Congo Appeal helps community faith and health

“Poverty makes itself known in people’s food and clothing … [with] tattered clothing marginalising them.”

With these words, the Diocese of Kasai explained why they were using their grant from the Congo Church Association (CCA) – including funds raised by last year’s diocesan Congo Appeal – to purchase new garments for 106 widows and vulnerable women, many of them refugees from an interethnic war. 

Last year people in the diocese gave over £7,800 to the diocesan Congo Appeal. The funds went to the Congo Church Association, which partners with the Anglican Church of Congo to support its mission and ministry, and to the Semiliki Trust, which supports the large network of hospitals and health centres run by the Anglican Church in conflict zones, as well as nurse training and women’s and children’s centres. 

The Semiliki Trust used the money to help seven hospitals in Eastern Congo buy drugs for treating chronic diseases, blood pressure machines, stethoscopes and blood glucose testing materials – enabling medical staff to, for example, test people to see how they are managing their diabetes and blood pressure. In an area where there is no other health care, these crucial materials will help to save lives and improve people’s quality of life. 

Dr Tim Kanyambuga, based in Boga Hospital, said: “We were especially grateful for the support of $500 that helped us buy drugs to treat chronic diseases. This helped the hospital to look after patients with chronic diseases at a reduced cost for a four-month period (in fact from our register of four diseases treated, this helped 62 patients with subsidised medicines).”

The CCA used their share of the funds to increase the grants they offer annually to dioceses throughout the Anglican Church of Congo. Each diocese was invited to send in a proposal for a project: 14 proposals, including one for the Anglican Church of Congo as a whole, were received and funded.  

The projects bear witness to the trials that the church has faced but they are in themselves inspiring. They speak of a church alive and faithful – rebuilding, restoring, and reaching out to share God’s love in word and deed.

Bishop Olivia concluded: “The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now displaced seven million people. Please keep its people in your prayers – and give thanks for the work that the Anglican Church of Congo and the Semiliki Trust are doing. And thank you to all who donated. You have made a difference.”

Dioceses which received grants included:

• The Diocese of Kamango provided access to healthcare, for those who cannot afford it after kidnappers destroyed their primary source of income.
• The Diocese of Beni provided funds to re-roof churches, which had been ‘mercilessly pillaged and burned’. 
• The Diocese of Katanga planted 20 new churches which needed materials. 
• The Diocese of Kalima paid for Bibles and prayer books for priests and catechists ‘to assist evangelisation, pastoral care and worship of God in this new mission field’. 
• The Diocese of Nord Kivu sent six students for theological training, so that they could serve the Lord in their communities. 
• The Diocese of Kindu provided retired clergy, who have no pensions and whose parishes cannot afford to support them, with a goat and training in husbandry. 
• The Diocese of Boga invested in reconciliation work, seeking to help communities resolve their differences. 
• The Diocese of Kisangani put money into a carpentry programme, which both provides training and jobs for young people and helps congregations to maintain their churches. 

Find out more about our work with poverty and inequality.