{"id":786,"date":"2012-08-21T15:32:40","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T15:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/covenantkidscongo\/?p=786"},"modified":"2012-08-21T20:03:49","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T20:03:49","slug":"ledia-a-better-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/covenantkidscongo\/ledia-a-better-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Ledia: A Better Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Adam Phillips<\/em><\/p>\n

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Congolese child, Nahomie, 5 years old<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It’s been an extraordinary week and a half in Congo. The 75th\u00a0anniversary celebrations were certainly a memorable occasion, and yet,\u00a0what will continue to inspire me in the coming weeks and months are\u00a0the stories of vision and community transformation already underway at\u00a0the Gemena area development project (ADP).<\/p>\n

This partnership, the first of its kind between the Covenant Church in\u00a0Congo (CEUM), the Free Church in Congo (CECU), local Catholic\u00a0parishes, World Vision, and the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), is\u00a0already bringing about community and leadership development. Their\u00a0collective vision for Gemena is robust: clean water and sanitation,\u00a0school and healthcare for kids, a strengthened regional agriculture,\u00a0and economic development. The community leaders have christened this\u00a0vision plan “Ledia” – which is Mbaka (a local language) for “a better\u00a0community.”<\/p>\n

We had the opportunity to head into the local neighborhoods to meet\u00a0with families and neighbors who are part of the area development program.\u00a0My group was able to meet two young girls, Nahomie (5 yrs) and\u00a0Clodine (7 yrs) and their extended families. Immediately upon arrival\u00a0at both homes, it was clear the girls’ respective families had great\u00a0pride in their daughters, who would serve as ambassadors and\u00a0co-participants in building Ledia. We got the opportunity to share\u00a0stories with one another. Nahomie’s mom and dad had been married\u00a0nearly 10 years and have three children. Nahomie’s father was\u00a0secretary of his local church and farmed a plot of land 5 kilometers away;\u00a0grandma lives with them as well. Clodine’s mom and dad also had three\u00a0kids and her father was a chauffeur for a local company that had since\u00a0gone out of business. Both families mentioned their hope for clean\u00a0water as an immediate need, and then some assistance to jump start\u00a0agriculture and better nutrition. Times were very tough for both\u00a0families, separated by neighborhoods across town, yet one thing bound\u00a0them together: a real sense that their daughters, through child sponsorship, had a critical role to play in seeking Ledia. Even amidst the\u00a0immense struggle there was joy, laughter, and strong resilience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Kenzawe family. Clodine, 7 years old, is pictured on the left.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After visiting the families we went back to debrief with World Vision\u00a0DRC staff over a meal. The team is very impressive with around 20 staff\u00a0members with various levels of experience, all receiving ongoing\u00a0leadership training and professional development. One of the younger\u00a0staffers I met was Ruth, who was very excited about her new job and\u00a0shared with me her dreams to go back to the university to get a graduate\u00a0degree in nutrition. Everyone around the Ledia\/World Vision project\u00a0has a vision here for strengthened lives and community, and there is\u00a0an abiding sense that with just enough additional assistance, they’ll be\u00a0able to thrive and assist others.<\/p>\n

We wrapped up the day meeting with local volunteers in three local\u00a0congregations. My group spent time at Notre Dame parish hearing from a\u00a0dozen or so young adults who had worked from 5am to 6pm at night with\u00a0no pay or breaks for meals, along with volunteers from other local\u00a0churches, registering an average of 100 kids each. They were an\u00a0impressive bunch, and you could see that the leadership development of\u00a0the staff had exponential effects for the volunteers and was already\u00a0building capacity across the local churches, and perhaps most\u00a0significantly, building up the next generation for a new,\u00a0sustainable, and ecumenical Gemena.<\/p>\n

Along the way we visited a local natural spring, tucked\u00a0away behind a series of homes in one of the central neighborhoods in\u00a0Gemena. It was a shared water source for the entire community;\u00a0bubbling up cold spring water for the last 12 years. Yet, there\u00a0were uncertainties about its cleanliness. With the Ledia project,\u00a0there were scheduled tests to determine if the water, in fact, was\u00a0potable (safe for drinking). If so, the spring would be capped to ensure sanitation and\u00a0provide a pipeline of clean drinking and cooking water for years to\u00a0come. The image of the spring made real Jesus’ image of “living water”\u00a0for me in ways I had never quite understood before. Through Ledia, may\u00a0it be so for the people of Gemena – our sisters, brothers, and\u00a0co-laborers for a renewed, vibrant community.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Adam Phillips It’s been an extraordinary week and a half in Congo. The 75th\u00a0anniversary celebrations were certainly a memorable occasion, and yet,\u00a0what will continue to inspire me in the coming weeks and months are\u00a0the stories of vision and community transformation already underway at\u00a0the Gemena area development project (ADP). This partnership, the first of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16691,1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message","category-uncategorized","category-travel"],"yoast_head":"\nLedia: A Better Community - Covenant Kids Congo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/covenantkidscongo\/ledia-a-better-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ledia: A Better Community - Covenant Kids Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Written by Adam Phillips It’s been an extraordinary week and a half in Congo. 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