Travel

Aimable and I developed a Christmas program that includes the 20-minute video, “The Shepherd,” about the birth of Jesus from The Chosen series. The video is in English, so we run it with the English subtitles and Aimable translates over the audio. This video is obviously centered around the birth of Jesus, but Aimable and I will use it throughout the year as a preamble for the Jesus Film.

“The Shepherd” video really hits home with the locals as the living conditions in the video are very similar to those here in Minembwe. Unfortunately, the political situation in Minembwe is also similar as the locals are praying and looking toward someone to put an end to the rebel attacks and the oppressive and abusive national army that’s encamped here due to the conflict with the rebels.

Aimable and I heading out to a church to show “The Shepherd.”

*Click image for video*   We’ve just finished setting up our equipment and settling into our seats only to realize that we were completely exhausted. You’re seeing the fumes of the generator that is located just outside and below the window. Any easy fix… right? Let’s not go there right now. 

*Click image for video*   Fortunately, to show the video we needed the window shut to block the light. Aimable (standing, dressed in a white shirt) translated the entire video as it played. 

*Click image for video*  This video is from a New Year’s Day celebration with the orphans.

Orphans at Universities

This November, Joyeuse, who we’ve known for 10 years, was the first of the orphans we’ve worked with to graduate from a university—in this case our own  Ebenezer University of Minembwe (UEMI). One month later, we sent Joyeuse to Bukavu where she is building her current Community Development degree up to a bachelor’s level degree with a specialization in Women’s Care.

Sammy completed one year at UEMI last summer, then we helped him to transfer to a university in Bujumbura, Burundi, to pursue a Business Management Degree. It will take Sammy another three years to graduate with a BA. 

This past summer, Beatrice graduated from high school as the top student in her class; she is now attending our local university, UEMI. After Beatrice completes this year at UEMI, she hopes to transfer to another university where she can study medicine.

MONUSCO Moments

MONUSCO is the peacekeeping force maintained by the UN in the DRC; we’ve had a pretty good relationship with these guys over the years. I was heading to the helicopter to see if some medicine had arrived for a local man suffering from diabetes. This Pakistani MONUSCO soldier was posing alone for photos with the helicopter as a backdrop, so I asked if I could join him.

MONUSCO uses our spring to get water for their base. When I brought the needed key out to these guys, they invited me to stay for some chicken nuggets and tea. Pakistani’s favor spicy food, and even with the ketchup they had brought, I was feeling the heat. 

Finally!

Not an easy task to enlarge a church during the middle of a nasty, armed conflict, but as of the end of December—after a couple of years of delay—the roof is on our village’s church that Miles and his crew built the trusses for. Here’s a picture of the very thankful pastor.

 *Click image for video*   Here’s a small glimpse of the church service. This video somewhat distorts the size of the church building, making it look bigger than it is (it’s the same church in the above photo). The churches here tend to be oversized because members of the other churches within their denomination will occasionally travel en masse to each other’s churches to worship together. 

*Click image for video*   Shakers: Sometimes you have to use what’s available to you—in this case a bible and a cell phone.

From the “A Few Months Ago” Files

*Click image for video*   It’s always super handy to own a pickup.

Alexi, one of our night guards, is reenacting the killing of this massive rat which he had faced the night before during his shift. Ruzisana and Miles bravely look on.

*Click image for video*   Will you read this to me Grandpa?

*Click image for video*   Learning the art of playing Hide N’ Go Seek.

And this from two years ago: I walked into my bedroom and found Aimee wrapped in this bag—she seems to understand the “Dress for Less” concept.

Somehow!

Michael

Every small twin engine plane ride in and out of Minembwe seems to be an adventure of some sort. Many times, I’m seated next to or near a first-time flier, as was the case during a recent flight out of Minembwe when I was seated next to an elderly woman. This woman looked super nervous and was clutching the airsickness bag as we taxied to take off. As the plane began heading down the runway, I reached over and patted her hand and said “no problem”, after which the woman…

… immediately grabbed my hand in a death grip and didn’t let go for the first 20 minutes of the 35-minute flight. As we began our descent, she grabbed my hand again until we landed.

A week later, on my flight back to Minembwe, I flew back on what was essentially a cargo flight. Because the plane was loaded beforehand, the three of us passengers boarded…

… via this hatch, which was about four feet off the ground so one must do a one-armed pull-up with the supplied handle and shimmy your way past the co-pilot’s seat. Once I sat, with my knees up to my chin due to the cargo under my feet… 

I noticed this sign thumbtacked to the wall directly in front of me. While perusing the sign, I found something I’ve never seen on a plane before…

… the directions to find a parachute. Another bonus was that I wouldn’t have to fight the other two passengers for a parachute because the sign indicated that there were three parachutes on board the plane back near the rear exit. The only problem was that…

… it was going to be difficult to get to the back of the plane, and upon further inspection, the seats containing the parachutes were missing. Heavy sigh!

Distributing Water Filter Systems

Part of what was blocking my path back to my parachute was 100 of these buckets. We continue to distribute Sawyer water filter systems; 95 this past year. Each system takes two buckets that we have to buy and transport up here via airplane. 

Tambwe readying the buckets for the filter system.

I was visiting a friend at the hospital a few weeks ago and a woman approached me and said that she had received a system from us and she is very much enjoying the good taste of the water. 

Click on the image above to see a video of the distribution process. It also shows the beauty of our area of Minembwe.

This beauty was blocking my path on the way back from distributing filters.

The Next Step Project

The upgrade of the Next Step House was completed and the Next Step program has now been up and running since late December.

Backrow (left to right): The guys – Andre, Lawi, and Tambwe, and the “parents” Aimable and Bikumi. With Aimable and Bikumi we also inherited a Grandma and four kids.

While trying to get Grandma to smile for a photo, I broke out one of my infamous dance moves which seemed to have an effect on the others as well. 

Bible Distribution

During our last visit to the US, someone donated funds for Bibles. We gave the teenaged orphans each a Bible in the Kiryarwandan language. Here’s the girls writing their names in their bibles.

None of these girls had ever owned a Bible. As it is with many things we do here in Minembwe, you’ve got to start somewhere. 

There’s no shortage of hard work to be done in Minembwe. Click the image above to see a video of this same group of girls bringing home wood for cooking.

Somehow!

Michael

Sadly, even after so many years of the LORD showing Himself faithful and powerful to me here in the DRC—and in Jordan, Israel, Brazil, and in the USA—I still find myself lacking in faith of what the LORD can accomplish. Just like the disciples of Jesus freaking out in a boat during a storm (I did that too this past year), sometimes I get reprimanded with, “O ye of little faith.” I’d like to share one of my “O ye of little faith” situations.

Three years ago, two men from the USA sent me back to the DRC with two portable DVD players that had nine-inch screens, and they gave me various versions of the Jesus Film in the languages that were needed here. For six-months, I daily saw these DVD players sit unused in my closet as we were busy in Minembwe getting the house, the property, and many programs up and running. Then, the conflict roared to life in Minembwe and for two more years the DVD players continued to sit in my closet as we struggled alongside the local population to help the refugees, who were pouring into our area needing to be housed, fed, and clothed. “Two and a half years these DVD players have sat in my closet!” I kept complaining. “When are we going to use these, and when am I going to find someone local to partner with to minister spiritually to the people?”

Last February, a refugee named Aimable (Ah-ma-blay) knocked on our door; Aimable had just graduated from a Bible school in neighboring Rwanda. Aimable had wanted to return to his village just south of us, but his village had been overrun and burnt down by the rebels, so he moved from Rwanda directly to our village to be with his extended family who had fled here. 

The Bible school Aimable attended in Rwanda was taught in English, so much to my surprise, standing at my front door was an English-speaking family man (33, wife and four kids) who was a mature believer, asking me if he could work with me to bring the Gospel and proper Biblical teaching to the local population. Michael… “O ye of little faith.”

We decided to get to know one another, and began to weekly study the Bible together. We started in James, and continued on, moving verse-by-verse, through the Peters, the Johns and Jude, and finished with Revelation. By the time we got to 1st Peter, I knew Aimable was a special man. I suggested that he begin to use the DVD players to share the Jesus Film with the local families in their homes; Aimable quickly adapted to using the video as a point of evangelism and teaching.

I’m blessed to work with Aimable as he is a strong and confident teacher. At the university, we recently showed the hour-long edited version of the Jesus Film called “The Story of Jesus for Children” to 300 primary school students. We paused frequently for explanation, with Aimable asking and taking questions. We broke the presentation up into two hour-long sessions spaced a week apart. We have since begun to take this presentation to all of the other surrounding schools and churches. 

Somehow!

Michael

We’re going through another season of “Did you hear that?” Sadly, “Did you hear that?” refers to the sound of gunfire as the conflict here has really heated up. Mind you, hearing the noise of gun battles many miles away is a regular and normal occurrence for us, but when this noise is only a mile or so away, it’ll make your head snap around to figure out the direction it came from. I can’t go into details of what is going on here in Minembwe as it could impact our status here, but life is VERY BAD for the local people.

IF YOU CAN’T BLEAT THEM… — We decided that our herd of goats, originally meant to provide meat for our family and the orphans, is now not as cost effective as simply buying an occasional goat.

A program was devised for our goat herder to train up the fathers of eight local families in how to care for goats and how to breed them. The fathers and their families are refugees, and they are very poor as all their cows have been stolen and most of their possessions destroyed by the rebels over the last three years of conflict.

After a time of training, we presented these fathers with three goats each; the goat herder continues to oversee the program.

The other day, a group of the fathers came to visit and to again express their thanks. One of these fathers told me, “Thank you so much because with these goats I now have something purposeful to do, and my family will eventually benefit from these goats.”

TRAVELS – The Ostranders are now in the USA as they await the birth of the latest Baby O. SHE is due on December 24. Lisa is scheduled to fly back to the USA in December, and I will return to the USA in late February. Then, all nine of us will then leave the USA together on April 3 to return to Minembwe.

Somehow!

Michael

Besides the questions “When are you going to retire?” (answer: “Just getting started here in the DRC.”) and “When are the Ostranders going to stop having babies?” (answer: “Uh… any other questions?”). I’m most frequently asked, “Is it safe in Minembwe?” Fair question, since the Ostranders were flown out of here via the UN back in July and came back to Minembwe 29 days later. Reality is that on Monday it might be safe, and on Tuesday it might not be. So, I’m going to answer, “Kind of safe, and since it’s not possible to leave every other week, we don’t.

But… good things do happen in Minembwe! Over the past week, we’ve been able to set up Sawyer water filtration systems at the university, the university clinic, and in every home in our village. I asked our Grounds Manager, Ruzisana, to bring to us one mama of each house of our village so he and I could set up a water filtration system in each of their homes. A few days later, there was a knock at my door, so I opened it and saw Ruzisana and 17 mamas sitting in our front yard. “Michael, the mamas are here,” said Ruzisana.

A few hours later, under the watchful eyes of some very short local “health inspectors…”

…Ruzisana had each home set up and each mama trained how to use these systems which are made up of two buckets and a Sawyer water filter kit.

On the walk back to our house, I found Miles and crew working hard to finish the trusses on the village’s church building project.

Watching these guys work is like channel flipping between Fixer Upper and The Three Stooges.

Miles is teaching a Small Solar Energy Systems certification class as part of the local university’s newly accredited Vocational Training Program. Solar energy is slowly creeping into our area, so there is a great need for skilled technicians.

The other day, Miles moved his classroom over to the orphans’ home to give his students a chance to put their new knowledge to work helping Miles set up a simple solar energy system to light up the orphans’ home.

Even though life can be stressful to process here at times, the girls continue to creatively show us adults how to escape the sometimes-harsh reality of life in Minembwe.

We can now thoroughly recommend “Chalk Art Therapy,” but only if you are willing to fully immerse yourself like Ruth did by expressing her feelings in concrete terms.

And, here’s me, Michael, Director of “Are We Having Fun Yet?” leading the girls from the orphan’s home in some spontaneous dancing. Quite possible that some social norms were broken that day, but look at those smiles. Click on the picture below or on this link to see the video:

https://youtu.be/wc9iwQTb-Y8

Somehow!

Michael

For years now, we’ve been working alongside of University Ebenezer of Minembwe (UEMI) to open a clinic with laboratory/testing capabilities. So many setbacks… the equipment, donated by a German organization, sat in a port in Tanzania for more than a year while being held hostage due to needed “fees.” Then, it sat again in Uvira, DRC, as the way up the mountain to Minembwe was impeded due to a limited three-month window when the road was dry enough for transport, and even then the road was nearly impossible due to rebel groups. In time, grants and donations were eventually received, the equipment got up to Minembwe, and a water retaining tank and clean water system was built and then piped to the clinic and other areas. Through the hard work of many, and especially the persistent efforts of our Congolese partner Dr. Lazare, Phase One of the project was completed. We are all very grateful to those of you that helped with the needed funding.

On May 12, 2021, the UEMI Clinic, Lab, and Pharmacy was opened to the public and has been serving the community non-stop ever since. Recently, the government reclassified the clinic as a hospital; Emilee prefers to refer to the facility as the UEMI Research Hospital and Medical Center.

The hospital administrator addressing the public.

With Dr. Lazare looking on, the mayor of Minembwe cuts the ceremonial ribbon.

It didn’t take the hospital long to go from an opening-day tour…

…to being full of patients…

…and for the lab work to get underway.

Besides the administrator, who is also the director of the nursing program at UEMI, the hospital has two doctors, two laboratory technicians, and five nurses.

The hospital also has a volunteer engineer and contractor named Miles Ostrander who worked hard installing the solar power and the generator needed to light the facility and to power the equipment.

The timing of the opening of the UEMI Hospital has been quite providential. Over the past two years, the refugee population here has grown, taxing the local food resources and an already weak medical system. Add to this that the most recent wave of conflict has left many people unable to get to their crops, or their crops have been harvested or destroyed by the rebels and the DRC soldiers. There are a lot of hungry and sick people here, and now many people wounded from the conflict that has escalated over the past two weeks.

Somehow!

Michael

A month ago, the Moores and the Ostranders flew together out of Minembwe to the city of Bukavu in the DRC. Lisa and I came out so we could fly back to the USA, while Miles, Emilee, and the girls did so they could deal with visa requirements, etc. for their continued stay in the DRC. Lisa and I actually decided to fly out at the same time as the Ostranders, which was three weeks earlier than we originally had planned, since there was talk of the flights being suspended out of Minembwe due to the ongoing “conflict.”

While in Bukavu, Miles and Emilee also secured many needed supplies and then the security was stable enough that their family was able to return back to Minembwe on the plane. Lisa and I continued from Bukavu on to the city of Goma via a boat ride during a storm across Lake Kivu—a journey that I wondered at times, all kidding aside, if we would end up on the bottom of the lake somewhere far short of our destination. The three-hour boat ride became four and a half hours, but the boat finally found its way to Goma, although many of its occupants (even those sitting inside) exited the boat drenched in lake water. I can now totally relate to the disciples freaking out while Jesus slept during the storm on their lake. The next day, again, three weeks earlier than planned, Lisa and I flew out of Goma on our way back to the States.

Then, just over a week ago on March 22, a very active volcano, Mt. Nyiragongo, located only nine miles from the city of Goma, erupted and sent lava flowing toward the city—destroying villages and killing people along its path. The lava flow made its way into the outer neighborhoods of Goma, stopping about three hundred yards short of the airport runway.

The volcano is 169 miles away (as the crow flies) from the Ostranders and all those we love dearly in Minembwe, so they are not in danger. What sticks in the mind for us on a personal level is that Lisa and I were originally scheduled to arrive in Goma on May 20 and ticketed to fly out of Goma on May 24. If we had followed those plans, we would have been in Goma on May 22 and swept up in the tragedy and trapped with everyone else. There have been hundreds of aftershocks since the eruption and discovery of magma/lava and poisonous gases ready to erupt up through the middle of the city of Goma. Lake Kivu has also turned color and they suspect that harmful gases are being released from the lake, everyone within a 15 mile radius of the lake has been asked to evacuate or face asphyxiation. There is also a risk of a potential tsunami. Please pray for all those affected by this catastrophe!

An update from the Ostranders on the work in Minembwe is coming soon.

Somehow!

Michael

For the past two years, it has been our desire to implement a program, the Next Step House, that would get the older boys out of the orphan house and into a living environment where they can be further discipled, mentored, and trained toward manhood. Unfortunately, a major conflict arose here in Minembwe and everyone has spent the last two years in survival mode. The conflict is far from being over, but there is now enough security in our area that we feel it is the time to push forward with the Next Step House.

This Next Step House will be operated by LaOlam Africa (us), and it will be independent of the orphanage. We will start with the orphanages four oldest young men:

Sami, a 20-year old who LaOlam is sponsoring at the local university this year.

Tambwe, an 18-year old who just began an apprenticeship program with Miles, learning all phases of building, along with solar installation/maintenance, and basic mechanics. At this point, Tambwe is leaning strongly toward being an electrician.

Andre, also 18 year-old who is an excellent student near the top of his class. Andre wants to be a teacher.

Lawi, another 18 year-old. Lawi wants to be a doctor; he had the highest scores of all of the students in the secondary school.

Due to the ages of the boys and their current position in life, there is an urgency to get the Next Step program up and going quickly, and we will need some financial help in getting this done. We will need to build a house for the young men on our property, and then furnish the home with beds, a table, benches, cookstoves, and basic cookware.

Another motivating factor to get the Next Step House up and going is that the home of all the orphans is a little crowded as there are currently 35 girls, boys, young women, and young men.

To immediately ease the overcrowding, in February we took a small three-bedroom home located next to the children’s home, and Miles, Ntebutsi (the orphans’ house manager), and the four young men poured concrete floors and added three windows.

House Manager Ntebutsi took the work crew to his home for tea (with milk and sugar!)

We will keep you updated on the progress and further needs of the Next Step Home.

Somehow!

-Michael

Once we got back to Minembwe, Osee (as in Hosea), our goat herder requested for us to come and see our goats, all 31 of them. Our reason for having a herd of goats was for our family and the orphans to be able to occasionally eat some meat. Our goal was having 30 goats before we would begin to make a meal out of any of them.

After seeing the goats, Osee invited my friend Eric and I into his home for some tea, which here means 50% tea and 50% milk. When I add three heaping TABLESPOONS of cane sugar to my “tea,” in my mind it has now become a milkshake… I miss milkshakes.

The homes here are very sparse inside; typically, some wooden chairs and benches and… that’s it. The walls are a mixture of clay and cow poo, but it doesn’t stink at all.

Osee and Eric in front of the goat house, with the beautiful Mt. Katavi in the background.

Keeping the masses feed during these lean times is quite challenging. We are blessed to work with the university as…

 … each distribution is very orderly without a trace of chaos.

On this day, corn flour was being distributed. Before that…

… it was powdered milk for the families with small children, and…

… just a couple of days ago, the beans were distributed for planting.

Six of these ladies are refugees; the one on the far-left is living for now in the house of Namajana, the woman who is widow and who manages the volunteer house (our house).

From left to right: The volunteer house, the cook house, Garden #1 (so many pineapples!), and our neighbor’s house.

From right to left: Miles’ shop and Garden #2, which keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It takes a loooong time to grow a pineapple in Minembwe, but it’s worth the wait. We have 140 pineapple plants!

Transplanting cabbage from our nursery to the garden and pulling weeds.

This DRC army officer stopped by to admire our gardens and requested some of our hot peppers.

Uno!!!

These girls, from the orphanage, and all about 13, were reading Hop on Pop to me. This was the third book that they had read to me.

Back in January, the day before Lisa and I traveled from Burundi to Minembwe, Lisa stood in the kitchen and lamented, “Oh, I’m going to miss having a refrigerator.” Here is our “refrigerator” in Minembwe; our leftovers share the cabinet with our dishes. After this many years here, I personally think refrigerators are overrated, but I do wish we had a freezer for ice cream. Is it possible to make ice cream from cabbage and beans?

It’s great to be back in full-team mode as the Ostranders arrived in Minembwe on February 5. We haven’t been altogether up here in Minembwe since September of 2019, which is when Lisa and the girls got sick and, along with Emilee, left Minembwe to get treatment in the neighboring country of Burundi. One week later, the current “war” began in earnest. Eventually, everyone but Emilee and the girls were able to get back up to Minembwe for chunks of time.

Bella (six next March) and Sophia (five next May) picked up right where they left off when they had left. Aimee (three next April) was only a year and a half when she left so she has a whole “new” world to explore. Ruth’s world to explore is the living room via her walker.

Miles is immediately going full tilt using his building and mechanical skills to get everything back in order on our property, the school/university, and beyond. Miles will soon begin a training/mentoring program with one of the older orphan boys which might turn into a trial run for something more expansive in the future. Among Emilee’s passions are healthcare and nutrition so, once she gets her family settled into the volunteer house, she’ll begin assessing the current situation and re-evaluating the plan for healthcare/nutrition awareness and training that she and Lisa had been ready to enact just before they had to leave Minembwe.

Lisa is “command central” for most of our projects and is back to juggling her myriad of duties. Lisa is working closely with the university to provide answers/solutions to the needs of the community, especially now that the population has swelled due to all of the refugees. Lisa also directs our own garden program which provides food for our home, and helps to feed the orphans as well as the staff of the university; a good portion of Lisa’s time is actually spent working in the gardens. Lisa is also our liaison with the orphanage, as well as our bookkeeper; Lisa never sleeps. My main role, other than to encourage/advise/walk beside the manager of the orphanage, is to oversee the spiritual development for the students at the university and the primary and secondary schools, as well as to work with these schools to further develop their English curriculum. Along with Miles, I disciple and mentor a group of young men with weekly verse-by-verse Bible studies.

Thanks to everyone for standing alongside of us during our long endeavor to get back up to Minembwe.

Somehow!

Michael