HOPE Congo: A Family at Heart

HOPE Congo had its annual spiritual retreat June 27-29 at Vuela, a Catholic retreat Center just outside of Brazzaville. It was a great place to get away from the city noise and see tress, flowers, and grass. All 37 of us piled into a bus and the HOPE truck and arrived at Vuela Friday morning. The office was split into 3 teams: the green, red, and yellow teams. Each morning we had a time of praise and worship led by one of the teams and 3 office staff spoke throughout the weekend. This weekend was a great time for Nate and I to spend quality time with the staff.

The theme for the weekend was “Rooted in Christ, Growing in Faith.” Manny began the weekend by speaking about the importance of digging our roots deep into Christ by reading the word, praying, studying, meditating, and memorizing the Word. He read a verse Psalms explaining how we must remain rooted in Christ for sustainment like the tree remains rooted by the river for water.

Loveline, the loan supervisor, spoke next about even as we root ourselves in Christ this doesn’t mean the storms of life will not come. Loveline lost her husband a few years ago. As well as dealing with this loss, she was also pressured by her family to do certain customary acts followed in her culture. She explained how she felt God would not be pleased if she did these things instead of trusting and leaning on him. She was ostracized from her family because she did not do these traditional acts. She explained how her faith in Christ grew as He sustained her though this dark time her life. Clement, the HOPE accountant, spoke the last day on Joshua 1:7-9 encouraging everyone to be in the Word daily. He encouraged everyone to be confident in our faith, and to trust God as he works in our lives.

We also enjoyed fun games with some intense competition between the teams. Each team made a chant to yell throughout the weekend, and wore the same color t-shirts each day.

I have been personally blessed by this weekend. The time of fellowship and great insights from colleagues made me so grateful to be in Brazzaville and a part of the HOPE Congo team. I have been living in Brazzaville for almost 9 months now and am feeling like I have some true friends in Christ. The HOPE Congo staff are such an encouragement to Nate and I. They always greet us each morning with a contagious joy. Their passion for the mission of HOPE and God’s call on their lives is inspiring. The most meaningful time for me was the last day’s worship time. The staff were asked to give a testimony about how God had touched their lives through this weekend or through HOPE. I was tearing up through each testimony that was given.

Here are summaries of a few of the testimonies:

Alix’s father died when she was young, and her mother died a few years later. Her extended family raised her. As an adult she began to really feel the loneliness of not having her parents. She felt everyone had a place to call home, except her. She started working with HOPE Congo in April 2011. The HOPE staff have become like family. She now feels like she has a place where she belongs.

Espoir’s parents died when he was very young. He was raised by his aunt, but was often treated like an orphan. His childhood was a difficult one. He was given old clothes, did not have a blanket to sleep with, and was not able to eat at every meal. He was able to obtain an internship at a local business. One day Espoir was praying at this office. His boss decided Espoir couldn’t pray at work because it wasn’t productive. Espoir was very upset and felt this was not a place he wanted to work long term. He began looking for another place to work.  Espoir started working with HOPE Congo in February 2012. He is thrilled to have a place where he can both do meaningful work and worship God.

Martine’s mother is Russian and her father is Congolese. Her parents divorced when she was young. Her mother moved back to Russia, but Martine stayed with her father in Congo. She has not seen her mother in almost 10 years. Martine is new to the HOPE family starting in May 2012. Before she began with HOPE she felt lost and had no direction in her life. A close friend who was also a loan officer at HOPE told her to apply for an open position with HOPE. Martine applied and was hired! Her first day at HOPE she woke up very sick, but was worried that if she didn’t come the first day it would give a bad impression. She decided to come to the office, but felt very ill and discouraged. She joined the morning devotions, and prayed that God would heal her because she needed to be 100% on her first day. After the prayer time she felt much better and knew it was God telling her this is where she is supposed to be. She already feels close to the HOPE staff and calls them her family.

Darcelia’s parents divorced when she was young. After the divorce she lived with her father. Even though her mother still lives in Brazzaville Darcelia has not see her in years. Her mother refuses to see her. Darcelia explained, “It was very difficult growing up without a mother’s love.” She said, “She wishes she was an orphan instead of having a mother who doesn’t want to see her.” When she started working with HOPE in February 2012 she found love, acceptance, and a family at HOPE. When Darcelia was finished with her testimony, Loveline, the loan officer supervisor, stood up, embraced her, and said she would be her mother. Loveline expressed her love for Darcelia, as Darcelia cried in her arms. It was a beautiful expression of God’s redemptive love.

Meeting at the office, ready to leave!

Some members of the GREEN team

Loading the bus

The girls of the RED team

The GREEN team

The RED team

Us and the Sparlings

Sitting around about to play a game

The YELLOW team. That is Alix in the front. She is a nut!

The Finance Team. Nate spends a lot of time with these guys.

The trees and flowers around the center were a nice change from the city. 

Goodbye Manny!

HOPE Congo said goodbye to our Managing Director, Manny Palis, last week. It was a sad goodbye as he was a loved and respected leader. Manny was a servant leader to the core. He was always quick to listen first and then give direction. He was definitely a father figure and spiritual role model for many in the office, especially Nate and I. He and Marie helped us so much when we first arrived. They helped us settle in quickly and made us feel right at home. The staff held a "Going Away Party" for Manny last Monday evening. Goodbyes are very important  in the Congolese culture. It is Congolese tradition to have meal and offer presents to the person leaving. We ate chicken, manioc (common Congolese food that is white and cornmeal like), and saka saka (it looks like stewed Spinach, but is actually made from the Casava plant). The women held gifts and danced around with them, and then presented them to Manny. It was a good last meal with Manny. We all wished him well as he returned to the Philippines to be reunited with his family.

New Friends and Good Times

I, Allie, have been able to help out with several ministries lately. Barb, a missionary who lives near us, has allowed me to tag along and become apart of what she and her team are doing here in Brazzaville. She has been a missionary in Africa for over 30 years! She is an amazing woman.  Barb coordinates a women's prison ministry and an orphanage ministry. I have been to the prison once with her. They go each Friday afternoon and do a devotional with the women. I usually have an ESL class during this time :( They also bring food, clothes, and laundry detergent to give out. The prison is what you would think of when you imagine a prison in a developing country. All the woman are in one area. They have a common outside area where they cook their food over a fire. They rarely have electricity or running water. There are 2 large rooms indoors where they sleep on the floor with a cot. There is one bathroom for around 30 women to share. The prison only feeds them once a day so many of the inmates family members bring them food each day. Also, it was crazy to see babies in the prison with their mothers! Barb said they allow the women to bring babies with them if they have no one safe to live with at home. I really enjoyed the one day I got to go. The woman were very welcoming and open to us. We all gathered in a circle in the common area, sang, and had a bible study. They don't have Bibles so we took pieces of paper with the Bible verse printed on it. Afterwards I started to crumbled mine up and put it in my purse, but all the women were like NO! I was told that the women keep all the pieces of paper and use it as toilet paper that week or sell it to other inmates for needed objects.

I regularly visit 2 orphanages every other Saturday morning. Barb has a team of Congolese young adults who lead the devotional at the orphanages. I go and help out with the devotional and activity. I will take pictures of these orphanages soon and post them for you to see!

Barb, Sarah, and I began a "mentor program" with some pre-teen and teenage girls from one of the orphanages we work in this past Saturday. We plan on doing this every Saturday afternoon for the next 8 weeks. We are hoping to be able to get to know these girls better and be someone they can trust and come to if they have problems. Sarah and her husband Jon moved here at the beginning of June to work with HOPE. They live near us and we have enjoyed having another young couple to hang out with. We eat many meals together and play cards. Barb, Sarah, and I bring the girls to Barb's apartment because we want a nice quiet place to visit with them. The orphanage is never really quiet or calm. haha  This past Saturday was our first day and it went great! The first day is always a little awkward, but by the end they were talking and asking us questions. The girls only speak French so it gives us a lot of French practice! I led the first part of the Bible study, but then Barb took over at the end and wrapped it all up. I know I was butchering the conjugations, but they seemed to understand what I was saying...or they were just being nice! ha I had written out a lot of what I wanted to see before hand so I had a good guide to lead me along. After the Bible study we painted their nails and ate popcorn. They loved their nails painted. We had 6 or 7 colors and they were putting a different color on every finger.

I am really enjoying getting to be apart of these ministries. Please join me in praying for these girls we are working with. Many of them must leave the orphanage in a few years and dont really have anywhere to go. Pray that God will lead and prepare them for the future. Also, Barb said many girls around their age end up getting pregnant and being kicked out of the orphanage. These girls are deprived of love, attention, and parents to guide them. There are 2 women that care for 25 kids at the orphanage, and the older girls must help out with the smaller kids. They are so easily duped by men who show them a little attention. We are praying these girls will really know how much they are loved by God. How important each of their lives are to God even when they feel invisible or like they dont matter. May God use Barb, Sarah, and I to saturate these girls in His love, wisdom, and peace.
Here are a few pictures from Saturday! And I had to add one of Perin. He is the son of a Wycliffe missionary couple that lives on the compound with us. He has stolen my heart :)

Yvette, Amour, and Valentine

Julie and Immaculee

Barb and Me

Sarah and Sipha

Me and favorite little boy, Perin. 

Aimee, Sifa, and Grace

Back in Brazzaville!

Hey everyone, Yes, we realize it has been since March since we have posted! Yikes We are failures at blogging, but are going to try to do better! Well since March a lot has happened. In April, we had the youth from the Nazarene church over to eat and play games at our place. We had around 20 people in our tiny one bedroom apartment, but they didn't seem to mind. We made Mexican food for them. Nate had to demonstrate how to eat a taco once we realized they were eating the taco with a fork! haha They really liked the tacos and guacamole. The youth pastor gave a short devotional and then we went outside to play a few games with them. Nate and I had to brainstorm about our old youth group days to think of some games. The kids loved it.
Allie has begun working on the Kiva stuff at the HOPE office. Kiva is a partner organization with HOPE that fundraises for microfinance institutions around the world. Allie and an intern, Merveille, interview groups of clients and post their loans to the Kiva website for people around the world to donate the money for the loan. It is a great partnership that helps provide more funding for HOPE Congo to give more loans. Kiva audited HOPE Congo at the end of April. Allie was very busy in April readying the office for the office. HOPE Congo failed the audit a few months back and really needed to pass this audit to be eligible to receive more funding from Kiva. HOPE Congo ended up passing the audit! Before we were able to receive $25,000 a month from Kiva, now we can receive $80,000 a month! This was truly a blessing from God.
In May we got to visit the US! HOPE had their annual Leadership Summit in Lancaster, PA. It was great to spend time with HOPE staff from the corporate office as well as from all over the world. This week was very encouraging and refreshing for us. It reinforced God's call and reenergized us to go back Brazzaville. Since we were already back we took 2 and half weeks of vacation. We spent a few days in Greenwood to visit Allie's grandma and to go to doctor/dentist appointments. We then went on a week long Disney cruise with Nate's family. Needless to say, It was MAGICAL! We had 4 stops. The first was GrandCayman where we swam with the sting rays. Next was Cozumel where Jim, Nate, and Allie scuba dived and Patty, Johnna, and Jamie horsebacked. Then Costa Maya where we were supposed to visit the Mayan ruins, but it ended up pouring rain. We saw one ruin right before the rain started, but it was all good when Disney got our tour totally refunded! Finally the last day we visited Disney's private island called Castaway Cay. There we just laid on the beach and ate an amazing barbecue dinner by the beach. After that week we then went and spent a week with Allie's family in St. Augustine. The Pineda's were able to come a few days. We really loved getting to see them and the kids! Our baby, Miley, also came and spent the week with us! She loved the beach and sat out with us all day under the umbrella. The week in St. Augustine we got a lot of lovely beach time. The family went into St. Augustine for dinner and walked around the scenic downtown one evening. We also celebrated our 2nd anniversary that week! The 2 weeks of vacation were full of family, AC, good food, and great memories. We were very said to say goodbye at the end of it all.
We had a bit of an adventure getting back to Brazzaville. We were flying out of Charlotte to DC to  connect with our international flight. Well we ended up missing our flight in Charlotte and had to reschedule our international flight for the next day! We were so stressed, but thankfully it was all worked out. We ended up spending the night in DC and leaving the next morning. We also were missing 2 of the 4 suitcases we checked when we arrived in Brazzaville. They were found and arrived the next day. When we returned home the Sparlings had a warm dinner prepared for us that night. We were warmly welcomed by everyone and have enjoyed catching up with all of our friends. The weather here is awesome! These are the winter months right now and it is always in the 70s or 80s. It really cools down at night. We actually use our covers! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. We really cherish all of the messages and emails you send to us. Enjoy some of our pictures from the last few months!

Crashing the US Embassy pool one HOT afternoon

The youth group!

They loved the water games

These boys were inseparable. 

There's Mickey!

He is so proud of this picture.

The chandeliers were beautiful! haha

Happy Anniversary!

It was great to spend time with her.

Gotta love Grandma :)

The Family in St. Augustine.

My besties! Im so glad they got to visit.

Pirate Night!

We look so mean.

Reunited with our baby :) and of course she is terrified of the balloons.

Explosions in Brazzaville

As I am sure many of you know by now, Sunday March 4th was very eventful for Allie and me. We had just finished getting ready for church that morning and were about to leave the apartment when the first explosion went off. These explosions were nearly three miles away, but they felt so close. We could literally feel the force of the explosion as it blasted through our windows, breaking some of the glass. Nate's first though was that our complex was being attacked. We both the hit the ground scared of what might be going on. We peaked outside and no one was screaming. There was no panic and people were actually outside working next door. At this point we assumed it must have been a generator near by that just exploded. We gathered ourselves and started to head out the door when the second one hit. This one was by far the biggest of all the explosions. The blast was so big that it knocked Allie to the ground and sent her glass of water flying across the room. More windows broke. At this point we were terrified. We both crawled to the bathroom, grabbing our cell phones and computer along the way. Once inside we began to pray. We had no idea what was going on. Our first thought was that a war must have broken out. I mean, what are you supposed to think when explosions go off in Africa? We prayed for our safety and the safety of all the innocent people of Brazzaville. Nate sat with his back against the bathroom door when the third explosion went off. Although not as big as the second, it was still powerful enough to force the bathroom door open even with Nate sitting against it. After those three, we heard many more explosions. Some sounded close, others further away. Our only thought was that rebels were traveling through the city, tossing grenades all over the place. We were able to get a hold of our friend from the Embassy before the phones went out. Unfortunately, he had no more information for us. Luckily, the internet was still working even after the phones went out. We started skyping with one of our missionary friends that had just traveled to another part of Africa the day before. She had heard from her husband, still in Brazzaville, that there were explosions and wanted to know if we were ok. She was also with one of her teammates who left behind his wife and 5 month old baby. He had been unable to contact them. As his family lived just across the courtyard from us, Nate decided he should go check on them. Things had seemed to have quieted down a bit, so we thought it would be alright. As soon as Nate walked out the door, all the others living on the compound started coming out as well. We were all confused and scared. Communication is not the same in Africa. In America, within 30 minutes the President would be on every station informing the nation of all the details. Not here. It was over an hour before we got the first bit of information. Oddly enough it came from Kinshasa, the capital of the other Congo. The explosions were so powerful they even broke glass windows over there, across the river. All the HOPE staff living at SIL gathered in Catherine's room on the first floor. We sat together, discussing the events and trying desperately to find some information on the internet. We all packed a small bag just in case we would have to be evacuated. We were so relieved to find out almost two hours after the first explosion that the whole thing was the result of a fire and not war. It was about this same time that HOPE's Director of Operations showed up at SIL. He lives very close to the ammunition depot and had walked over an hour to get to SIL. He was a little banged up from his door that came off its hinge after the second explosion and hit him in the head. He was in a bit of shock, but was ok. We were all relieved. Over the next few hours we learned that all HOPE staff had survived the explosions. We also learned that two of the staff, Olive and Loveline, suffered sever damage to their homes. Olive's home was actually completely destroyed. They are both now living with family members and trying to figure out the next steps. Please be praying for both of them as they are also dealing with the emotional and mental trauma from the experiences they lived through.

Things are calm in the city now. Thankfully there haven't been any uprisings or protesting. There was a bad civil war here in the late 90s and many people think memories of it are keeping the peace. No one wants another war. There are thousands of displaced people who had their homes completely destroyed. There are 6-7 refugee camps around the city. Angi and I, Allie, went to visit one last Sunday that is right up the road from where we live. We took some clothes donations to give to the camp leadership. The sight was so sad. Many people didn't have tents, but just straw mats to sleep on under the stars. The numbers in the camp increased exponentially so there has been trouble with keeping organization and order. We were told there are 3 toilets for the 2,000 people in the camp. Ridiculous. I felt completely lost and frustrated. I want to help, but don't know how. The government is barely doing anything for the people, even though the explosion was there fault. Everyone is waiting for the exploded area to be deemed safe and reopened. They have quarantined the area looking for live ammo that flew out, but didn't blow up. Please be praying for all the people affected. Those who are living in the refugees camps especially.

March has been SO HOT. Definitely the roughest month yet in terms of comfortability. It is like summer in South Carolina, which Im very used to, but we don't have A/C to get a break from it. We are definitely always covered in a little layer of sweat. Thankfully, we got to watch March Madness this past weekend in an air conditioned apartment. It was awesome! Other than the heat things are good. Nate has been busy at work as HOPE has been assessing all the clients to see who was affected by the explosions. Thankfully no clients died, but homes and businesses of clients were definitely destroyed.

God answered Allie's prayer! Thank you for all your prayers :) I was asked to be the volunteer Kiva Coordinator. Kiva fundraises for microfinance institutions (MFIs). They partner with MFIs like HOPE and send money for loans. HOPE posts profiles of clients on the Kiva website (www.kiva.org) and donors from around the world can fund the loans. I assist in interviewing and taking photos of clients, posting profiles online, and "liaisoning" between HOPE and Kiva. I have also been asked to revamp the Manual for Kiva processes and to institute a process that will allow for greater capacity as HOPE increases its received funding from Kiva. I am enjoying it very much and am keeping very busy! 

Allie had a wonderful birthday Saturday! Thank you everyone for all the wonderful wishes and love. Nate made an awesome dinner for me! He brought Carrabbas to Africa. He made homemade chicken marsala, herb potatoes, green beans, and bread with olive oil. Yum! I was so happy. Cant believe Im 24 though. yuck! I think Ive decided to stop at 25. Its a good number. 

We are looking forward to visiting home in May! It is only 2 months away. We are so excited to see our families and friends, sleep in some air conditioning, and eat chic-fi-la and hamburgers and steak and mexican and the list goes on.... 

The amazing Chicken Marsala.

Wearing our St. Patty's shirts from the Pineda's!

An African haircut. So we move to Africa and turn redneck....how does this happen?! 

We had to do it. Mullet and then the rat tail.

Our Mom's are in the Congo!

We are having a wonderful time with our mom's here in Brazza with us!! It has been so much fun showing them around town and our new life. Having them here with us has been so encouraging. We are so lucky to have moms that will travel across the world to see us. They have been doing great. Neither one of them has gotten sick, and besides the heat they seem to be very comfortable being here. The heat takes getting used to!

They arrived Thursday safe and sound. Everything went smoothly except a little 15 minute delay at the immigration counter at the Brazzaville airport. They were just trying to get money out of them, but thankfully we had all of our bases covered. We had extra copies of a signed letter they needed. Once we showed this they allowed them through! We advised them to try to stay awake until it was time to go to bed so that they could sleep through the night. Sleep through the night they did! They went to bed around 10pm and woke up at noon Friday! haha We were glad they slept well. 

We have walked them all around downtown Brazzaville showing them all the places we shop and like to visit. We have showed them the HOPE office and let them meet all the staff. They were warmly received! They visited 2 HOPE group meetings and got to see the mircofinance in action. We visited the tourist market where they bought a bunch of African goodies. Our church was so happy to have them visit on Sunday. We also took them to the Youth bible study that we attend on Tuesday nights. They have been troopers! We have been doing something almost everyday! Sunday afternoon we took them to the Congo river to see the huge rapids. We canoed across a little water way to get to an island where we could get right next to the rapids. It was beautiful, but definitely hot! We couldn't stay too long in the baking sun. 

They have gotten to meet many of our friends here. Tonight we are having several of our friends over for crepes. We have a new found love for crepes with Nutella! YUM! Here are a few pictures of our time here with them so far! We are going to be so sad to see them leave on Saturday. 

Shopping in our market. 

We play games every evening. It is nice to have more people to play with!

Visiting the office.

Carol posing under her mosquito net. haha

Allie and all her goodies from Carol and Patty. She is very happy.

The Nazarene church outside the building.

Next to the raging Congo River rapids.

Taking a canoe to across a small stream.

Patty was ready to take home every kid in the church!

Sitting in church.

This place has really good wood fired pizza.

The moms with their welcome to Congo flowers.