News

A trip of importance to Africa

By Scott Wagar

03/13/2012

Deb Williams has just returned from Africa where she spent 12 days in the Central African Republic observing the work of the ECLA and being introduced to the country’s people, which granted her a bonding experience for a nation filled with hardships and poverty.

“I went to the Central African Republic through Mission Partners, which is sponsored by Lutheran Partners and Global Ministry in Minneapolis,” Williams said. “I went with six other women out of North Dakota, Texas and Louisiana, because these three states are partner churches with the missionary work in Central Africa.

“Our goal on the mission trip was to assess where the ECLA funds have been sent, see how they are being used, if our projects are being done properly and to make sure that things are being taken care of,” Williams added. “We also attended a four day conference of the Women’s Group of Central Africa.”

Through her trip, Williams discovered the money which is being funded through the ECLA churches in America are being utilized in a productive manner.

“It’s amazing what the people of that country can do with the money that we are sending to them. Some of the funding is being used for spring box water systems, which its people are doing a good job in operating and keeping their water clean and free of bacteria,” Williams said. “We also visited a women’s center which was built and funded by the ELCA, and we saw that the women of Central Africa are using the center in a productive way by teaching other women sewing, homemaking, child care and disease prevention. The women are at the center all the time and it is being used very well.”

When Williams first landed in the Central African Republic, she visited ECLA missionaries in the villages of Yaounde, Garoula Boulai and Bouar.  

“We visited schools, its students and its people,” Williams said. “We also stayed with, and spent time with, the missionaries of the ECLA who were ministering to these small towns.”

She also stated that these communities and it’s parishes had proficient housing, educational system, generators and running water.

“I found these places all good,” Williams said. “There was no hot running water in these villages, only cold water, but their housing was good and their children were literate.”

From Bouar, the six member women team, along with four missionaries, made their way to the urban city of Carnot to attend the four-day women’s conference, which to Williams was a fulfilling four days, but days also filled with discouragement.

“Carnot wasn’t so good. It was very much an eye opener,” she said. “Carnot is ridden with poverty, and its poverty is to the extreme. So extreme that most of the children ran the streets completely naked and there wasn’t a toy in the city for them to play with. Instead, the children played with sticks and rocks they picked up off the street. In fact, if we were drinking from plastic water bottles, and we were getting to the bottom of the bottle, around 40 to 50 kids were waiting around to get the bottles to have something to play with. And, at times, their parents will take the bottles away from their kids because they will fill them up with what they could get their hands on and try to sell it. That is how poor they are and it was hard to see.”

Williams added that the people of Carnot had little food and often depended on eating termites, bats and rats.

“They eat anything they can get a hold of because they have nothing,” she said.

Upon entering Carnot, the women where taken to their housing unit, which Williams stated was uncomfortable for many reasons.

“It was called a hotel, but it had been vacant for sometime,” Williams said. “The rooms were deplorable and you could literally use a shovel for the dirt that was on the floor. We each had a bed and mattress, but there were no sheets or blankets, but they placed mosquito netting around our beds. We had windows, but they had no glass or curtains, just bars, and you could close some of the doors to your rooms, but none of them locked.”

The missionaries that came with them provided protection and assisted them with Central Africa’s two languages of Sango and French.

“I will tell you, I was a little uncomfortable in Carnot,” Williams said. “It was a scary place because of the poverty, and people act differently when they have nothing.”

Although living conditions were arduous, the time the women spent at the conference was a blessing.

“It was very moving at the convention,” Williams stated. “The women of Central Africa were very kind to us, and they were very thankful for our presence there and our assistance to their country. They at times literally got down on their knees, with tears in their eyes, thanking us for being there.”

Williams said the conference focused on child rearing, birth control, education through literacy and the dark side of abuse against women and children, which is common in the Central African Republic.

During their 12 day stay in Central Africa, Williams said their group ate rice, bananas, mangos and papaya.

“We ate rice at every meal, but we could not eat any of the vegetables there or most fruit because we were told that it would make us ill,” she said. “We also couldn’t drink their water for the same reason. They shipped in bottled water for us to use and we drank it and brushed our teeth with it.

They were transported throughout the country with Land Rovers.

“There were very few vehicles, most of the people drove motorcycles which were shipped in from Germany,” Williams said. “And, they drove very fast over there without any caution.”

Overall, the encounters Williams had in Central Africa were positive and rewarding for her.

“The experience was really good,” she said. “Since getting back, and having enough time to calm down a little bit, because I was so overwhelmed by the experience, almost fearful from the sights, the crowds, the smells, and what those poor people go through, which I couldn’t get out of my mind after landing back in Minot, but, the trip was good for me to experience. It was what I needed to do, and now I know what our churches can do to assist these people more. I feel that I can get into global mission work and do some good now.”

On Sunday, March 25, Williams will be presenting a program about her trip to Central Africa at the First Lutheran Church in Bottineau. The church will have coffee starting at noon, followed by Williams’ presentation, and a spaghetti dinner after the presentation. The event is open to the general public and it’s free to attend.