A New Year in CAR

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!

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

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.

 

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. 

 

 

Dry Season

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

 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

"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)

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