Maombi Mission | Prayer for DR Congo
We want to make sure that as we pray – we are praying very specifically for needs that exist in Congo. To help in everyone’s prayer time we have compiled a list of things that we will be praying for as a united group. Please review the prayer list below as you prepare for your prayer time:
Feeding Centers
Conflict and instability in Congo have attributed to an estimated 1,000 deaths a day and approximately 40% of these are children. War affects children profoundly, as basic nutrition and medical care is difficult to come by. The feeding centers located in Buhozi and Bagira feed about 90 children – but only four to six times a week, which leaves many dangerously malnourished. As a result, many of these beautiful children face disease, stunted growth and a higher risk of infection. These communities are also plagued by HIV/AIDS, which leaves hundreds of children with no parents to care for them.
Buhozi, a small community just outside of Bukavu, struggles to feed many of its children. A small, grassroots feeding center provides one simple meal a day, six times a week to about sixty children and has integrated therapeutic milk into the daily diets for those who need it most and cannot afford hospital care. Efforts to build a community well to produce potable drinking water are underway.
Bagira is located on the outskirts of Bukavu, nestled in the hills with breathtaking views of Lake Kivu, but it is a community that suffers with the same extreme poverty that afflicts Buhozi. A local pastor’s wife provides four meals a week to thirty children – she cooks these meals in an unfinished church building. Volunteers like this woman sacrifice earning an income and caring for their own families to tend to these needy children.
Please join us in praying for the volunteers both at Bagira and Buhozi, that their families might be blessed and that they would be encouraged and strengthened in their ministries. Prayer is still needed for the parents of these vulnerable children and the systemic problems that contribute to despair and hopelessness among these people. Also the children themselves need constant prayer over their physical, educational, spiritual and family needs.
LOCAL CHURCHES
Church of the Holy Spirit in DR Congo consist of several grassroots church plants located in Industrial, Chimpunda, Charinja, Panzi, Bagira, Brassarie, Muhungu, Buholo, Uvira and Kalemie communities. These church groups are headed by local pastors who are responsible for community outreach, evangelism, youth services, women's prayer groups, children ministries as well as the raising up of leaders among their local church body. These churches struggle to stay alive in an area that is plagued by war, poverty, disease and a general spirit of despair. Many of these leaders are desperate for new teaching in Biblical principles and ways to further the social advancement of their communities. Please be in prayer for those needs along with the need for future leaders to carry this burden when most youth are looking for a way out instead of taking on problems that seems impossible to tackle given the current state of East Congo. Pray for the pastors and their families, the leaders that are trying to make a difference and the youth that are so desperately needed to lead their communities.
PANZI HOSPITAL
Underneath the conflict in eastern DR Congo lies a brutal weapon that has been used for centuries – sexual violence. Rape has become the most effective tool used by current military and rebel groups operating in the East, as it breaks down the structure of the family unit and destroys the spirits of those it touches. When a village is attacked, the men are killed, leaving the women and children to be killed, raped, kidnapped to become sexual slaves or in the case of children, forced to be soldiers. The only choice survivors have is to gather whatever belongings remain after the looters have moved on, and start over in a larger community. Often the victims find themselves cast out of their new communities due to poverty, disease and the stigma of rape.
Panzi Hospital is a beacon of hope for thousands of women ravaged rape and mutilation from several rebel groups operating throughout the jungles of Eastern DR Congo. This year an estimated 4,000 women have been treated for complications stemming from rape, mutilation and disease - these numbers are growing daily. Please pray for the women – for their physical and emotional wounds to be healed by the Holy Spirit, for their hearts to be protected from bitterness, anger, hopelessness, unforgiveness and for their faith to be increased even in light of such atrocity. Pray also for Dr. Denis Mukwege, the physician in charge of the hospital and the only surgeon on staff – pray for his hands that heal thousands of women a year and for peace to reign over his body and mind as he works long hours and comes face to face with the result of such evil. Pray also for all of the nurses and volunteers that care for these women.