Friday 8th and Saturday 9th February
2013 Ibambi
We
toured the Ibambi Maternity Unit, Clinic and Dispensary. They were all in a
very bad state of repair, with very old equipment and a limited supply of drugs
in the Dispensary through lack of funds.
Nebobongo is the nearest hospital where cases which cannot be treated
locally are sent. The hospital never
turns anyone away even if they are unable to pay for their treatment!! There seems to be a never-ending cycle of
debt and we spent time discussing ways for the church to generate income through
small businesses tailored to local need like brick making, dress making,
carpentry and metal working. There is a
need for those with the skills to help them in this and also agriculturalists
to help them improve the output from their gardens.
After
a visit to the Primary School where the problems were repeated, we were paraded
across the road, accompanied by the Church Brass Band, to the small cemetery
where C.T. Studd, the founder of WEC and other early missionaries are buried.
On
Saturday afternoon the Director of the Bible School, Pastor Kokyakake and his
students put on a wonderfully entertaining outdoor drama depicting 100 years of
Congolese life from Cannibalism and Witch Doctors to the time when the Missionaries
came with the Gospel and taught them a better way of living.
We were then all presented with Tribal Chief’s
hats!!!
Sunday 10th February 2013 Ibambi
Today
saw the beginning of the Celebrations to mark the Centenary of the founding of
CECCA16 Church in DR Congo with an outdoor service which included the
ordination of 11 Pastors. We had watched
during the week before as the open area in front of the church was covered with
a large bamboo and palm leaf canopy.
Under
this sat the congregation of thousands during the four hour long service which
included several chorale groups, prayers and sermons, and speeches, including
one from the church president, Pastor Modibale and one from Stephen McGoldrick,
a WEC missionary.
The ordination of the
new pastors was very moving to watch as each candidate, together with his wife,
had two pastors to pray for them as they entered their ministry. Then the congregation filed past to
congratulate each couple until one of the stewards intervened to stop more folk
coming forward!!
After the service a
meal was served to members of the congregation in the Conference Center. We were some of the first to be served and as
we finished we vacated our place to make way for more to have their meal!!
Later
that afternoon a number of the group walked to see two of the local springs
from which water is collected.
The first
has been protected so that it is easy to collect relatively clean water. The
second has yet to be worked on so it is difficult to ensure that the water
collected is clean.
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