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May 1999
Dear Friends,
We never did make it to his funeral. Rev. Kamba was one of the
first pastors of the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK)
and had been involved in inviting the first Presbyterian missionaries
to work in Kinshasa in the late 1950s. He passed away last August.
The funeral was planned for Monday, but war broke out Sunday night.
We never did make it. Our condolence to Mama Mesu, the widow and
director of the Women’s Department, had to be given through
e-mail from the United States. Impersonal as e-mail can be, her
appreciation for that letter became clear when Jeff later met
her during his visit to Kinshasa in January. Funerals are among
the most important ceremonies in African societies. Not to attend
a funeral of a man of such standing as Rev. Kamba could have been
interpreted as a great offense to the family and the church community
as a whole.
Kinshasa
In so many unseen ways war disrupts lives. The news tells about
the bombs, bullets and bodies. Yet there is so much else. The
grandson of the Rev. Tshimungu, the president of the CPK, died
in a hospital because there was no electricity. The nine-month-old
son of Papa Nzita, who helped around our house, died because he
could not get medical treatment in time. The home of the director
of the health ministries of the church was damaged by gunfire.
Church leaders in Kinshasa for a national meeting were unable
to return to their homes in rebel-controlled areas. Shortages
of clean water, food, and medical supplies, devaluation of local
currency, and soaring prices have all led to a dramatic increase
of malnutrition and the spread of diseases. In October only 25
percent of the students were attending school. The end of the
war is still not in sight; the suffering continues. Congo slipped
out of the international news long before the bombing in Yugoslavia
began.
The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which started
last August, put at odds our commitment to serving the local church
and our feeling of responsibility for the health, safety, and
education of our three children. Time has calmed the tension we
each felt, but has not fully alleviated it. Our children still
long for their friends, pets, and school. We are disappointed
that we have not been able to be more involved in promising changes
underway in the Education Department. The transfer of the knitting
project from the training in our home to its future production
site at the Women’s Center had been planned for the very
same week the fighting broke out.
Louisville
Decisions and transition! These have been resonating themes for
our family throughout the past six years. Since our arrival in
Louisville we’ve been embraced by wonderfully caring work
and worship communities. The Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD)
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with whom we serve in mission,
is located here. Members of the staff have supported us throughout
our period of adjustment as we reflected upon and came to terms
with the situation. We’re blessed with housing at a seminary,
friends nearby, and a good school for our children. Jeff is working
with the Booth Family Africa Fund (BFAF), which is part of WMD.
The goal of the Fund is to support our partner churches and institutions
in Africa as they work to strengthen the church and society. This
is being done through assisting leadership development, education,
and evangelism projects. The CPK, with whom we worked in Kinshasa,
is one of the recipients of this fund.
Yaounde
We realize that our family needs more stability and continuity
than we can expect from the Congo in the near future. We’ve
been able to discern with WMD staff different options for service
which would take care of our basic needs. Our experiences in Central
and East Africa were best matched with a request to work in partnership
with the French-speaking Presbyterian Church of Cameroon (EPC).
Jeff will be a consultant to the education department of the EPC
and its 50 schools in and around Yaounde, where we will live.
This position will allow continued cooperation with BFAF, including
visits to projects in the Congo. During the first year Christi
will stay at home to provide the stability that will help us to
best serve as a family. The children will be attending the American
School of Yaounde, which provides educational opportunities through
high school.
We hope that you pray with us:
- that the Church will offer peaceful alternatives to war for
solving problems
- for Jubilee 2000—debit forgiveness to economically impoverished
nations.
Thank all of you who support us through prayer, correspondence,
or contributions to the mission of the church.
Peace,
Jeff and Christi Boyd
The 1999 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 33
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