jesus' hands for Him to bless. Together with Jesus, you just may accomplish a miracle. Amen.

Sermon based on Genesis 32:22-31 and Matthew 14:13-21, given on Sunday, August 21, 2011 at the First Lutheran Church in Williston, North Dakota by Dr. Joseph W. Troester, while he was on home assignment in the States.

Painting: "Feeding of the Five Thousand" by Mafa in Cameroon. Photo of painting from Vanderbilt University Library.

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

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

2011-05-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-05-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

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.

Central African Christians welcome Muslim leader in worship service

2011-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

In the wake of recent violence related to the burning of a Koran, it's worthwhile to note that in some places in the world Christians and Muslims show tolerance and respect for each other's beliefs and traditions. The Central African Republic is one of those places. Not long ago I witnessed a small, but dramatic gesture that highlighted this friendly relationship. I was at the installation service for the new Lutheran Bible School director. The local imam had been invited to attend. When he entered, the song-leader led the congregation in singing a hymn based on Psalm 133: "Behold, how good and how pleasant for brothers to dwell together in unity." We sang every other verse in Fulfulde, the mother-tongue of most of the Muslims in our area. "What a wonderful way to welcome the imam to our service," I thought. It was a powerful example of tolerance and harmony between people of two different religions and cultures. In the past some Muslims had even enslaved the ancestors of some of those meeting in the chapel that day. Yet now the Christian descendents of these former slaves went out of their way to make sure a Muslim would feel welcome in their worship service. We in the U.S. could learn something from this "underdeveloped" African country. Which country is "underdeveloped" in terms of tolerance and understanding for those who are different??

Photo: Local Muslim Leaders

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

Refugees Build School with Help from ELCA Global Gifts

2011-01-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

In this war-torn, violence-ridden country, hope is starting to take root. In 2005, armed men attacked the village of Peouri, in the northwestern Central African Republic. The bandits stole livestock and kidnapped children to hold for ransom. The people of Peouri hid in the bush, but after repeated attacks decided to abandon their village. These Muslim Fulani herders resettled in Baboua, a predominantly Christian town. Here they were welcomed and were given land to settle on. One of their first priorities was rebuilding their school.

Back in 2001, Peouri elders had contacted the Village School program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church to help them start a school for their children. The school had already been in operation for four years when the violence struck and they were forced to move. The Village School program assisted the villagers with finding a teacher and obtaining textbooks and other school supplies, while parents constructed brush-covered shelters to use as classrooms. In the past ten years, attendance has skyrocketed from 41 to 580. Girls make up 38% of enrollment, higher than the national average in this country where only 22% of women are literate. Children from Christian families are also attending the school, and Christian and Muslim parents have joined together to construct a brick and cement building for their children.

Now the Peouri School, as it is called, is getting a permanent building, thanks to funds from Global Gifts, a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Village School Program Director, Etienne Yaiman, is grateful for the funds which will enable this school to be the first in the Village School program to receive a permanent brick building.

If you wish to help the Village School program, contact Rev. Twila Schock, Director for Global Mission Support, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631

e-mail: Twila.Schock@elca.org

Photo: Villagers stacking sun-dried mud bricks to be fired. The bricks will be used to construct a new building for the Peouri School in Baboua, Central African Republic.

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

Troesters to Visit Supporters in Summer 2011

2011-01-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

This summer we will be visiting the U.S. in June, July, and August. We plan to visit congregations and other community gatherings to give a presentation on our work in the Central African Republic. Our exact itinerary has not been set, but we will try to visit as many of our supporters as possible. We know we will be visiting congregations in Puerto Rico, Illinois, and North Dakota. If you would like for us to visit your town, please send us an e-mail at josephtroester@earthlink.net. Feel free to forward our blog to others who might be interested as well.

Please contact us as soon as possible, because dates (especially Sundays) are limited.

Photo: Two small children carrying water in cooking pots up the steep slope from the Kanga spring in Baboua, Central African Republic.

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

Merry Christmas from the Central African Republic

2010-12-25T01:59:00.000-08:00

Ndjoni Matanga ti Noël!

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Nouvelle Année!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr!

¡Feliz Navidad, Próspero Año Nuevo, y Feliz Día de los Reyes!

From Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: The Troesters in Africa, Christmas 2010.

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

Christmastimes

2010-12-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Yaoundé (where I live for most of the year) is pretty much the same as Christmas in any big city: about two or three weeks before the twenty-fifth, everyone goes nuts. The roads become so trafficked and immobile, that they are barely short of impassible and anyone trying to navigate them is definitely ludicrous. The stores, big and small, are packed to the brim and overflowing. Everyone everywhere is grabbing presents off shelves and then waiting in mile-long lines to pay for them. Outside, there are loudspeakers playing Christmas music over, and over, and over, and over again, while the cars on the blocked-up roads are adding their own accompaniment of "honk-honks" and "beep-beeps." In fact, besides the weather, Christmastime in Yaoundé may very well be almost identical to Christmastime in any large city in the western world (though probably on a smaller scale).

On the other hand, about 600 kilometers away, through the rainforest and across an international border, lies the village of Baboua. People there are celebrating a very different Holiday Season. There aren't any large shopping centers for people to be packed in like sardines; in fact, there aren't any shopping centers, period. The simple dusty road is just as devoid of traffic as it always is: a car or truck passes every hour or somaybe. Yet the same Christmas spirit is displayed throughout town. No matter where you go, you can hear the calls of "Bonne Fête," "Joyeux Noël" and "Bonne Année," which are akin to the North American calls of "Happy Holidays," "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year." People are wrapping up their presents to give to special family members and friends. It always amazes me how much people still rejoice in their meager surroundings. Even though most families will not have any Christmas decorations up and certainly not a Christmas tree, people still go around wishing each other "Merry Christmas," singing African Christmas songs, and sharing their small Christmas meals.

Meanwhile, at our house on the American Station, there is a very different sort of Christmas going on. As soon as I get home on break, I open up the dusty Christmas boxes and my mom and I turn on the Christmas music (much to the dismay of my dad). The whole interior of the house is soon decorated and transformed with tinsel, Christmas lights, stockings, and the small, artificial Christmas tree. On Christmas Day, my dad makes up an absolutely scrumptious dinner, and we invite other missionaries over to celebrate with us. And as the adults converse on and on (as adults are wont to do), I sit and listen, reflecting on the Christmas Season.

When you really think about it, nearly everyone on earth celebrates the Holiday Season in one way or another. Whether they are Christian, or Jewish, or Muslim, or anything ranging to completely non-religious, Christmastime affects them somehow. One might stop and wonder (as everyone does in those cheesy Christmas movies we are forced to watch every year) what is the true meaning of all this cheerfulness and joviality?

Long ago, on a Christmas Day that most likely did not occur on December twenty-fifth, a tiny new-born babe tightly wrapped in rags lay in an itchy manger. His parents looked down at him with joyful tears in their eyes, praises on their lips, and wonder in their hearts. The tiny, unfocused eyes of the newborn looked back up, and he smiled a beautiful, toothless grin at his mother and father. From the heavens above, starlight shone down, and the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14)

Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Hand-painted Christmas card by an anonymous Central African artist

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

Celebrating 50 Years of Independence in the Central African Republic

2010-12-03T03:42:00.000-08:00

On December 1^st the Central African Republic celebrated 50 years of independence. Our town of Baboua is small (only 16,000 people), but the parade lasted over an hour. It was complete with military raising the flag, cheerleaders (see photo above), and baton twirlers. Children and adults from all the schools in town marched by: first the preschools, then the elementary schools all the way up to the Bible School and Seminary. There was even a Tae Kwon Do demonstration and motorcyclists performing circus style acrobatics.

People here are proud of their country and their independence, even though the country is racked by numerous problems. Most people are subsistence farmers living on less than a dollar a day. Over half the children do not go to school. Less than half the people do not have potable water. Only about ten percent have improved sanitation. Health care is marginal, with thousands dying of malaria and other preventable diseases each year. There are armed rebels in the eastern part of the country, near the border with Sudan.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and their partner, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR are here doing what they can to improve health, provide education, and promote development. Your support means that you are here helping people struggle forward so that the next fifty years will be better than the past.

Thank you!

Joe and Deborah Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Cheerleaders celebrating on December 1 in the National Day parade in Baboua, western CAR.

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

NEW: Global Gift for Spring Boxes in the Central African Republic

2010-11-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has added our project to their Global Gifts Program. So by following the instructions at the end of this blog entry, you can now contribute directly to the construction of spring boxes to provide potable water to villagers in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Spring boxes (such as the one in the photo above) are one of the most cost-effective ways to increase access to potable water. Each spring box costs approximately $2,000 to construct and may serve a village of up to 2,000 people. Once built, spring boxes require very little or no maintenance and usually last for decades. Now, instead of muddy, parasite, and bacteria-infested water, villagers can collect clean spring water, piped directly from the source, and protected by a cement wall and basin, making it easy to collect the water in a sanitary way.

Once the spring box is in place, PASE also trains people in proper hygiene, such as hand-washing, to avoid water-borne diseases. With current funding levels, PASE is able to construct 10 spring boxes a year, but with more funds for construction tools and materials, PASE could double the number of spring boxes constructed annually without hiring any extra personnel.

Please follow the instructions below and contribute to providing clean water in the CAR.

Joe Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Women collecting water from a recently constructed spring box at the Emmanuel Clinic in Gallo, CAR.

How to Remit A Global Gift

1. Write a check to "The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America"

2. On the memo portion of the check, write "Water Management Project-CAR Global Gift."

3. Write a brief note that includes the following information:

A. Your name and address

B. The amount of the gift

C. The name of the project, "Water Management Project-CAR Global Gift"

4. Send your check and letter to the following address:

ELCA Global Mission

Attention: The Rev. Twila Schock

8765 W. Higgins Road

Chicago IL 60631

Digging Sand from a River Bed for Clean Water, Bohong, CAR

2010-09-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Lutheran Water Management Project (known as PASE for its French acronym) began construction of three spring boxes in Bohong, located in northwestern Central African Republic. After the violence and insecurity of the past several years, many internally displaced persons and returned refugees have settled in this region. Bohong is about 5 hours northeast of our office, so logistics are a bit complicated as cement and wood for formwork are not locally available.

We needed sand to construct the spring box in the Mbeyeng neighborhood, so I drove the villagers 12 miles south of town to the Ouham river, which is normally a braided stream with lots of exposed sand bars. However, the river was in flood from recent rains. So the villagers waded into the stream until they were chest-deep and shoveled sand into buckets that other men held just out of the water and then carried to the shore (see photowere through, they were understandably cold and tired; but they still sang all the way back into town (about a 45 minute ride).

The hard work and dedication of these men clearly indicate the value they place on clean water. Your prayers and contributions help us to help them help themselves.

This work is supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) through their Global Mission and World Hunger Fund programs. To find out how you can help, contact Rev. Twila Schock, Global Mission and Development Services, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. Or e-mail her at Twila.Schock@elca.org. Checks may be made out to ELCA-GM.

Joe Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Villagers from the Mbeyeng neighborhood of Bohong, mining sand by hand from the bed of the flooded Ouham river south of Bohong, Central African Republic. The sand was used to construct a spring box to provide clean water for their neighborhood.

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

Clean Drinking Water for Yongmondere, CAR

2010-09-18T03:14:00.000-07:00

Along the main dirt road from Cameroon to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), sits the village of Yongmondere, home to some two hundred people. Until now their only source of water has been a little spring where the water trickled out in several places. It took a long time and a lot of patience for villagers to fill a small container. For over a year, the village chief of Yongmondere has been asking the Lutheran Water Management Project (Known as PASE for its French acronym) for help with potable water in his village.

Last week, PASE began construction of a spring box in Yongmondere and finished the work in less than a week. The work went faster than expected partly because the women of the village helped by carrying the sand and rocks to the spring on their heads. The villagers are very pleased with the results. The concrete slab and pipe make it is much easier and cleaner for them to fill their buckets. Managing the spring increased the available flow to over 8 gallons per minute. This means they can now fill a 5 gallon bucket in less than a minute.

Sustainable development projects such as this–the spring box has no moving parts and will require no repairs perhaps for decades–help improve the lives and the health of villagers for years to come. For only $5 per person, the village has a sustainable supply of potable water for the foreseeable future.

The advance team from PASE has now left to begin work on two springs near Bohong, located in northwestern CAR where many internally displaced persons and returned refugees have settled, after the violence and insecurity of the past several years seems to be over. Bohong is about 4 hours northeast of our office, so logistics are a bit more complicated as cement and wood for formwork are not locally available.

Our work is supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) through their Global Mission and World Hunger Fund programs. To find out how you can help, contact Rev. Twila Schock, Global Mission and Development Services, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. Or e-mail her at Twila.Schock@elca.org. Checks may be made out to ELCA.

Joe Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Woman and her daughter collecting water from newly constructed spring box in Yongmondere, Central African Republic (after the concrete cures, the extra long pipe coming out of the spring box will be trimmed.)

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

World Water Week in Sweden and in the Central African Republic

2010-09-12T06:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, international experts gathered in Stockholm to discuss the water problems of the world. At the opening address, Anders Berntell said, “Bad water kills more people than HIV, malaria, and wars together, affecting the lives of families and the economic development of many countries around the world.

This week in the Central African Republic (CAR), there was no meeting of water experts. We did not need an expert to tell us the effects of bad water. As they have for decades, women and small children go daily to the nearest stream or spring for water of dubious quality. Most families do not even have a pit toilet for sanitation. People regularly get sick from water-borne diseases. Typhoid, giardia, and amoebic dysentery are common ailments at the hospital. There is a cholera outbreak in a neighboring country. We hope it does not come here. People in the CAR die from these preventable and treatable diseases because they lack access to safe water, sanitation, and health care.

This week, however, the Water Management Project (known as PASE for its acronym in French) began construction of a spring box in Yongmondere, a small village about 15 kilometers west of where we live. This is the tenth spring box we have worked on since the beginning of the year. That may not sound like much, but with a small amount of funds from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) we are able to improve the life of many villagers in western CAR through the construction of spring boxes, plus teaching hygiene and working with village water committees.

Soon, I hope to be able to post a picture of the finished spring box in Yongmondere.

Joe Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: Man drinking from small spring that drains into an old metal pot, Yongmondere, Central African Republic

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

Emmanuel - God With Us

2010-07-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the final version of a video from a crazy friend of mine, Bruce Sundeen. He visited us in January and made this video for a new Lutheran Health Clinic in Gallo, about an hour east of our house. The video also includes details on other work by the Lutheran Church in our area.

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

Emmanuel; God With Us

2010-06-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from a crazy friend of mine, Bruce Sundeen. He visited us in January and made this video for a new Lutheran Health Clinic in Gallo, about an hour east of our house. The video also includes details on other work by the Lutheran Church in our area.

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

Earth Day in the Central African Republic

2010-04-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today is much like every other day in the Central African Republic (CAR). Life continues its simple rhythm following the annual cycle of seasons. Slowly we are changing from the dry season to the rainy season. Everyone here is a farmer and now is the time I can watch them planting crops. They burn the field, turn over the soil by hand with a homemade hoe, and plant. Then like farmers everywhere, they wait and hope for just the right amount of rain. I know that the dusty dirt roads will soon be replaced with mud, but no one knows when.

Family life continues inside and around the traditional mud brick houses in the village. The daily meal is cooked over an open fire. Women and children fetch water every day and carry it home on their heads. Most people get water from springs, which at this time of the year are barely more than mud holes. In a few places where there is a relatively clear trickle of water and then there is a line of people waiting with their buckets. It takes a long time to fill a 5 gallon container from a small trickle one cup at a time. Parents send their children to wait in line. Most children do not go to school. Three out of four girls are kept at home to help with the chores, such as fetching water.

Water-borne diseases are common. Those who can afford it, go to the hospital where seeing the nurse costs about 25 cents and prescriptions for diarrhea, worms, or malaria are filled for only a dollar or two. Unfortunately not everyone can afford even these modest fees.

PASE (the water management project that I work with) teaches hygiene and sanitation to villagers. We improve water sources and repair wells. We do simple, sustainable projects to improve the lives of people that live in this part of the CAR.

People often ask me, what they can do to help. One of the things I tell them is to be informed. Read. Mail is slow here and I have not yet received my April 2010 issue of National Geographic. But many people have e-mailed me that it is a special issue devoted entirely to water. It talks about accessibility, purity, and the impact of climate change. I have heard that it talks of the work of my colleagues in Water Aid (a British NGO) that are working in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

We do not celebrate Earth Day here, but I would like to ask you to celebrate Earth Day by informing yourself about the many water issues that the world is facing. Please think about those less fortunate than yourself. Think about the futures of the children that never go to school because they spend the day fetching water.

For those who wish to support the work of the ELCA in the CAR, please contact Rev. Twila Schock, Director for ELCA Global Mission Support at Twila.Schock@elca.org

Photo is of the April 2010 Cover of National Geographic.

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

Nigerian Lutherans Help Their Central African Sisters

2010-04-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

Recently the Central African Republic has seen a positive development in relations between francophone and anglophone church bodies. Specifically, the women of the Yola Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria have come to the aid of their sisters in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic. Twenty-eight Nigerian women and one male pastor braved a three day drive on bad roads across two international borders to join their Central African sisters at a national women's conference.

The conference, the biennial synod of Femmes Pour Christ Centrafricaines (Women for Christ of the Central African Republic), was held in Bohong, a town in northwestern Central African Republic. This area has seen much violence and unrest in past years, but is now starting to recover as peace has been restored to the region.

The women of the Yola Diocese helped provide music for the conference. Their singing and dancing, accompanied by percussion instruments which they left as gifts, enlivened the synod's proceedings.

In addition to the musical instruments, the Nigerians brought gifts of five sewing machines, jewelry-making materials, fabric, shoes, and kitchen utensils to give to their Central African counterparts. They also offered classes in jewelry-making and in preparing a local non-alcoholic beverage. The Nigerian church women sell these items to raise funds for their church work and to help sustain their families. All travel expenses were paid for by the Nigerian women themselves.

The conference proceedings were translated from Sango (the Central African trade language) into Hausa (a Nigerian trade language), by Josephine Oumarou, the newly elected vice-president of Women for Christ. Madame Simone Baigo-Dari, out-going president, receives our congratulations for having organized this successful meeting, and for inviting the women of the Yola Diocese, whom she met at an international conference held in 2008 in Cameroon.

In a world full of so much ethnic violence and hatred, the women of the Yola Lutheran Diocese of Nigeria have demonstrated that unselfish love and concern for one's neighbors can still be found - and that you don't have to have a lot yourself in order to help others.

Photo shows Nigerian Women's Choir singing, accompanied by traditional percussion instruments.

Deborah and Joe 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 is attending seventh grade in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

20th Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic (EELRCA)

2010-04-14T02:01:00.000-07:00

This past week (April 8-11) we spent an exciting few days at Bossabina 2, a small village in the north-western Central African Republic near the border with Cameroon and Chad. Together with our friends and colleagues we celebrated the 20^th biennial Synod (national conference) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic (EELRCA). Over two hundred delegates met to worship, study the Bible, and elect their new church leaders for the coming four years. Twelve new pastors were ordained, all of them having completed two years of pastoral internship after graduating from the Theological School in Baboua in 2008.

The synod re-elected Rev. André Goliké to a second four-year term as president of the church (a position equivalent to bishop in many churches). Rev. Jean Gbami of Bohong was elected as Vice-President. Mr. Jean Marc Abbo was selected as treasurer. Mr. Abbo is director of PASE, the church's development program for providing potable water and hygiene education, the organization with which Joe works as technical advisor. A new administrative committee was also elected, with one representative from each of the church's seven regions.

Representatives from two of EELRCA's partners, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Germany (ELM) were present at the synod. As two of the ELCA representatives, we were privileged to be guests of the EELRCA church in Bossabina. We enjoyed great hospitality, including hot water for our "bucket shower," (heated over an open fire), and lots of manioc, rice, meat with peanut or okra sauce, and, for breakfast, omelets made with fresh local eggs.

Photo is of a traditional Gbaya dancer celebrating the end of the Synod.

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

Hostel Parents Needed For Missionary Children

2010-03-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

As you know, Christa lives in a student hostel in Yaoundé, Cameroon, while she attends 7^th grade at Rain Forest International School. Her hostel (known as UBAC) is run by an association of missions, and is home to kids from several families working in CAR and beyond. The current 'hostel parents' will leave at the end of this school year. The hostel committee chair wrote to us recently:

"We are still hopeful that the Lord has someone chosen for this ministry, but only He knows all those details. Please continue to pray and to present the need... In the meantime, we all need to realize that, if there are no hostel parents, there will be no UBAC hostel next year. We as parents need to begin to think of what the alternative might be for our kids."

In other words, there is no one in sight to take on the job of hostel parents when the new school year starts in August THIS YEAR.

So who's going to be affected if there's no hostel next year? Not just our daughter! Look at the range of ministries in their different locations that may be limited or have to stop next year if there's no one to make a home for these kids

Ben, Desirée and Lyle are 18, 15 and 13 years old and their dad has been a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot since 1985. They are now working in Lubumbashi, D R Congo.

Jessica is 17. Her parents are church planting among unreached people in Cameroon.

Peter and Rachael are 15 and 13. Their father supervises nine Bible translation programs in the CAR and is a translation consultant. Their mother works for SIL's Central Africa Group and home schools their little brother.

Christi is 13 and her mother and father work with the Mpiemo people of southwestern CAR. They are now in Bible translation as well as literacy projects.

Benjamin is 13. His family is with Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship in southwestern CAR. His father is involved in hospital maintenance and repair, printing, and evangelism. His mother is director of a nursing school, helps with hospital administration, and teaches in Sunday school and women's Bible studies.

Our daughter, Christa, is 13. We work with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in western CAR.

Being a hostel parent is a demanding job, but brings a lot of rewards. Here's what Janelle Johnson wrote about her time as hostel assistant in Yaoundé (for Cameroon, you could read the Central African region!).

"As I was getting ready to spend the evening with 12 teenagers whose collective life experience spans 3 continents, 6 languages, and more years spent in foreign cultures than in their own passport countries, I knew that God was at work in that place

My time in Cameroon was an opportunity to be a part of God's work in that country. I was able to come alongside career missionaries and encourage them in their work as well as to support the work of Bible translation, church planting, medical services, and agricultural development work of missionaries from numerous mission organizations.

So, what in the world is God doing in Cameroon? He is working through teachers and preachers, pilots and musicians. He is reaching the lost and helping the poor. He is helping people learn to run small businesses that support their families. He is going into prisons and transforming lives. He does this through his people. People like you and me. So why not join him?"

What kind of people are needed? A husband and wife team, who are mature believers, are in a healthy marriage, have serving hearts, and love teenagers.

Please pray and think about this need. Pray that God will call and equip the people he's chosen for this role. Contact us to know more about what the job involves, and feel free to mention it to anyone who could be looking for just this opportunity to serve.

Photo is of some RFIS students watching a football (soccer) match in the rain.

PASE helps bring potable water to the dry, dusty Sahel, Part II

2010-02-28T08:01:00.001-08:00

Bossabina II and De Gaulle are two adjacent villages in the northwestern Central African Republic (CAR), near the border with Chad and Cameroon. From 2003 until 2008, this area was plagued by armed bandits and rebels, who carried off anything they could find, including crops, livestock, and what few personal belongings people may have had. Children were kidnapped and held for ransom, and some villages were burnt and villagers killed. The people of this region are poor, and the area, part of the Sahel, is hot and dry, with little surface water.

From February 1 to 12, PASE (the French acronym for the Water Management Project of EELRCA - the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic) built five spring boxes. Original plans included only one, or possibly two spring boxes, but the community response was so overwhelming that PASE decided to build five spring boxes total. Between 100 and 200 villagers volunteered every day to carry rocks and buckets of sand on their heads to the work sites, and to assist in digging out the springs so that pipes could be installed.

In the photo above, a Fulani girl gets water from one of the five springs, Girgiri 2, to fill up the basin, which she will carry home on her head. Many Fulanis, a primarily Muslim ethnic group, live in this area. Although the work was sponsored by Lutherans, local Muslims were among the volunteers and will benefit from this project as well. While we were working at one of the springs, an elderly Muslim man arrived. He prayed for our work and asked God to bless us. The villagers sang and danced at the completion of the spring boxes, which will provide an additional 50,000 gallons (200 cubic meters) of clean water per day to the two villages.

Joe

PASE helps bring potable water to the dry, dusty Sahel

2010-02-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

In April the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic (EELRCA) will hold its biannual synod in Bossabina II, a village in northwestern Central African Republic (CAR). Bossabina II is located in the Sahel region of CAR, where it is hot and dry, with little annual rainfall. Water is scarce and trees grow only head-high. On a reconnaissance trip in January, PASE (the French acronym for the Water Management Project of the EELRCA) found that the people of this impoverished area have no source of potable water. Instead, they are forced to drink water contaminated with bacteria and parasites.

This week PASE is traveling to Bossabina II (about 4 hours north of Bouar) to build three spring boxes to help supply the local villagers with potable water. The photo is of the truck ready to leave our office in Baboua with 12 sacks of cement, boards for formwork, wheelbarrow, rebar, pipes, tools, etc. Pictured from left to right are: the driver, Ninga Luc; PASE director, Abbo Jean Marc; and PASE employee Moussa Salomon (dressed for the long, dusty motorbike ride). The work crew of seven Central Africans, including one engineer, two masons, and four animators (community development workers), are expected to be in the field for two weeks.

Joe

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

2010-01-31T06:52:00.001-08:00

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

2010-01-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

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 servicein terms of money, personnel, or supplieshas 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

2010-01-01T02:52:00.000-08:00

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.

A New Year in CAR

2009-12-31T05:03:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite scriptures for New Year's Day is "Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare" (Isaiah 42:9a). What new things have happened in the Central African Republic (CAR) during the past year? What does the new year hold?

In Baboua, where we live, one new thing that has come to pass in 2009 is that we are now connected to the rest of the world by cell phone. We are no longer quite so isolated from the rest of the world. Another new thing is the appearance of Chinese engineers who are building a highway from the Cameroonian border to Bouar, headquarters for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR. This distance of some 85 miles now takes about four hours to traverse on the dusty, pot-holed, dirt road that serves as the main highway connecting the capital with the rest of the world.

During the past year, peace reigned throughout most of the CAR, though there were a few small disturbances in the far north and east of this Texas-sized country. Pray for peace to continue in 2010, especially throughout the presidential election and legislative election scheduled later this year. According to the United Nations, "CAR is now ranked 179 out of 182 countries on the Human Development Index." This is actually a slight improvement from 2008, but it indicates the severity of problems such as infant and maternal mortality, malnutrition, lack of education and medical care, lack of access to clean water, etc.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR has weathered a difficult year. Nearly half of its funding comes from the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Mission giving was down in 2009, resulting in cutbacks first of 7%, then 10% to ELCA's grants to CAR. Programs which have suffered include treatment for AIDS patients, clean water for villages, and education for seminary and Bible School students. So far the church has been able to make some budget reductions without having to close any programs. Yet, if the cuts continue, some difficult decisions will have to be made. Your continued support of our work here and of Global Mission makes a big difference in this country which is so impoverished.

One bright spot has been the construction of the health clinic in Gallo, a town about thirty miles east of us. Questions still remain as to how to fund the continued operation of this clinic, but it will open its doors in early 2010 to help improve the quality of health care in this part of CAR.

We want to say "Thanks!" to all of you who have supported us financially and have prayed for us and for our work here in CAR during 2009. Your help has made a difference. We could not be here without you. We look forward to continuing our partnership with you, serving Christ together in 2010.

Your missionaries to CAR,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Joe and Deborah Troester are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, the Central African Republic. Pastor Deborah teaches Greek and English 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 seventh grade at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Christmas Time!

2009-12-28T04:50:00.000-08:00

When it comes to Christmas, I can be a bit of a Scrooge. My daughter wrote this poem to capture her father's feelings about the season. However, the photo seems to have caught me in a good mood.

Christmas Time!

By Christa Troester

Christmas time, Christmas time

The roads are filled with traffic

Christmas time, Christmas time

Everyone's busy wreaking havoc

Christmas time, Christmas time

Everyone's busy hurrying

Christmas time, Christmas time

No time for anything but worrying

There are Christmas songs everywhere

The same old songs filling the air

The same old songs buzzing in my head

The songs that fill me with Christmas dread

There are decorations all around

On the ceiling and on the ground

There's even tinsel in my beard

Does no one else find this weird?

Christmas time, Christmas time

No one seems to care a thing

Christmas time, Christmas time

All they want to do is sing

Christmas time, Christmas time

Everyone's honking like geese

Christmas time, Christmas time

All I want is Christmas PEACE!

World Toilet Day 2009

2009-11-17T08:33:00.001-08:00

This Thursday, 19 November, is World Toilet Day—a day to celebrate the humble, yet vitally important, toilet and to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis. Forty percent of the world's population does not have a toilet. In the town where we live in the Central African Republic, 70 percent of the homes do not have a latrine (such as the one pictured above). As you can imagine, the practice of open defecation spreads disease and contaminates water sources. This only complicates the task of the Water Management Project (known as PASE for its acronym in French) where I serve as technical advisor.

PASE works with villagers to teach them proper hygiene and helps to provide sources of clean drinking water. We would like to also improve sanitation in villages, but we are limited by lack of funding and personnel. In a country such as the CAR, which has so many problems, most people are not concerned about sanitation, so the first step is raising awareness of the problem. Thank you for your support of our program, during these times of continued financial difficulties throughout the world.

Joe Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

Photo: The photographs above are of an improved latrine. The walls are about 1.5 meters (5 feet) high. The hole is about 15 cm (6 inches) in diameter, with a plastic lid to keep the flies down. The dirt floor around the hole is mounded, so that rainfall runs away from the hole.

Dry Season

2009-11-10T05:48:00.001-08:00

The following letter was sent to our Lutheran supporters regarding cutbacks in funding in ELCA-Global Mission.

Dear Friends,

Here in the Central African Republic (CAR) the dry season is on the way. Rainstorms are becoming less frequent and shorter. Soon the rains will stop altogether until April. People hope that the crops they have stored will carry them through till the harvest next fall.

It seems that dry season has also arrived at ELCA Global Mission. The church-wide office in Chicago foresees the possibility of a 30% reduction in giving. This is apparently in protest of actions taken in Minneapolis a couple of months ago. This reduction comes on top of a 10% funding cut earlier this year, due to the world-wide economic downturn. Losing so much funding in one year has required GM to make some drastic cutbacks in personnel and programs.

Regardless of anyone's opinions regarding the actions taken by the General Assembly, protesting by withholding funds has serious consequences which are detrimental to the work of our partner churches, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR (Also known as the EELRCA, after its French acronym). Due to this sudden drop in funding, ELCA-GM has been forced to withhold the 4th quarter grant to its partner churches. The EELRCA counts on these quarterly contributions of ELCA, which constitute almost half of the EELRCA's annual budget of $670,000 (less than the annual budget of some larger congregations in the U.S.).

Without ELCA's promised 4th quarter contribution, church projects are now out of money here in the CAR. Salaries cannot be paid, and may not be paid for several months. With no money for activities or salaries, the development, education, and evangelization projects funded by ELCA in CAR cannot do their work and are closing their doors. Other programs continue, but without the necessary funds, how long will they be able to keep on providing services?

For example, where Deborah teaches at the Theological School, students may have to go without their $40 a month stipend. Some of the students there gave up careers such as teaching to become pastors – and more pastors are desperately needed in the CAR. Now they may have to watch their children go hungry. Money for doctor's fees for their families will be impossible to pay.

Others who may suffer include AIDS patients, villagers waiting for clean water, and families who cannot afford medicines or school fees for their children. We don't think that ELCA members who have decided to withhold funds from Chicago wish for these outcomes, or even know that as a result of their actions people are suffering in the CAR.

Now is the time when you can help turn this situation around. We thank you for your continued support of our ministry, and ask your help to convince others to continue to support the work of Global Mission, especially in the neediest countries, such as the CAR. May God bless you as you serve Christ in your community and around the world.

Your missionaries in the Central African Republic,

Joe and Deborah Troester

Giving thanks: Robin Strickler

2009-11-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

Visit the Hand in Hand blog digest to read the first of the "Give thanks!" series by ELCA missionary Robin Strickler (Rwanda). Make it easy: follow the "Subscribe" link at http://blogs.elca.org/handinhand (upper right-hand box) and have new posts e-mailed to you.

Thanksgiving in the Central African Republic

2009-10-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

"Osoko, Jesu, Osoko!" "Thank you, Jesus, thank you!" sings the choir of young people as they march into the sanctuary, swaying to the beat of their thanksgiving song. In Baboua, Central African Republic, it is the time of the Don de Récolte the Harvest Offering. Like our Thanksgiving celebrations, it is a harvest festival, when congregations bring in the best of their harvest, along with a special offering, to thank God for the blessings of the past year, especially for good crops and food on their tables. Women wearing colorful floor-length African dresses come bearing dishes full of manioc or a large bunch of bananas to place before the altar. Men dressed in long robes, or in their best T-shirts and jeans, bring their envelopes containing a special monetary gift for the Thanksgiving Offering. Little children, led by their Sunday School teachers, file down the aisle, clutching their few francs to deposit in the plastic offering basket. One little girl, about three years old, has to be persuaded to let go of her money and drop it in!

At the Tongo Lutheran Church in Baboua, the entire congregation waits as the money is being counted. As a choir sings to the accompaniment of drums and rhythm instruments, deaconesses serve us coffee and bananas. This is the first church I have ever attended in which we stopped and took a coffee break during the service! (Since the service lasted three hours, it wasn't a bad idea.) At last the good news is announced: the total offering comes to over $300. "What an offering!" exclaims the president of the congregation. Everyone cheers. This will ensure that the work of the church can continue for another year. Perhaps they will even be able to afford to buy communion wine. The lay pastor will receive his small salary. Of course, offerings are taken every Sunday, but the Thanksgiving offering helps to carry the church through the dry season (November through May), when times are leaner, and food is not as plentiful.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, remember your brothers and sisters in the Central African Republic, and rejoice with them that the God of the harvest is good.

Pastor Deborah Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

In Memory of Jonathan Kühne (January 27 to October 5, 2009)

2009-10-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

The average life expectancy here in the Central African Republic is just under 40 years. That means we attend a lot of funerals. Yesterday we attended one that was especially sad.

Jonathan was the 8-month-old son of the Rev. Mirco and Rahel Kühne. They are missionaries from Germany serving here in Baboua. They both teach at the Bible School and have been busy raising their three boys: Aaron, Daniel, and Jonathan. On Sunday, Jonathan became ill with malaria. On Monday morning he died of complications from a disease that kills way too many people. The funeral was held at their house in the afternoon. He was buried yesterday by his swing, down by their garden.

Please pray for the family and for the many others affected by this series disease.

Joe and Deborah Troester
Baboua, Central African Republic

Hope for the Future?

2009-09-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I visited the Sango Lutheran Church, a brick structure with a cement floor and an aluminum roof just a quarter-mile down the red dirt road from our house. As I arrived, I saw people in colorful clothing gathering for the service. The catechist, wearing a scarlet robe, greeted me at the entrance, and I was shown to a plastic chair placed strategically near a window, so I could get some fresh air during the three hour long service.

I went to see my friend Rosalie's baby Fortuné baptized. Rosalie is my Sango teacher. In exchange, I help her with her English. She is studying sociology at the University of Bangui, but has taken the year off to have her baby. Her husband, Jean-Paul, is also a student. Fortuné was born with some problems; even though he is six months old, all he can do is cry, nurse, and sleep. The doctor is not sure that he will develop normally.

Yet, I am glad that Fortuné was born into a loving family. Both Rosalie and Jean-Paul are Lutheran PK's pastor's kids. Rosalie's father is director of the Bible School, which trains catechists (lay pastors) for the Lutheran Church of the CAR. Fortuné's family will do the best they can for him.

The service begins with some 20 or 30 young people filing in, singing lively praises in Sango. After more singing, the service begins. Finally, the moment everyone is waiting for: the catechist calls the names of the infants to be baptized that day: Fortuné, Stefan, Annette, Christa Elise, and five others. As their parents carry them up to the font, I notice that little Fortuné is decked out in a red and white striped hand-knitted outfit, complete with cap. He has the privilege of being baptized by his paternal grandfather. Afterwards I see that Rosalie is crying.

When I got home, I reflected on these nine children, and what the future might hold for them. If statistics are right, at least one, and maybe two of them will not live to see their fifth birthday. This is a country where infant mortality is high 20% die before age five. Of the eight or so who will live, about half will attend school and learn to read and write. If there are four girls and four boys, three of the boys will probably attend elementary school. Only one of the girls will.

If current statistics do not change, only four or five of these nine children will reach their fortieth birthday. The other half will die of preventable or treatable illnesses such as HIV-AIDS, meningitis, malaria, polio, typhoid, or simple diarrhea. Even if they survive all this, their growth and development may be stunted by a diet high in carbohydrates (mainly manioc), and low in protein and vitamins. It is quite possible that one of the girls will die in childbirth, especially if she is married at an early age, even as young as twelve or thirteen, which is not unusual here.

The good news is that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR, supported by the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), is trying to help. The church sponsors programs to build village primary schools, teach agricultural techniques, diagnose and treat HIV-AIDS, and improve access to medical care, to mention just a few of their programs. My husband Joe works with PASE, which provides clean drinking water to villages and trains villagers in proper hygiene and sanitation. These are all programs which can save lives and improve the quality of life for Central Africans and their children.

However, all these programs are in danger of funding cuts. Due to the world financial crisis and to certain factions in the ELCA, offerings have dropped. The end result may be that some of these programs must be cut. In western CAR, where the majority of the population resides, there are few other organizations at work besides the Lutheran Church. It is not a high profile area that you see on the news every night. It is a place where people continue to suffer, and yet they struggle on, doing the best they can for their families. Some, like Rosalie, are lucky they get to finish school and have some hope for a brighter future. Most do not.

If you want to help, now is a good time. It's really needed. If you wish to contribute to our support, checks should be made out to ELCA-GM, marked "Mission Support Troesters," and send to

The Rev. Twila Schock
Global Mission and Development Services Units
8765 West Higgins Road
Chicago, IL 60631
Telephone: 773.380.2641
Twila.Schock@elca.org

Back in the Central African Republic

2009-09-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

We have arrived safely back in the Central African Republic, after our travels this past summer. We enjoyed visiting with many of you in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Dakota, and Puerto Rico. During May, June, and July, we visited 23 different churches and three ELCA Synod offices. We gave two interviews to journalists. Deborah preached 14 times in 11 different churches. We also visited with several other pastors to tell them more about our work and about the Central African Church.

Wherever we went, we received a warm welcome. Everyone expressed great interest in our work in the Central African Republic, and a desire to help. Thank you very much for your kindness, generosity, and support.

Joe has resumed his work with PASE (the French acronym for Program for Water Management). PASE is busy constructing spring boxes in the village of Cantonnier (see the photo above), near the border with Cameroon. This region has received an influx of refugees from northern Central African Republic, due to unrest in that area. As a result, there have not been enough sources of clean water to provide for the entire population. With the end of the rainy season fast approaching, PASE's efforts are truly needed. It is people like you who make this work possible. Thank you.

On another note, Deborah begins teaching at the Theological School on September 21. She will be teaching Greek to a group of eleven students comprised of ten men and one woman, all prospective pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR. She will also be giving some Bible studies for wives of the pastoral candidates, and teaching English as time permits. Global Mission has also asked her to serve as a liaison person for the Village School Program and Women for Christ of the CAR, until personnel arrive to replace Ian and Joyce Graue, who left the mission field at the end of June.

Christa started seventh grade at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon in August. She is staying at a hostel with nine other boys and girlsall MK's (missionary kids). So far she is enjoying her classes, especially history and Bible, although she says there is a lot of homework. She had excellent grades on her first exams: French and math. We miss her, but will see her soon, as she has a one week fall break the first week of October.

Again, we want to thank all of you for your support. We enjoyed visiting those of you that we could. Those that we missed, we hope to see you when we next return to the states in the summer of 2011.

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, The Central African Republic

Missionaries with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

P.S. Unfortunately, our laptop's hard disk crashed this summer and we lost our mailing list. Consequently, we are sending this email to all the addresses in our computer. If you do not wish to receive further emails, please let us know. In addition, if you know of anyone who would like to be on our mailing list, again, please email us. Thank you.

Schedule of Troesters visits to Supporting Congregations

2009-08-15T04:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Deborah, Christa, and I are visiting our supporting congregations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Below is a tentative schedule that we have worked out. Several of the dates (especially those toward the end of the list) have not been confirmed by the congregations. So please call your local church to confirm and to ask about the exact time of the event. If you would like us to visit your congregation and it is not on the list, please let us know and we will try to work it in. We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Yours in Christ,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester
ELCA Missionaries in the Central African Republic

May 24: Grace Lutheran Church in San Juan, Puerto Rico
May 24: St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico
May 28: Puerto Rico District of the Caribbean Synod ELCA
May 30: Son Lights in Puerto Rico Emmaus Community
May 31: Union Church of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico
June 2: Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Venice, Florida
June 3: ECHO in Fort Meyers, Florida
June 7: First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale, Illinois
June 14: United Lutheran Church in Cavalier, North Dakota
June 14: Our Savior Lutheran Church in Grafton, North Dakota
June 15: United Lutheran Church in Langdon, North Dakota
June 16: First Lutheran Church in New Rockford
June 17: United Lutheran Church in Brocket, North Dakota
June 18: Our Savior Lutheran Church in Rolla, North Dakota
June 21: First Lutheran Church in Williston, North Dakota
June 23: Western North Dakota Synod, Bismarck, North Dakota
June 23: Zion Lutheran Church in Ashley, North Dakota
June 24: Eastern North Dakota Synod, Fargo, North Dakota
June 27: Resurrection Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Illinois
June 28: St. Peter Lutheran Church in Emden, Illinois
June 28: St. Paul Lutheran Church in Peoria, Illinois
June 28: St. John Lutheran Church, Hartsburg, Illinois
July 1: St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana, Illinois
July 7: Zion Lutheran Church in Farmersville, Illinois
July 8: Central Southern Illinois Synod, Springfield, Illinois
July 8: Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sparta, Illinois
July 19: Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in De Soto, Illinois
July 19: First Lutheran Church in Murphysboro, Illinois
July 23: Epiphany Lutheran Church, Carbondale, Illinois
July 23: First Presbyterian Church Dinner at Giant City Lodge
August 2: Blessing at First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale

Note: This schedule was corrected after the summer was over.

World Water Day: March 22, 2009: Sharing Water . . . Sharing Life

2009-08-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

The United Nations has designated March 22 as World Water Day. The theme for this year is about sharing water and sharing opportunities. For the more than one billion people on our planet that lack access to potable water, sharing water is about sharing life. For without access to potable water, people, particularly children, die from entirely preventable diseases.

The entire world is struggling with the current economic crisis. Just as in the developed world, the employers here in the Central African Republic have had to reduce the number of their employees. There are more needs and suddenly fewer resources, as NGOs and mission agencies are facing cutbacks because funding sources have less money. If you can give, now is a time when your gift would be most appreciated.

Please remember that through your support, prayers, and contributions you are sharing water and life with the people of the Central African Republic.

On a personal note, we are traveling to Puerto Rico and the States this summer (May 21 to August 5) for our Home Assignment. We hope to see many of our friends, family, and our supporting congregations. However, these are spread from Puerto Rico to North Dakota and it will be difficult to see everyone. Be watching for additional emails on where we will be when.

I will end with a quote from Kofi Annan, "We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic health care."

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

March 2009

"Sing to the Lord a new song.!" (from Psalm 98:1)

2009-08-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

A new year fills us with new hope. Like a blank slate that has not been written on, it represents new challenges and new opportunities. What do you have planned for the New Year? What will 2009 bring for you and your family? In the United States we hope for a better economy, perhaps a new job for ourselves or for a friend who is unemployed. We hope for peace in the world and wisdom for its leaders. We may wish for better health, for better relationships, in short, for all that is good in life to come our way.

What will the New Year bring for the people of the Central African Republic? Peace is uppermost on the minds of many: the chance to live life in tranquility and without fear. Food is another wish for many Central Africansenough manioc to fill one's stomach, and maybe a little meat and vegetables besides, at least on some days. Good health would also be uppermost on the minds of people whose average life expectancy is less than 40 years of age and dropping.

While we in the U.S. might wish for a new car or a bigger house, someone in the CAR might hope for a source of clean water to drink that lasts through the dry season. A woman who has to walk a mile each way to fetch water out of a dirty stream for her family might dream of having a well just a few hundred yards from her house. Others may wish they had a latrinenever mind if it's a very nice one or not.

Many challenges face the people of the Central African Republic, one of the ten poorest nations in the world. Many challenges face the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR as they strive to help their neighbors through programs such as PASE (the French acronym for "Water Resource Management Project"). Your prayers and gifts in the past have helped us serve together with our Central African colleagues in providing clean drinking water and hygiene training to villagers in the CAR. Thank you for your support as we continue to work toward meeting the challenges of 2009!

On a more personal note

Audrey Plisch arrived from Chicago on December 9 to help Christa finish sixth grade as a home-schooled student. Audrey is an energetic retired teacher, with lots of experience in middle school, as a former guidance counselor and dean of students. Pray for her continued adjustment to life in Africaespecially the warmer climate and the French languageand for continued good health.

Also last month, Mariel Viera-Bernier returned to Puerto Rico where she will resume her studies in anthropology at the University of Puerto Rico. Mariel was a big help with Christa's studies, and enjoyed trying to speak Gbaya with local kids! She enthusiastically tried eating boa, antelope, manioc, peanut sauce, and ndole (kind of like turnip greens with ground up pumpkin seeds in them). Much to her disappointment, she never got to try caterpillar sauce. Mariel's excitement about new experiences was catching. You can read her blog at boricuainafrica.blogspot.com

Please pray for our continued good health and energy for our work. We have had a few relatively minor illnesses this past month or two, but are all now in good health. We thank those of you who continue to pray for us. It has definitely helped!

We wish each of you a blessed and joyous 2009. May the peace of Christ accompany you and your family throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

January 2009

Dr. Joe Troester serves as technical adviser to PASE, the French acronym for Project for Water Resource Management. This is a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in CAR, sponsored in part by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). PASE seeks to provide safe drinking water through construction and maintenance of wells, spring boxes, and slow-sand filters, while also teaching good hygiene practices that can lessen water-borne illnesses.

Advent in the Central African Republic

2009-08-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Christmas greetings from the Central African Republic (CAR)!

As I write this newsletter, we are in Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic (CAR). The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recently purchased two new Toyota pickup trucks for the mission work here. We brought them to Bangui to get them through Customs. Unfortunately, getting new vehicles through Customs is probably not an easy job in any country. We had hoped to return home before Thanksgiving, but we were unsuccessful.

As Thanksgiving passed, we noted that we are thankful for many things this year. Despite Deborah's appendectomy in March, we all remain in reasonable good health. Mariel Viera-Bernier (a college student and friend from Puerto Rico) is here this semester helping us with Christa's education. [Her blog can be found at boricuainafrica.blogspot.com] Audrey Plisch, a retired teacher from the Chicago area will be teaching Christa next semester. The Lutheran Church in CAR will soon have two new vehicles. We are also thankful that we are part of 60 percent of the world's population who have access to a toilet. I know that many would consider it inappropriate to talk about bathrooms in a missionary newsletter, but since I work with potable water, it is appropriate for me to mention it.

November 19 was officially World Toilet Day, but the 2.6 billion people worldwide who live without access to safe, private toilets do not get much press. Here in the Central African Republic, very few people have access to a toilet. Most use the nearest bush alongside the road, unwittingly committing what the Unicef calls "the riskiest sanitation practice." Open defecation shares disease-carrying materials with neighbors and the community as a whole.

Educating people about construction and proper use and maintenance of latrines does not seem like typical missionary work, but it is important to the health and well-being of the people of CAR. Our partner in ministry, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR, is concerned about the health and well-being of all Central Africans.

Joe's colleagues have been able to use many of the things they learned to help in their visits to local villages. This month they are focusing on building a spring box in the village of Cantonnier. In order to protect the water coming out of the spring, a concrete "box" is built around it. Pipes are installed so people can fill their containers with clean spring water, instead of having to dip them into a pool filled with mud and debris, where goats, cattle, or sheep may have been wading. Such small construction projects, plus education in health and hygiene can really help decrease the incidence of water-borne diseases.

PASE has been focusing on building spring boxes and teaching hygiene to villager. In the New Year I hope we are able to expand our work and begin working with sanitation.

Prayer requests:

Thanksgiving for our tutors: Mariel Viera-Bernier and Audrey Plisch, who arrives in December to take her place. Please pray for safe travels, good health, and a quick adjustment to living in Africa.
For peace and security in the Central African Republic.
For wisdom for the leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR, especially Rev. André Goliké, church president.
For the work of PASE as it continues to provide clean drinking water for villagers and to educate them about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.
For ELCA/Global Missions as they seek a new West Africa Director and new West Africa Regional Representatives, to replace Rev. Eva Jensen and Louis and Mytch Dorvillier, all of whom have moved on to other positions.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We look forward to hearing from you, and perhaps to visiting you personally while we are on furlough in summer 2009.

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

November 2008

Dr. Joe Troester serves as technical adviser to PASE, the French acronym for Project for Water Resource Management. This is a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of CAR, sponsored in part by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). PASE seeks to provide safe drinking water through construction and maintenance of wells, spring boxes, and slow-sand filters, while also teaching good hygiene practices that can lessen water-borne illnesses.

Troester October 2008 Newsletter

2009-08-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Greetings from the Central African Republic (CAR)! We are happy to report that the political situation here is looking more. Because of this, Global Mission has given our family permission to move to Baboua, CAR, a small town about 30 miles from the border with Cameroon. This area has remained calm and largely unaffected by the unrest. Joe has been working there each week and returning to Cameroon on the weekends to be with Deborah and Christa, so it will be good for the whole family to be together again. We hope to be settled in Baboua by the end of October.

We have good news to share. A college student has come as a volunteer to teach Christa's lessons for the fall semester. Her name is Mariel Viera-Bernier and she is a second-year student at the University of Puerto Rico. Mariel is fluent in both English and Spanish and was home-schooled herself, so she is a major asset to Christa's education. She is a member of the Union Church of San Juan, our former church in Puerto Rico, where Deborah served as associate pastor. Mariel is excited to be here. She hopes to apply with the Peace Corps or to do more short-term mission work after graduation. Please keep her in your prayers.

In December Audrey Plisch, a retired middle-school teacher, counselor, and dean of students, will arrive to finish up the school year with Christa. We are blessed to have both Mariel, and then Audrey, to help with Christa's schooling this year.

Meanwhile, Deborah has been able to spend more time in language study. She has already been invited to conduct a worship service in Sango at the end of November. Sango and French are the two national languages of CAR.

Joe and Deborah had an exciting experience in July. We accompanied four Central African colleagues to a week-long Red Cross training in sanitation and hygiene at the village of Dekoa, about three hours north of Bangui, CAR. Thirty village education workers, including our Central African colleagues, were given 30 hours of training over four days, including teaching basic hygiene, preventing water-borne diseases, and helping villagers organize a water committee to protect and manage sources of clean water. Most of the classes were taught by local Central African Red Cross trainers, who did an excellent job. We were impressed that one woman who attended the seminar walked over 35 miles to get there, carrying her 6 week old infant on her back!

Prayer requests:

Thanksgiving for our tutors: Mariel Viera-Bernier and Audrey Plisch, who arrives in December to take her place. Please pray for safe travels, good health, and a quick adjustment to living in Africa.
For peace and security in the Central African Republic.
For wisdom for the leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR, especially Rev. André Goliké, church president.
For the work of PASE as it continues to provide clean drinking water for villagers and to educate them about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.
For our move to Baboua, CAR, that all will go smoothly.
For ELCA/Global Missions as they seek a new West Africa Director and new West Africa Regional Representatives, to replace Rev. Eva Jensen and Louis and Mytch Dorvillier, all of whom have moved on to other positions.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We look forward to hearing from you, and perhaps to visiting you personally while we are on furlough in summer 2009.

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

October 2008

Happy Easter from the Central African Republic

2009-08-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Greetings from Central Africa! We have had quite an exciting EastertideDeborah had to have an emergency appendectomy on March 19. She is making a good recovery, after spending Easter in the Protestant Hospital at N'gaoundéré, Cameroon. God was good to us, in that everything worked out for her to receive the care she needed. Dr. Jim Mongé, of Duluth, Minnesota, an excellent surgeon, had arrived in Cameroon just two days before, and was able to do the surgery. Deborah wishes to thank Dr. Arroga, director of the hospital; Jean Baptiste and his team of nurses in the intensive care unit; and Dr. and Dr. Solofo here in Garoua-Boulaï, who diagnosed the problem. Thanks also to Jim and Karen Noss for their hospitality in N'gaoundéré.

During January and February we enjoyed the visits of folks from Michigan, North Dakota, and Texas. Rev. Paul Owens and several other members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Alpena, Michigan were in Cameroon in January. Rev. Owens is a former professor at the Bible College in Garoua Boulaï, Cameroon, just down the street from our house. He and his parishioners came to visit the Bible College and other Lutheran supported institutions in Cameroon.

In February members of the Central African Republic's Partner Synods traveled to the CAR for the dedication of the Women's Center and a new church in Bouar. We traveled together with them to Bouar, where we were warmly welcomed by the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in CAR (EELRCA), Rev. André Golike, and his colleagues. While there, Deborah had the privilege of preaching at the annual women's conference of the EELRCA. She preached in French and the sermon was translated into Sango, the local language. Joe was also present at the women's conference, as one of his Central African co-workers, Josephine Oumarou, addressed the women on the need to use water from a clean source or to treat it before drinking it. Joe and his co-workers still have a lot of work to do regarding hygiene education. Many Central Africans do not know the importance of making sure their drinking water is clean.

Even though the women of Central Africa live in one of the poorest nations in the world, in an atmosphere of war and violence, it was inspiring to see how enthusiastically they sang, danced, and worshipped during the conference. We even enjoyed a humorous moment when one group presented a short skit, showing how we are all "sheep who have gone astray"with some women acting as sheep and others with small sticks trying to guide the sheep onto the "straight and narrow way."

Each region brought an offering to help defray costs of the conference. The total offering, from all over the country came to around $150, yet this represented a tremendous sacrifice on their part. This is a nation where people are living on less than $1 a day. According to U.N. statistics, the CAR is the fifth-poorest nation in the world.

Sadly, some churches from northern CAR were not represented at the conference, as they had disbanded, along with the entire village, due to violence in that region. Refugees from northern CAR continue to move south and west into Cameroon, in search of safety from bandits and rebels in this war-torn country.

We urge you to inform yourselves and your churches about what is going on in the Central African Republic, and to keep the people and the churches of that nation in your prayers. The violence and unrest is directly related to the problems in Darfur, Sudan, and Chad. Unfortunately governments in that region have been unable to stop the fighting and protect their own citizens from rebels and marauders.

Furthermore, the government of the CAR has not been able to pay its civil servants. This means that public schools are closed, public hospitals may not have doctors or nurses, and other government services have been curtailed. In this humanitarian crisis, church organizations and other NGO's are often the only source of help. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is doing its part as we assist the EELRCA, together with our Lutheran partners in Germany, Denmark, and elsewhere. It is important to continue to support ELCA efforts in the CAR. Contact Global Missions at the address below to find out how you can help.

Rev. Twila Schock

Global Mission and Development Services Units

8765 West Higgins Road

Chicago, IL 60631

Telephone: 773.380.2641

Twila.Schock@elca.org

Thank you again for your prayers and your support,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

April 2008

Prayer requests:

For peace in the CAR, and a just resolution to the conflicts in that region
For wisdom for church leaders and missionaries as to how to respond during this difficult time
For safe water for all
For safety during travel in the CAR

For the right teacher for our daughter Christa, who will be entering 6^th grade this fall; we are still seeking a teacher for her, so that Deborah, who is an ordained pastor, may be more active in assisting the local church. For more information see: http://www.elca.org/globalserve/pd/gm2/car_elem_teacher.html

Mailing address:

Joe and Deborah Troester

B.P. 111

N'gaoundéré

CAMEROON

Since we are using email via satellite, please do not send attachments, pictures, or forwarded messages. Please do not include our message in your reply. If possible, using plain text also helps cut the costs. Thanks!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Central African Republic!

2009-08-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Since arriving in Africa this fall, we have settled into our new home in Garoua-Boulaï, Cameroon, a small town on the border with the Central African Republic (CAR). Most weeks, Joe spends Monday through Friday in the CAR as the technical advisor for PASE (the French acronym for Program for Water-Resources Development). Deborah home-schools Christa and participates in local church activities, such as the Femmes Pour Christ (Women for Christ) and a program for adolescent girls run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon.

Joe's major job is improving access to potable water. In November, he spent two weeks with a drill crew at three different mission stations, including that of the ELCA missionaries in Bouar, who have been carting water in barrels to their home for months, a task which had cut considerably into their time and energy for doing mission work. This fall, he also spent some time getting his home-away-from-home in Baboua, CAR, into a more livable condition. This has involved adding a washing machine and repairing the electrical systems. (The house has two separate solar systems and is attached to a generator.)

Recently, a Central African Joe knows came to his door in Baboua asking for money for medicine. He is one of the few who has graduated from high school. He wants to go on to the university to become a medical doctor, but he lacks the funds. Recently he has fallen on hard times. He can no longer drink bottled water, so he returned to drinking stream water and was sick as a result.

Worldwide, 1.1 billion people lack access to potable water and 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation. Statistics for water-related diseases in the CAR are difficult to find, although a recent report by the World Bank indicates that nearly 90 percent of all diseases in the developing world are caused by unsanitary water conditions and that 50 percent of the people in hospitals are there for water-related diseases. Diarrhea alone has killed more children in the last 10 years than all the people killed in wartime since World War II.

In 2008, Joe will be working with PASE to continue improving access to potable water through rehabilitating broken wells and building spring boxes to protect the purity of the spring water. In January, Joe plans to meet with representatives of the International Red Cross in CAR's capital of Bangui to obtain educational materials in local African languages. PASE will be using these materials as part of their program to improve health and hygiene in villages through education. It is not enough to provide potable water; people must also learn why it is important to drink clean water, even it if means going a little further to a clean water source, such as a well or a spring.

Please pray for the efforts of PASE, for its director, Jean Marc Abbo (a Central African Lutheran layperson), and for Joe as he serves as their technical advisor. This work, co-sponsored by the ELCA and its partner, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic, has the potential to save many lives, and to spread the love of Christ to those living in poverty in one of the most neglected countries in Africa.

Yours with best wishes for 2008,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Baboua, Central African Republic

December 2007

Specific prayer requests include

1. Finding the right teacher for Christa (see below)

2. Our continued health and safety

3. The safety of all who live and work in the CAR, due to the insecurity there

P.S. If you know of anyone with training in water-resources who would be interested in working in Liberia, please ask him or her to look at the position description found at http://www.elca.org/globalserve/pd/lt/Liberia_water_resource.pdf

P.P.S. If you know of a certified elementary teacher who might be interested in spending a couple years in Africa as Christa's teacher, please ask him or her to look at the position description found at http://www.elca.org/globalserve/pd/gm2/car_elem_teacher.html

Thanksgiving Arrives Early in Africa

2009-08-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Cameroon and the Central African Republic!

Many folks look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving in November, but here in central Africa we have already been celebrating Thanksgiving for the entire month of October! It is harvest time here, and it is also the time of the "Don de Récolte" when Christians bring a special offering to further the work of the local church. Each Sunday for the past month, church members have come forward singing and dancing to present their offerings. Most people bring their gift in an envelope, as we would, and place it in the basket set in front of the altar, but some bring produce from their fields, such as a big bag of ignamés (a large root vegetable, which tastes a bit like potato). One Sunday a man brought up a live chicken, which the pastor had to corral! On Youth Sunday the young people lowered their offering from the ceiling in a basket of flowers. (They had rigged up a rope ahead of time, and at the right moment, they let it down till it rested in front of the altar.) Everyone applauds at the end of the service when the amount of the offering is announced. The people here get really excited about their giving!

Even though most of us who live in more developed nations have far more material goods than our brothers and sisters in Africa, I can't help but think we can learn something from them. They are happy to give what they are able. Even though they have very little, by Western standards, they give joyfully, and make the offering a time of celebration. How many of us would come singing and dancing down the aisle to bring our offering to God? Perhaps they know something we in wealthier countries do not: one does not have to have material wealth to be rich in spirit.

For those of you who would like to know a bit about what we have been doing: This past summer we had a relaxing visit with friends and family in Puerto Rico, Illinois, and Missouri. At the end of July we left for Africa. While spending the weekend en route in Paris, we coincidentally were able to see the end of the Tour de France. (We hadn't realized it was that weekend, so we quickly changed our plans from visiting museums to watching the bicycle race.)

Once in Cameroon, Christa and Deborah stayed in the capital city of Yaoundé for Christa to begin her school year. The SIL mission agency (Wycliffe Bible Translators) graciously allowed us to register her in their home-school program for missionary children. Students in the program meet three times a year in Yaoundé for two to three weeks of instruction with qualified teachers from the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain. They are tutored the rest of the year by their parents. While Christa got started in 5^th grade, Joe went on ahead to visit his work site in CAR, and to meet his new colleagues.

On September 7, we all moved into our new home in Garoua-Boulaï, Cameroon, on the border with CAR, just 30 miles over a dirt road from Joe's office in Baboua, CAR. However, due to road conditions and border formalities, the trip takes about an hour and a half, so he spends most of the week in Baboua, and returns home on weekends. His official title is "Technical Advisor" to the PASE program (Projet d'Áménagement de Sources d'Éau, or for those of you who do not read French, "Project for Management of Water Resources"). The past two months have been spent in orientation, visiting villages, helping with the accounting system, and preparing the program's 3^rd quarter report. His work has also included repairing a spring box (concrete and pipe built around a natural spring, to protect water quality for drinking); completing a slow-sand water filter, for purifying stream water for the village of Koundé; and developing plans to drill two wells, to be completed before the end of the year, if all goes as planned.

Deborah and Christa have continued with home schooling, and have had time for reading and baking, two of their favorite hobbies. We are all enjoying playing with our new part-Labrador puppy, Lady, who entertains us and helps us get our exercise by walking her.

Deborah, an ordained minister, has also been called upon to assist in serving communion and reading the scriptures for the French language church service here in Garoua-Boulaï. She has enjoyed attending activities of the local "Femmes pour Christ" (Women for Christ) organization, as well.

We wish all our friends, family and supporters a happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for your support and prayers for us as we live out our mission here in Africa. We would love to hear from you just please don't send long files, such as graphics or photos, since we receive our email by satellite, and large files are quite expensive (about $8 per megabyte). May God grant you grace to live out your mission, wherever you may be. Blessings to you all!

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Garoua Boulaï, Cameroon

November 2007

Specific prayer requests include

1. Finding a good teacher for Christa*

2. Our continued health and safety

3. The safety of all who live and work in the CAR, due to the insecurity there

*This year, Christa is in the fifth grade. Since there is no English language school here, we are home schooling her. However, the ELCA Global Missions are still looking for a teacher for Christa. This will free Deborah to assist with other mission needs. If you know anyone who has an elementary teaching certificate and wants to live in Africa for a couple of years, tell them they can apply on-line at www.elca.org/globalserve. This position offers a stipend, housing, travel expenses, and health insurance, plus two years re-payment of student loans, if applicable.

In addition, for those who might be interested, the ELCA is advertising for a water-resources specialist in Liberia. Please check their webpage [www.elca.org/globalserve] for more information.

Greetings from Cameroon!

2009-08-14T08:21:00.000-07:00

After nine months of French classes in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and an all-too-brief vacation, our family has finally been deployed to Cameroon. We are currently in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.

On Saturday (August 11), Joe will depart for the village of Baboua in the Central African Republic (CAR) to review the current status of the water project that has been begun in that area by the Lutheran Church. I will return in a month and then we will all move to Garoua Boulaï, Cameroon. We will live there and Joe will travel to the CAR to work when conditions are good..

This year, Christa is in the fifth grade. Since there is no English Language school were we will be living her parents will be home schooling her. However, the ELCA Global Missions are still looking for a teacher for Christa, so if you know anyone who has an elementary teaching certificate and wants to live in Africa for a couple of years, tell them they can apply on-line at www.elca.org/globalserve/

Please keep us in your prayers. Specific prayer requests include

Finding a good teacher for Christa

Our continued health and safety

And the safety of all who live in the CAR, where they have had to deal with so much insecurity

Blessings to all of you,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Yaoundé, Cameroon

August 2007

The Troesters are missionaries with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Joe is a water resources specialist and Deborah is an ordained pastor. Their daughter, Christa, age 10, is in 5th grade. Their contact information is below:

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

B.P. 111

N'gaoundéré, CAMEROON

Cell: (Country Code 237) 9994-8723

Greetings from West Africa!

2009-08-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

The rainy season is slowly arriving in Burkina Faso. In the eastern part of the country, farmers have begun planting the traditional crop of millet. There has been some rain here in Ouagadougou during April and May, but not enough to plant crops. Everyone is hoping the rainy season will begin soon.

This is also a time of change for our family. After nine months of French classes, we will be returning to the states to visit friends and relatives and prepare for our deployment to the Central African Republic. Regrettably the security situation in that country is not good. So the decision has been made that we will be living Garoua Boulaï, Cameroon, instead of Baboua, CAR. The two towns are only separated by 20 miles of dirt road and the border, so Joe will travel to the CAR to work when conditions are good.

This year, Christa attended the fourth grade at the International School of Ouagadougou and she is sad to be leaving all of her new friends. She will start home-schooling in August in Cameroon. The ELCA Global Missions are still looking for a teacher for Christa, so if you know anyone who has an elementary teaching certificate and wants to live in Africa for a couple of years, tell them they can apply on-line at www.elca.org/globalserve/

For those of you wishing to contact us or visit with us, Deborah and Christa will be in San Juan, Puerto Rico from June 16 to 23. Deborah will be giving a short presentation at the Union Church of San Juan after the service on Sunday, June 17. We will all be in Illinois for most of the month of July and will be giving a presentation at the First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale, Illinois, after church on Sunday, July 15. We hope to see many of you, either in San Juan or in Illinois

Blessings to all of you,

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

June 2007

The Troesters are missionaries with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Joe is a water resources specialist and Deborah is an ordained pastor. Their daughter, Christa, age 10, will be in the 5th grade in the fall. Their contact information is below:

From June 23 through July 26:

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

3500 Chautauqua Rd.

Carbondale, IL 62901, USA

Deborah's parents' phone in Carbondale: (618) 457-6637

Starting in August

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester

B.P. 111

N'gaoundéré, CAMEROON

Cell: (Country Code 237) 994-8723

Bonne Année 2007! Happy New Year 2007!

2009-08-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here in Ouagadougou, signs have been springing up in front of stores and businesses wishing everyone a happy new year"Bonne Année 2007!" or "Joyeux Nouvel An!" This is the common greeting in Burkina Faso, a country of many ethnic groups and religions. While Christians celebrate Christmas, Muslims are celebrating Tabaski,* and others are just enjoying the festive mood and vacation from work. Since everyone, regardless of religion, celebrates the New Year, "Joyeux Nouvel An!" is a courteous greeting for all of one's friends and neighbors.

Since we came here this fall, we have been impressed by how well people of different ethnic and religious groups get along in Burkina Faso. In a country composed of 10% Christians, 50% Muslims, and 40% various animist religions, there is amazingly little sectarian conflict. Everyone seems to respect the religious beliefs of others, and people are free to follow their faith traditions. A taxi driver we know, who is Muslim, has two Bible verses pasted to the dashboard of his car: "It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord," (Lamentations 3:26) and "Love is the fulfilling of the law," (Romans 13:10b).

There are some sixty different ethnic groups in Burkina Faso, a nation which is approximately the size of Illinois and Indiana put together. There are the semi-nomadic, fiercely independent Tuareg in the north, the dominant Mossi in the center, and groups such as the Gourounsi in the south, who are known for the beautiful paintings on their mud-walled homes. In the long history of Africa, these groups have not always gotten along together, but now they live peacefully side by side, respecting each others' traditions.

Sometimes when we see the poverty of countries such as Burkina Faso, we are tempted to wonder what their contribution to the world could be in terms of economics or political influence. Yet Burkina Faso's example of peaceful co-existence among people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds puts much wealthier and more powerful nations to shame.

As we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace and look forward to a new year with prayers for peace, let us, too, remember that "love is the fulfilling of the law"between individuals, peoples, and nations.

With best wishes for a blessed Christmas and a peace-filled New Year, "Joyeuse Noël et Bonne Année 2007!

Joe, Deborah and Christa Troester

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

December 2006

*Tabaski is a Muslim feast which commemorates Abraham's obedience to God in taking Isaac to be sacrificed. As you may recall, an angel appeared to stop him, and Abraham and Isaac sacrificed a ram instead. Many Muslim families celebrate this day by sacrificing a sheep and eating it. People wear new clothes, and sometimes gifts are given to children.

Prayer Requests: thanksgiving for a good harvest in Burkina Faso this year; (They have produced enough grain for approximately 50% of their own food needs, which is better than average for this country); for an end to hostilities in the Central African Republic, and for the well-being and safety of the church and missionaries there; for continued good health, patience, and diligence as we learn French; for the right teacher for Christa next year, and her continued adjustment to life as a "missionary kid." A big thank you to all those who are praying for us and for the people of Africa.

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink

2009-08-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

"I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink" Matthew 25:35

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the Sunny Sahel of Africa!

We have begun our work as missionaries by getting to know the African culture and studying French, a language we will need for our work in water resource development in the Central African Republic. As have many Global Missions personnel before us, we are studying French in Burkina Faso at C.F.A.L.C.the Center for Adult Education in Language and Culturehere in the capital city of Ouagadougou. According to our French teachers, Ouagadougou means "place of welcome." And we have been warmly welcomed indeed to this friendly country.

On our first day in Ouagadougou, one of our teachers, a young man named Pascal, took us sight-seeing on his day off. Among our stops was the Catholic Cathedral, a rather large and imposing brick colonial structure built in 1936. Inside the Cathedral are four paintings illustrating Bible stories which have great significance in this land of scarce resources. The paintings over each side door are of Jesus feeding the five thousand. To the left of the altar is a painting of Moses striking the rock in the desert so that water will gush forth to satisfy the thirst of the people of Israel (Exodus 17). To the right of the altar is a painting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). As you recall, Jesus asked her for water, which she gave him. Then he offered her living water for her soul.

As we stood in the coolness of the cathedral, we reflected on what it meant to be called by God to help provide water to the people of the Central African Republic, who are literally dying for lack of safe water to drink. We thought it appropriate that on our first day in Africa we had been brought to a place which reminded us of the importance of water for God's people. We pray that as we help the people of the CAR with their physical need for this life-giving substance, we can also give and receive the water of life that comes from Jesus Christ.

No one need die from their drinking water. Please pray that our work together with the Evangelical Church of the CAR is successful.

Joe, Deborah, and Christa Troester