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	Letter from Michael and Nancy Haninger in Congo

	April 2003 Dear Friends, We have been out of touch for about three months, as we lost our communications links, both our Internet connection and our radio email, in the first week of January. We now have our Internet link back and it is wonderful to be able to communicate again. Missionaries of years ago had to depend on mails that took months, but we “spoiled” folks depend more and more on the ability to communicate in our lives. Here at IMCK, we have a renutrition center to which we admit severely malnourished children for a program of feeding and medical care. Malnutrition is classified into three stages, and we admit only the stage three, the worst cases. Malnutrition is something we used to see on television whenever there were crop failures in areas of Africa. This is still true. In Malawi, for example, there is widespread famine and many deaths due to malnutrition right now. The root causes can be weather or politics, including war. The International Rescue Committee just released a report on the war in Congo where it is now estimated that some 3.3 million people have died since 1998. Please read their article at www.theIRC.org. This war has taken more lives that any since World War II and is the worst in the history of Africa, with 30,000 deaths a month, 85 percent of them from disease and malnutrition.

	Ngundu was too weak to walk when she came to IMCK.		In Congo, malnutrition is not only a catastrophic event secondary to war or weather but is a chronic problem secondary to the economy and cultural practices which are linked: (1) Families sell the fruits as well as corn that they harvest rather than use them for food. (2) The father eats first and eats the better food, leaving the less nutritious food for the children. (3) The food left, bidia, is mostly manioc, which has no protein and constitutes nearly 100 percent of the children’s diet leading to severe protein malnutrition. The end result is that children die. In some areas of Congo, 50 percent of children die before the age of 5. All too often when there are stories of malnutrition on the television, you see the nameless suffering children. We want to introduce you to Ngundu and Tubudiaye.

	Ngundu is a 7-year-old orphan girl. Her mother died and her father left her and her brother in the care of his parents while he went to work in the diamond mines. He died there and when the grandparents heard this, fearing sorcery, they forced the children out and onto the streets. After surviving for several weeks, Ngundu’s 12-year old brother decided to come to the IMCK. A good Samaritan saw them beside the road, brought them to his house and came to get us. We took them to the nutrition center. Ngundu was too weak to walk, so her brother carried her on his back. He did so for the 10 mile walk from his village to Tshikaji. In this picture, Ngundu has regained some of her strength. She will survive. They are delightful and polite children no different from those in your congregation. When Ngundu is adequately recovered, we will ask our friends at the Catholic Mission, Ntembue, to take them in. Ntembue is another story of love that we must save for another day.

	Tubudiaye is a 4-year-old girl who arrived with a typical presentation. She had kwashiorkor. Her body was swollen, and she showed no emotion except to cry. She was afraid of everyone and lay on the ground chanting to console herself. She refused to eat. Through gentle coaxing and providing special foods like bananas and sardines, she began to eat. She lost the swelling as well as the outer skin layers over her legs, arms, and face. She was sick and in the hospital with diarrhea shortly, but recovered and then became terribly hungry and ate. After a month of care, she is now much better. The picture was taken after her recovery, and you see just how skinny she is. Her little body is nothing but skin and bones. She smiles and no longer cries. She is happy to see people and has become a part of the community at the nutrition center.				Tubudiaye, aged 4, had kwashiorkor.

	Ngundu and Tubudiaye are two innocent children who were born into a difficult world and have suffered. They are going to recover and live thanks to the support of the faithful here and back home. We wish that you could meet them and truly get to know the face of hunger and of gratitude for the love shown. For them and all the other children you help in your support of mission, we thank you. God’s Peace from the Congo, Mike and Nancy Haninger The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 31

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