The May Team

It feels like our latest team just got here and already they are about to leave us, getting ready for a 3 AM departure time tomorrow from ELIKYA.  This last team consisted of Ben and Karen McMullen along with Rachel Martin.  Rachel, our supervisor, and Karen both work with the Global Fingerprints orphan sponsorship program.  They arrived last Monday and have been really busy, hitting the ground running and not slowing up since.  Their time here was spent collecting video, photos and stories of orphans in the program and also in strategic meetings with GF supervisors and program leaders here in order to improve the overall sponsorship system. 

Ben is a youth pastor from their church in Wisconsin and he also does a lot of photography on the side so he and Karen made a great team.  Together with Rachel they were able to visit quite a few kids in Gemena, Karawa and Tandala.  Each visit was different.  Some kids were met, interviewed and filmed in their homes, others in churches.  On Thursday morning of last week we met with three kids, each situation being extremely different from the others.  The first lived with one of the GF supervisors and was very well-cared for.  The second visit was with a child who lived with his grandparents.  He was deaf and mute and his grandparents were poorly-equipped to deal with the handicap, able only to manage a few crude gestures to communicate with him.  They also had some physical difficulties that made caring for the family very difficult.  The house was in disrepair, patched up with old umbrellas and plastic-weave bags.  It was a perfect example of why this program exists, to make a way where there would otherwise be no way.  The last house would be a shock to anyone.  The mother was obviously sick and very emaciated.  Two young children lay inside the house, unwashed, hungry and flaccid.  The orphan sponsered by the program used to sell coconuts but no longer could because he had stay at home and care for his mother since she was so ill.  The house was falling apart, a good deal of it burned some time ago and offered little protection from the elements.  The mother said they had not even 1 cent to their name and no idea where their next meal was coming from.Sadly, she died within the week.  The GF program is doing so much for so many kids all over the Ubangi but there's still so much need, even within homes that are being sponsored.  This is a ministry that God is using powerfully to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Sam and Sarah escorted the team to Karawa to meet with orphans while Michelle and I went with them to Tandala.  Unfortunately, Karen didn't get to go on the planned tour of the hospital but did get to experience the hospital's laboratory services firsthand as she got sick and was pretty much incapacitated the entire two days we were there.  All tests came back negative and by the time we were ready to return to Gemena she was feeling much better again.  Since returning from Tandala they have been busy in meetings with GF staff, also taking an afternoon to visit two very special sponsored twins, Beni and Benedite.  Read their story here. 

Beni and Benedite with Pastor Ezechiel's wife

The Koyamba Team got to take the lead with this team and did well with the "practice".  Benjamin and Bebe did much of the translating, with one of us on hand to supply a missing word if necessary (Mandaba was in Kinshasa for technical training and Simplice was busy with other matters).  They also took the lead in making dinners and arranging the schedule.  It was fun to be able to tag along and see them in action!

Now that the last team has come and gone (almost) we have exactly four weeks remaining here in Gemena.  We will use our final month to pack things up and say our good-byes, then leave this ministry entirely in the hands of the four members of the Koyamba Team.