Warm Christmas Greetings

Winter 2024

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Dear friends and family,

Larry and I send warm Christmas greetings from Kinshasa where it is 86 degrees, 74% humidity, and the vegetation is very green outside from all the rain we have been having.

These past couple of months our work has taken Larry to the Kasai Central Province several times to participate in the Institute Medical Chretien du Kasai (IMCK) board meeting and to help improve the management of IMCK. Much of the last trip was spent working on the water and solar systems of the PAX clinic and maternity in the town of Kananga.

Larry’s work with the clean cookstoves is evolving into its climate-focused organization, Durable Solutions – Congo. The organization has been registered with the government and Larry is now in the process of setting it up. Initially, the principal activities will be the promotion and sale of the improved cookstove “Sala Makala” that he and the team have been working on for many years and setting up solar-powered water “ATM” systems. The improved cookstoves address health, climate and gender issues.

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I have traveled to Tshikapa in the Kasai Province to help facilitate the training of trainers for the village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) for the Multisectoral Nutrition and Health project (PNMS). Community animators and village agents are now busy establishing their first VSLAs.

The Essential Care for Maternal and Child Health in DRC (SEMI) project I have been working on since April of 2022 ended this Fall. Despite the challenges, a lot was achieved. Community health volunteers screened approximately 288,500 children ages 6–59 months old every quarter for malnutrition (93% or more of the children). The nutrition counseling component enabled 58,721 children to recover from malnutrition. Overall, the prevalence rate of acute malnutrition dropped from 6.1% to 2.8%.

This was our first time introducing arm circumference screenings of pregnant women for malnutrition. Community health volunteers were able to screen on average 27,700 pregnant women per quarter or (36% of pregnant women). Through nutrition counseling at the home by community volunteers 5,100 malnourished pregnant women recovered. Overall, the proxy prevalence rate of acute malnutrition in pregnant women decreased from 16.3% to 6.5%.

The screening revealed that adolescent pregnant women are at much higher risk for developing acute malnutrition. Identifying, treating and preventing malnutrition in the 1,000-day window from conception to a child’s second birthday is essential to reducing DRC’s high chronic malnutrition rates and breaking the cycle of malnutrition.

It is our hope that the National Nutrition Program (PRONANUT) will build on the SEMI experience of quarterly intensive systematic screening of pregnant women and that this approach will be extended to other provinces. Although the SEMI project has closed, in the months ahead I will continue to assist the PNMS project as they carry out this same screening strategy for malnutrition for pregnant women and children.

This year I have continued to give oversight to the Methodist Presbyterian hostel/guesthouse (MPH) here in Kinshasa. It was with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to volunteers Jonathan and Janet Cameron when they returned to the U.S. due to Janet’s declining health. That sorrow was compounded when she passed this Fall. Her warm welcome and service at MPH were appreciated by so many guests over the past couple of years.

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Blessings over these past 12 months have been all the visits we have had with family and friends, which started with a big family Christmas in Congo last year with Lisa, Hugh, Gabriel, Hugh’s parents Bonna Westcoat and Bailey Green who came from Athens, Larry’s brother Charles and his wife Marty Jones who came from Virginia, and Michael who always travels the farthest,  from Hawaii. It was a special time! This Fall, my brother Niels and his wife Birgitte also visited for the first time in many, many years as they passed through on their way to visit a ministry of the Methodist church in Maniema province.

Our children are doing well. Lisa, Hugh, and Gabriel (19 months) continue to live in Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. We enjoy occasional visits to see them and spending time with our delightful grandson. Even though they only live four miles away, travel involves having valid visas, going through border controls, and arranging for a speed boat to cross the mighty Congo River.

In May, we were able to take care of Gabriel for a week while Lisa and Hugh participated in the World Health Assembly in Geneva. Lisa is the strategy officer for communicable diseases, leading the Information Management Team for WHO AFRO’s largest cluster. Hugh is the program manager for polio eradication in Africa, overseeing all management and external relations functions for the region.

Michael continues to work for Terraformation on the big island of Hawaii. He develops planting plans and operations for reforestation using native or mixed tree and understory species. Recently, he was also asked to manage some macadamia and lychee orchards on the islands, so he has been busy getting up to speed on mac nut production and thinking through how to improve on those systems.

We are grateful for your prayers and your financial support that enables us to serve in DRC with the Presbyterian Church and assist IMA World Health in implementing health programs. Many women and children in need have been helped through your giving and we ask for your continued support of PC(USA)’s mission programs that touch many lives throughout the world.

Wishing you God’s peace and many blessings in the new year to come!

Inge & Larry