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!

You win some. You lose some.

Early this summer we went to look at a new project submitted by OBIPHA, a handicap organization. They are located in the Kingaseke area and are trying to meet the needs in their community of the blind, physically handicapped, and mentally handicapped (specifically Autism).
They have no funding source but work together trying to help the handicapped be productive and learn ways they can generate an income. They have a school where they run a full curriculum for the blind, They teach sewing, hair design and nail care . They requested wheelchairs for their physically handicapped, supplies for their blind students, and support for a bakery they are trying to run as an income stream for the organization.

On our first visit we were greeted warmly to the neighborhood. The area was difficult to get to even with a truck as most of the roads are very narrow and not much more than walking paths. We met some of the blind students and the girls learning to braid and extend hair. The blind students are being taught to be pig farmers as it is a type of work they can manage.

They are renting a complex for their school and tables and chairs to furnish it. They have a small library and a few supplies including some sewing machines for their sewing class.

Emmanuel is President of the organization. He is also a minister in the Methodist church. The young man (center) is blind and was taught braille by a concerned member of the community. He now teaches the blind but he has no equipment other than his personal braille tablet and white cane. Next is Willymar, director of the center and a member of our church.

One of the blind students took us to see the pig farm that actually was a pig house. The pigs were boarded into different rooms of a house each room housing a mother pig and her young. It was impressive. I was snapping away pictures trying to hurry this experience along and get out of the pig house when . . .

I stepped off of a step and the floor beneath my foot gave way dropping my leg into a pit of some kind of liquid. My camera went flying and I was splayed out on the floor with my right leg down in this pit. Farrell and our guide pulled me out and took me outside where I examined my dripping leg for cuts – none were found – a miracle as the floor that gave way under my foot was a rusted piece of tin covering a hole. I was soaked to my waist in this liquid. Needless to say I smelled terrible. This area has no running water and all that was available was a bucket half full of water. Our guide grabbed a totally worn out wash cloth (a shredded rag) and started wiping my legs and shoes off. I squeezed out my skirt then dipped the bottom into the 1/2 filled bucket of water and then rung my skirt again. I rinsed my shoes off in the bucket and called it good. Our guide was so upset and Farrell looked like he was going to throw up at anytime. It was one of those times when you just pull up your pig poop skirt and say, ”Ca va” and move on

We headed back to our truck where I wiped down with some antiseptic wipes and lathered my arms, legs and hands in antibacterial gel and called it good. It wasn’t good. I was having a hard time myself with my stomach wanting to fight back but, we had not finished our tour as we still needed to go to their bakery. I knew if we left I would just have to return later to see the bakery so I opted to just finish the tour as this area was such a difficult place to get to.

We all jumped in the truck and headed for the bakery. I noticed that Farrell turned the air conditioner up full blast and everyone opened their windows with some even hanging out their windows.

Now I know this is a bad story to tell to you who are considering a mission but let me reassure you. . . I survived. I didn’t get a bruise, a cut or a scrape from the fall. I didn’t develop any terrible disease and best of all I got over it. We actually don’t talk about it and I dare anyone to mention it as it is best forgotten.

My camera literally bit the dust and has not worked since. Elder Moon, true to his form, is repairing it. I loved that camera so I encourage him to try whatever he can do to make it a survivor. Last I heard he had sanded down a drill bit small enough to work on the camera and is building a new part for it. I have no doubt that before we leave I will have my camera back.

As the camera was dead I didn't get any pictures of the bakery which was just a cement building with open windows and door, a wooden trough where they mixed the dough and a large brick oven into which they were putting loaves of bread with a big wooden paddle. It out smelled my skirt and we were amazed at the productivity of this little building out in the middle of no where accessed only by a rutted trail. The handicapped students were working in the bakery to earn money and they were selling everything they could make, their need being more supplies to boost their production so that they could increase the income which would support the students and the association.


We went to work developing a project from what we had seen on our visit -- the project which has ever since this ordeal been affectionately called the PIG POOP project.

We wanted to help them develop an income stream with their bakery but it didn’t quite meet our guidelines so we settled on putting the support to the Blind School.

The products we needed were not available in the Congo and we couldn’t get them sent in through the church (customs issues) so we went to some priests who have dedicated their order to the support of the blind. They ordered the supplies in from Europe. The list of goods included: computer, braille typewriters, braille notebooks, braille math system for learning math, audio watches, white canes, braille paper, plastic tables and chairs and 10 wheelchairs to help the physically handicapped in the organization.

When we picked up the braille typewriters they were very dirty and not in good repair. These machines are much like the old, old typewriters before electric.. They were suppose to be refurbished but we had to get Elder Moon to work his magic to get them in proper working order.

We held a closing ceremony at the center and one of the blind students serenaded us.

Farrell explained the Family Health and Hygiene program the center was going to offer to the community in an effort to help the community improve their management of family health and the avoidance of disease.

The closing ceremony was hampered as the wheelchairs were not delivered as promised. They didn’t come till the next day. We left the ceremony thinking the w/c would be delivered later in the afternoon but it didn’t happen. The w/c recipients thought that, Emmanuel, the Assoc. President had absconded with the w/c and they became very angry. He was roughed up and his phone was stolen. It was not a very pleasant situation but the next day the chairs were delivered and given out. This incident put a dark cloud over this project and caused us to second think our desire to help this group. We had thought this organization was stronger and more united than this and it was upsetting to have Emmanual treated with such disrespect.

Not our favorite project but one that will benefit people. We wished we had left the wheelchairs out of the proposal but then again we have to remember how desperate these people must feel when they are trying to survive in such poverty and have been mistreated for so many years. We hope that the blind school will be stronger, which it undoubtedly will be and that those who are trying very hard to be independent and overcome poverty will be strengthened by the supplies that were provided.

(Yes that is a Congolese dress. I needed a new outfit after this project)

Here is a tender photo of a man who came to the ceremony to receive a cane. He is blind and has had his left leg (below the knee) amputated. He was so excited to get a cane but as he left I caught this picture of his shoes. I wondered how he was walking in this rough terrain, blind and with a prosthetic in those worn out shoes