Butoke
update, January 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It has been about one month since I came back from a quick
trip to Canada and the USA, but it seems ages ago. The trip was very comforting,
as it permitted me to share with people of like disposition how we try to serve
the poor. During the trip, I met old friends and felt all the energy of our
dreams when we were young and I made new friends giving thanks to God that we
have a joyful band of people joining hands and hearts for His kingdom on earth,
even though we all know it isn’t easy; there are crosses on the way.
Upon my return, I found our orphans and malnourished all
alive and all but one thriving. Several were visibly relieved that I was back.
The one who not thriving was “Captaine,” a kid left a year ago by neighbors who
knew not his name, nor his family. Before my trip he had seemed so self-assured
and happy within our circle, but when I left, he refused to eat beans and even
milk, and developed kwashiorkor. The village had been rife with rumors that I
had left definitively. Abandonment has been the lot of him and most of these
kids before. It is hard to relearn to trust, but maybe my departure and quick
return will help towards that. We went
also shopping for second hand clothing, especially for our smallest kids who
quickly outgrow and destroy whatever they have. It was comforting to see their faces lit up, even if we were a
bit sad not to be able to give also to the bigger children. By now Capitaine is
eating well and seems confident again. So we give thanks for his recovery.
What happened to Capitaine is a signal that we need to work
even harder so that children receive not only services but also affection and
encouragement by our staff on a daily basis and parenting is not limited to
Jean and myself. We thought it was
happening already but probably not consistently.
Dr. Jean had come to meet me in Kinshasa and seemed
exceptionally subdued. He had recently
come back from Luiza supervising the 10 nutrition centers. On his way up there
he accepted a request to take the corpse of the academic Secretary of the CIDEP
(Centre Interdisciplinaire d’Education Permanente), a unique university without
walls with an antenna in Luiza. We
render often this service when people die far away from their home base and we
have to go that way anyhow. Upon
arrival in Luiza all the students of the CIDEP had gathered, very agitated.
They were convinced the death had been part of a conspiracy by traditional “fetishers” to kill by sorcery three leading
intellectuals, and the students wanted
revenge. They did not listen to the explanation that the man died from
diabetes. One of the students is a
traditional chief to whom we are close.
Dr. Jean advised him to lead the students in the parade they make traditionally
when one of them has died but restrain them from violence. Unfortunately the
chief lost control of the crowd.
Result: 27 houses burned, 21
other families lost all possessions - a major calamity, creating a rift in the
community and a simmering collective rage which may break out again. We mull over how to prevent new outbreaks.
Food security remains our major concern as about half of the
province is in Phase 3 of food insecurity according to FAO. Butoke is active in 2/3 of these most affected
areas. The major harvest period is
still ongoing. It should be a dry
spell, but instead we have daily abundant rains. This requires much care to prevent rotting.
For our associations, harvests of cassava seem very
promising. We had introduced an improved
variety and each cutting has generated 3 or 4 major tubers and also 3 to 4
branches that can yield each 3 cuttings. We estimate that each hectare will
give about 15 tons of cassava. We consume for the nutrition center and
orphanage in Tshikaji about 6 tons of cassava per year. For the average family about 400 kg of
cassava is sufficient for a year, if an equal amount of corn is available. So
when we distribute the cuttings, we will aim at 300 cuttings per family.
The harvest of peanuts seems instead suffering from the
rains, some nuts rotting, some germinating. The harvests of beans and corn seem
to be average.
More news on the harvests in our next letter.
We struggle even with food security at our centers in
Tshikaji, Luiza and Tshikapa.
Tshikaji center is purely a Butoke responsibility which we
took on mostly based on my pension and to
some extent, CIDA. But since June
2009 my bank in Belgium does no longer accept Email orders. They also changed the office responsible for
my account. So we have had difficulty receiving my pension and currently we
have two months delay in payment. Today
I was able to get someone to hand carry the letter to Kinshasa which will be
faxed and hopefully get my pension rolling again. Thanks to some friendly shops
we have fed everyone here on credit.
Generous recent donors’ gifts just arrived as we were near to a
breakdown of the system.
The Tshikapa and
Luiza Butoke centers together with 40 other centers should be provided for in
food by UNICEF. It has been touch and
go as UNICEF supplies have been delayed repeatedly and we have never had the
full set. Health workers speak of
deaths of children but have been reluctant to document what happens when there
is a break in supplies. It is even hard
to get them to provide exact counts of what remains somewhere in the pipeline
as that pipeline stretches over 200km and large parts have no coverage by
telephone. Until the exact count is in,
UNICEF does not order, let alone supply.
Currently we have about 1500 children actively under treatment and doing
very well and more than 1000 in Kamuesha (part of Tshikapa) in danger of
perishing due to a rupture in supplies for
2 months - a terrible hecatomb.
The pressure of it all got to Dr. Jean. He returned to Tshikapa just after my return
from USA. He was tired. We thought nothing special but checked the
blood pressure. It was 215/125. I started
him on treatment. He has remained
fully active and involved as ever , but is
regulating diet, exercise and rest as well as taking medication. We are happy to report we have now had three
days in a row normal readings. We pray
that the crisis may be over as he maintains the changes in life style. We should take a picture as he has slimmed
considerably thru the two health crises and his facial expression beams peace.
As you remember,
Butoke is active in the health field.
We see and treat patients on 24/7 basis from 4 points: Kananga, Tshikaji, Kanzala, and Luiza. The primary care is supported by CIDA. We refer at our cost mostly to IMCK (the Presbyterian hospital
near our nutrition center), emergencies for which people cannot pay. During 2009 the total bill at IMCK amounted
to about $21,000 USD, of which $13,500 was
covered by CIDA and $7,500 was to be
covered by Butoke’s fundraising. This
activity is vital, as it saved 32 lives.
The collaboration with IMCK has significantly improved with
the arrival early 2009 of new missionaries, Dr. John and Mrs. Gwenda
Fletcher. They were joined by other new
doctors, as the old ones moved on to South Africa or International NGOs for
prestige and better pay. The new doctors at their turn have entered in
dialogue. There is some hope we can do
a joint fundraising for indigent patients. This would hopefully permit taking
care of more people who otherwise are condemned to die neglected. If you want to assist the emergency care,
please designate so.
All our ongoing projects with UNICEF and CIDA near their end
dates in March and April, 2010. We are working hard on new proposals for
CIDA, FAO, UNICEF and Canadian Embassy.
All have been discussed but nothing is sure yet. But the harvest rolls
on. Soon new planting of cassava and
then new sowing. Literally more than a thousand severely malnourished kids
continue to be in danger of perishing.
The orphans in the schools need school fees and new supplies. The orphans in our care keep increasing; we
have 45 now. We need your prayers and assistance. Help us to help people witnessing to His love and bringing hope
and the desire to build a better future for all. The challenge is great. We need to overcome the chronic anxiety
which seems to be growing in the community and bursting out in violence and
destruction. To do so we need to demonstrate there are real solutions which
benefit all. By God’s grace we will
overcome, united across several continents.
Hearty greetings from all three of us!
In His love
Cecile, Jean and Lazare
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About 4 years ago,
Dickens Warfield initiated “Friends of Butoke,” modeled on the 1930’s “March of
Dimes” fund-raiser to fight polio in the USA. The idea is to contribute on a
regular basis an amount of money small enough that “you wouldn’t notice it” to
Butoke, the thinking being that if many people did so, the results could be
significant. If any of you would like
to become a member, please send your contribution through H. Branch Warfield or
through Maryland Presbyterian Church (above).
Dickens sends out an annual report. Contributions sent directly to F of
B are not yet USA tax deductible. Currently F of B has 30 members; a few give
small amounts regularly; many others prefer to donate once a year, or so; some
people have made large contributions, which F of B naturally accepts. No amount is too small or too large.
Friends of Butoke,
Inc. is now incorporated and application has been made for 501-c-3 status in
the USA. Until it is granted,
contributions in the USA can be made payable to Maryland Presbyterian Church,
1105 Providence Rd., Baltimore, MD, 21286, USA, marked “for Butoke.” These contributions may be tax deductible in
the USA.
For those not
interested in a USA tax deduction, contributions can be made payable to H.
Branch Warfield, 13801 York Rd., V-3, Cockeysville, MD. 21030, marked “for
Butoke.”
Contributions to
Butoke in Canada can be sent through World Hope Canada, Box 21082, RPO Ottawa
South, Ottawa, ON K1S 5N1
UK
Contributions in the
United Kingdom can be sent through Paul Evans, 5 Westville Ave., Illkley, LS29
9AH, United Kingdom.