Aktive Direkt Hilfe e.V.

As we met Meir who was just yesterday with us on the plane the next day "by chance" again in the middle of Kinshasa, we introduced ourselves and explained to him that we were looking for a house for our mission station here. He responded with a smile, saying that he did have an empty house but it was not usable since it was looted in 1991. That means all toilets, sinks, tabs, light switches, plugs, even the wires are all gone! No more window glass, mosquito nets, inside doors etc!
    
Maybe some of you still remember, when we arrived the first time in Kinshasa in 2003 we got a similar answer from the Czech Embassy about a similar house of theirs. At that time we fixed up everything and moved in - for a tenth of what is was normally worth. So remembering that, we went to see this house, as well as many others, compared prices, pros and cons and prayed for God's wisdom. After going back and forth a lot we finally decided to take this house and with the help of our friends here we are setting things up. It means a lot of work, but in exchange we won't have to pay rent for two years. This helps our budget a lot and allows us to help others more. Our thanks goes to everybody who is helping us to get the house ready and to those who took us into their houses in the meantime - in the last three months we moved six times!

The situation with the orphans has improved drastically thanks to your help: instead of two meager meals per week, the 50 orphans in Kisenso are now getting every day a simple breakfast and a good hot meal for lunch! The 50 orphans in Kikimi are getting their share in food packages which we prepare for them since we don't have any cooking facilities there yet. Here we would like to give special thanks to Pastor Theophile and his wife Florence for their untiring sacrificial labors involved in this project. We are also very thankful for each one of you who accepted to support a child, and we thank God that now every orphan has a caretaker.

Unfortunately it turned out that 10 Euros per month per child is not enough, not even for the food, as the prices went up quite a bit since last year. Besides that they need clothing, shoes, a minimum of medicine for malaria etc. Also we would like to provide for them all basic schooling, and the best would be if we could find sponsors for a building for them on our plot of land in Kikimi. So besides the daily food supplies we have plenty of new and big challenges. But we - and the children - are very thankful, that at least their most basic need is supplied, their daily food, thanks to the additional help of local sponsors.

The field project in Kikimi progresses slowly too: along the little brook we started to build three fish-ponds, but need to invest more time, planning and finances before we can start breeding fish. We planted new cassava (African potato), but will have to see how to get the field to produce the most, because the ground is very sandy in this area. Vegetables grow well in the valley near the brook where we can water them well. Between the cassava plants up on the hillside we planted pineapples and they are growing very well. Across the whole field we started to plant different fruit trees, and there is room for lots more. Our thanks goes to everyone who supports us in this endeavor and we would like to ask for further support as it will take quite an investment to get this project producing to its full capacity.

The Bible studies every Sunday continue to go well and every week we also have visitors coming over to our home for further studies. We are planning now to start with some "hands on" practical training for the most  potential students so that they can actively help us with the enormous need here and get better prepared for their future.

As soon as we moved into our new house we would like to also spend more time to make new contacts to get out the beautiful Gospel-materials we have available and find more sponsors for the different aid projects. If you would be able to help us find more supporters in your area we would appreciate it very much, as the orphans still need a lot more help to get a better chance in their future lives.

Sponsorship of Orphans    
In order to help the malnourished orphans in the SABEC Center in Kinshasa, Congo DRC, we started a sponsorship program. Together with one of our faithful supporters we calculated that 10 Euros per child per month would be sufficient to give that child one nutritious hot meal every day (30 meals a month) and thus a better chance to survive as food is their biggest need at the moment. We would appreciate it very much if you could participate in this most urgent project as well as share this vision with as many people as possible since 10 Euros is not much here, yet there it could save a child's life!  Anyone who would like to sponsor a child will receive the childs picture and we will try our best to enable you to build a personal relationship between you and the children. If you are interested please specify with your standing order (monthly 10 Euro or yearly 120 Euro) "Sponsorship SABEC" and if you have any further questions please phone or write/email us (bank details etc, see letterhead above). Please help us reach our goal of finding sponsors for all 96 orphans by the time we go back to Congo. Thank you so much!

Agricultural Project                                                
At the same time we are looking for people and companies who want to support this big project as it helps the SABEC Orphan Center to do something themselves to help the children. So far only a small part of the two hectares land is being used because our means are limited. As you can see on the photos, Pastor Theophile and members of SABEC work on the different crops in our absence. They had their first harvest and started now with the second planting season as was planned when we were there a few months ago. There is a big need for more seeds, equipment and a little house for somebody to guard the field and goods, as well as for a pond to breed fish, raise chicken, and goats,  etc. There are so many possibilities - we are just limited by the means we have available.  

Car for Congo
To be more efficient in helping the orphans and in our agricultural project we need a good reliable vehicle as it's very difficult to find someone who can drive us there every time we need to go to the outskirts of Kinshasa.

Bibles Studies and spreading the Gospel
We believe that the only way to really change this world is changing the hearts and minds of people. Besides the urgent physical need there is a great spiritual hunger in Congo. People who are in such a desperately needy situation want and need encouragement, vision and motivation and it is our desire to give it to them. They are so precious and thankful for any input along that line. We heard from Alain and Pastor Theophile that the Bible study continues to go well and that they are all eagerly awaiting our arrival.

Our personal support
When we explain to people that we work as fulltime volunteers, sometimes they ask where our personal support comes from. Over the years the Lord helped us to build a circle of friends, relatives and supporters who like to support us personally. We are very thankful for all those who help us along those lines especially now as we plan to open up a new mission station in Kinshasa. Another important point is that we live together as a team in one household and share all expenses, which saves a lot of finances and keeps our budget very low. Thanks for all your help - we sure couldn't do the job without you!

So, whichever part of our work you want to support, we are very thankful for your help, big or small. We know that God will bless you for it as we have found true in the lives of those who are helping our work and as He promised in His Word: "There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself" (Pro 11:24, 25). Please join us in prayer for this wonderful but broken war-torn country and for our soon return there so that we can continue to help these precious and needy people.

In general if these children survive and manage to grow up, some of them probably end up on the street and join the many existing street children. Kinshasa is supposed to have already about 10 thousand of them and their life is a chapter in itself. In order to stop this vicious cycle we came up with a plan. We didn't just want to "feed them a fish, but rather teach them how to fish".

For the immediate help we bought some food supplies and organized urgently needed medicine for all the children from a dear pharmacy friend. We also bought two sewing machines so they can teach the older kids and earn a little money this way. But our main investment went into an agricultural project. Kinshasa is surrounded by lots of fertile land, but hardly anybody does anything with it. There are many reasons. The poor have no money and even if somebody wants to start such a project, the field "roads" are extremely difficult to pass and there is no infrastructure to speak of. In spite of all these obstacles, we bought two hectares of land near Kisenso plus the tools to clear the field and seeds to plant maize, beans, green vegetables, potatoes and peanuts. The future plan includes breeding fish, raising animals and growing more crops, bananas and fruits. We are also praying for a building for the orphans so they can take better care of them.

Together with the SABEC members we made a plan what to do with the food once it grows. Some is for immediate use to feed the children, the rest should be sold to buy more seeds for the next crop and to get other supplies for them. This is only the beginning as to support 98 orphans takes a lot and the proceeds of what we started only covers a small amount of what is needed. They need a lot more food plus medical care, school supplies etc so that in the future they can get training i.e. to become farmers instead of looking for jobs which don't exist. About 80 % of the people are jobless and have no support from anybody.

The other project we were working on was to strengthen our Bible Study group to carry on after we left. We believe that one of the main reasons the poor don't have enough to eat is because there is not enough love amongst the people. Jesus said in Mathew 22:37-40:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." If everybody would keep those two rules – to love God and their neighbors as themselves - there would be no wars, enough food for everybody and people could live in peace. But since this is not the case we have a big job until people live more according to His Law of Love.

In order to reach that goal we distribute tracts to everybody which help spread this message of God’s love, sharing and peace. We also distribute the “activated” magazine by mail, e-mail and printed copies as well as other very helpful educational and spiritually uplifting materials. And for those who want to deepen their personal relationship with God, which a lot of people in the Congo want to do, we offer weekly special Bible Study courses called “12 Foundation Stones”. These cover important subjects like Eternal Salvation, the Word of God, Love, Prayer, Hearing of Heaven, the End time and Jesus' Return etc. If you are interested in any of these subjects please let us know and we will do our best to supply you with the needed materials. If you would like to help our work please use the bank account on the bottom of this page and let us know which project you would like to support. Thank you so much!