Neonatal Resuscitation Initiative, Our Last Hurrah!

Time moves very quickly when you are busy doing the Lord's work. Time for us to go home was drawing close but we still had much to do. We extended our mission a month so that we could do the NRT initiative for 2008. That decision set us up for a whirlwind final two weeks in the DRC.

On Oct 11th we went to the airport and picked up our replacements Neal and Sandy Davis and the NRT Team, Dr. Michael Preece and his wife Merrilee and Dr. Steven Grover and his wife, Carolyn and daughter Emma.

It was a crazy and wild beginning for the Davis as we got them to bed Saturday night at about 12:00 pm and then were up early to take the NRT team and the Davis to church at Kimbwala Ward. This was and was meant to be a cultural experience for all as the ride to Kimbwala and the ward itself are part of the African experience. We hurried home to fix dinner and be ready to meet with our local Congolese doctors, Dr. Ngoy and Dr. Empamossa who were going to help with the NRT training this year.

The Neonatal Resuscitation Program has grown into a wonderful partnership with our Congolese partners. They have worked hard in Kinshasa running many trainings to perpetuate the NRT program.

DR. Arthur Ngoy and Dr. Valerie Empampossa were trained last year (Aug 2007) and have been perpetuating the training ever since. We have supported them in two trainings this year as they have tried to make sure that every birthing attendant in their Catholic system has the benefit that the NRT training provides. We have grown very close to these two doctors and have had a wonderful opportunity to get to know them.

This year for the first time it was decided to use the local doctors to teach the training under the supervision of the NRT team from the US.

Kinshasa doctors, Dr. Empampossa and Dr. Ngoy.

The plan was to help these doctors develop a plan for the country and then have them manage the training and follow up. We asked Dr. Ngoy to come up with a plan for perpetuating the training and to help us see where he felt the program could go.

He came back with the idea that he could work first with the Catholic System of which he is a part and then spread out to the Protestant hospital systems and eventually to the government hospital systems. His needs were manuals, training kits and resuscitation kits for those who are trained. He arranged for us to collaborate with a hospital in Lubumbashi to extended the training even further this year. We met with Dr. Kaluiba in Lubumbashi and found an enthusiastic partner.

The program for 2008 was set up to test this idea as we held 2 trainings in Kinshasa and then flew to Lubumbashi and did two trainings. We had worked with Dr. Kaluba in Lubumbashi to identify possible trainers for that area of the country. We planned for 3 Lubumbashi doctors to come to the Kinshasa training and then return with the team to Lubumbashi for two more training sessions focusing on the Congolese doctors doing the training..

This was a big undertaking and required that the church NRT program place a lot of trust in these local doctors.

Training for Kinshasa went very well with 96 doctors, nurses, midwives and birthing attendants receiving the training.

The following day we flew 13 people to Lubumbashi: The NRT team consisting of Dr Preece, Sister Preece, Dr. Grover, Sister Grover and Emma Grover (daughter) along with the 2 Lubumbashi doctors Dr. and Dr. and Dr. Ngoy and Dr. Valerie , the Davis and ourselves. We were met at the airport by Dr. Ngoy's brother, head of a security agency, who gave us the VIP treatment. Dr. Ngoy was so excited to go to his home town of Lubumbashi and see his family for the first time in 3 years. He dressed for the occasion in a beautiful,intricately embroidered african dress.

The Lubumbashi training was held at our church building by necessity as the hospital did not have a place for the training. This was a real plus as the church is a beautiful building and was spacious, spotlessly clean, well furnished with tables and chairs and with a kitchen for preparing lunch and breaks.

The best reason for using the church was the beautiful clean bathrooms with flush toilets, toilet tissue, soap and paper towels. Dr. Ngoy stated, after coming out of the bathroom, “My that is like a palace.”

We had the ward bishop. Bishop Justin hosting at the building and another church member Deseri who had helped us set up the program who greeted people and helped us make sure things ran smoothly.

Relief society sisters catered the breaks and lunch and did a wonderful job. The training could not have gone smoother and the people attending seemed to enjoy their experience, were very animated and seemed to grasp the concepts fully.

Lubumbashi doctors

After each training we have a ceremony and present certificates to the participants and have a speaker give a short keynote address.

The first day the Providence Health Minister gave the address. He stated that two years ago they were in a national meeting with the Minister of Health and were discussing the needs of the DR Congo. The number one problem they faced was infant mortality. Their statistics show their death rate at 150/1000. They made some changes and tried some things and came back together a year later and found that their statistics had changed and actually gotten worse 165/1000 infant mortality. He prayed about what to do and how to help this problem and the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to his office asking permission to do a training on Neonatal Resuscitation. He had heard of this program in Kinshasa and was very excited to have it come to Lubumbashi. He attended the first day training and said he was over whelmed with the simplicity of the training an the ability of all who attended to grasp the concepts and be able to take it back to their health centers. He was very appreciative of the materials that were given to help the health centers. He said this was an incident of having a problem, praying about it and God sending the answer. He then stated that we are not done until every infant born in the Congo has the benefit of the NRT training.

Our new champions in Lubumbashi are excited and have already started making plans on how to perpetuate the training, reaching out to smaller areas maybe even having them come into Lubumbashi for training or taking doctors out into the field to train

Our last night in Lubumbashi we were invited to dinner at the brother of Dr. Ngoy. His wife had fixed us a real Congolese meal and had their daughters sing for us.

they sang in English, Kumbaya. They ended by presenting each family with a gift. Our host stated he just wanted to say thank you for bringing the NRT program to his town and blessing his people with the gift of life for their children. He was very gracious.

The opportunities are endless and the chance for the church to support a national program seems very possible. We could not have asked for a more successful training this year. We have made wonderful friends who we will never forget.

Our prayers will be with the Davis as they plan for supporting the doctors in the perpetuation of this training and in planning for another training in 2009.

The Worth of a Girl

What happens to the children of the Congo whose parents are killed in the wars or who die from aides? Where do the young girls go who are living in such poverty that their parents abandon them because they are unable to feed them. What happens to those girls who are left on their own to survive when there are no relatives or neighbors who are willing to help.

Young girls are at high risk everywhere here in Africa and often little value is put on their lives.

A few months ago the Parks, a missionary couple in Lubumbashi asked us to come and see an orphanage they had visited and felt was deserving of some help.

Maison d’Accueil Amani pour Filles Abandonnees is an organization managing an orphanage for girls who are abandoned or orphaned. The girls are at high risk for making it past their teen years. The people running the orphanage are beautiful, giving people who have a reverence for life and a Christ like love for children, especially those in difficult circumstances. Often the red cross will bring them girls they find who need some where to stay.

Today the orphanage supports 68 of these young girls from infants to 17 years of age. The girls come from Lubumbashi and from the war area. Many are brought to them by the Red Cross (CICR).



They have three categories of children: 1) abandoned girls, 2) orphans of both parents 3) girls from difficult situation such as divorce and poverty.

The leaders want to be able to help children find their parents, help them find a place in society and to employ them in gainful employment helping them take charge of their own lives..

We were very impressed with this orphanage as the compound was clean.

It had adequate sanitation facilities-showers and latrines.

They have a garden that the staff and children manage.

The children’s rooms were neat and orderly and there was no odor of uncleanliness in the rooms.

The children at the orphanage were clean and polite and appeared to be well cared for.

The needs for this orphanage were many including food, clothing and supplies. We looked at their request and saw a great project that would build and strengthen this organization.

They wanted to start a sewing school for the girls to teach them to sew there by giving them a profession to support themselves when they leave the orphanage.

The project supplied sewing machines, embroidery machine, and supplies to start a sewing school.




The monies generated from the sewing will go to supporting the orphanage.
There are two staff members who are trained seamstresses who will be the teachers and the girls will be given the opportunity to learn to sew and to sell what they sew at the market. The orphanage will also incorporate the church’s “Family health and Hygiene” program into their classes to prepare the girls for better health and avoidance of disease and illness
The project will become self sustaining as the orphanage is able to generate some income from the sales of the articles they will sew.

When we picked up the sewing and embroidery machines we didn't realize that we would have to assemble them along with their tables.

The girls got very excited when we pulled into the orphanage with the truck loaded down with boxes.

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Assembling the machines is a technical job (where is Elder Moon when you need him - back in Kinshasa doing his real missionary work). We hired a technician to assemble the machines and went ahead with the ceremony for turning over the goods to the orphanage.

There was much clapping and singing and many thank yous. The girls were so excited to see the equipment coming into their home knowing they were going to get to learn to sew.

The orphanage asked us to keep the donation quiet as they feared that if someone found out they got all this equipment that they would be robbed. This had happened previously when someone donated some supplies to them and the whole neighborhood knew about the donation

The day after the ceremony we took the two sewing instructors to the store to purchase sewing material and notions to get their business going.

Having a love for sewing I was right in there pitching for the gold thread and the beautiful fabrics.

We had a great time SHOPPING! Some just stood to the side and rolled their eyes.

Fabric, thread buttons, snaps, hooks, needles, ribbons, lace decorative thread the pile kept getting bigger and bigger.

I told Pauline ,the shop owner, that we were on a budget of $500. She assured me that we would be well with in our budget and they continued to add things to the pile.

These two sisters were all business. You could see their brains working figuring out all the things they could make with these supplies and the opportunity to generate some needed income for the orphanage.

Pauline started adding up the bill - and adding - and adding -

Farrell watched the process getting a bit worried that we were way over our budget.

Finally Pauline announced the news - $830 grand total . . . . . . .

There were some gasps, some sighs and Farrell did a lot of choking sounds.

The instructors looked sadly at their pile of goods trying to decide what they should put back.

It was painful and wrenching as we watched them trying to figure out what was the best thing to do without.

Finally Farrell stepped up and said "Ca va." and pulled out the money to pay the price then leaned over to me and said "I think you just spent $300 of YOUR money. I was delighted - some of the best money I have ever spent.

All though we didn't put anything back, not everything on their list was purchased. They were not able to get the electric scissors they wanted very badly but that is give and take , right?

After we loaded the goods in the truck Pauline beckoned me to the second floor of her shop where she gave me a beautiful pink Congolese outfit. I think she felt rather guilty about not keeping a better handle on things but not that guilty - she took the money without flinching a bit

Can't wait to go back to Lubumbashi next week and see what those girls are learning and see if they have started generating an income yet. Can't wait!