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By Jan Snider*
2:00 P.M. EST April 15, 2010 | KAMINA, Democratic Republic of Congo
(UMNS)
People thought Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo was crazy when he directed
villagers to dig out canals in this central African village.
Four years ago, the United Methodist bishop saw that his hometown of
Kamina was constantly flooding, and homes were washing away. When the
floods settled, stagnant water remained, creating breeding conditions
for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes mean malaria, a disease that kills a child in
Africa every 30 seconds, according to world health officials.
“It was like a mortuary, children were dying every day,” Ntambo
recalls.
When the area was under Belgian rule, the government dug interwoven
canals to move the water away from the village. However, 60 years of
neglect had left the canal structures buried under several feet of sand
and vegetation. Most villagers didn’t even know they existed.
“So, we decided as a church the only solution was to dig the canals,
which would help drain water and take water all around the city,” Ntambo
explains.
Crazy action
Borrowing money from Dr. Guy Kasanka, a United Methodist missionary,
Ntambo bought shovels and encouraged residents to start digging.
“They thought I was crazy; no one believed me,” the bishop says.
When the first rains of a 10-month rainy season began to fall, the
unusual sight of water flowing away from their homes changed hearts and
minds.
Now, with the help of the bishop and the North Katanga Annual
Conference, villagers maintain more than eight miles of hand-dug canals.
They are quick to tell you that melodious movement of water through the
sandy ditches is a result of the bishop’s encouragement. Coupled with
his organized distribution of mosquito nets, they attest to fewer
malaria deaths.
Bishop returns
Today, Ntambo picks his way between puddles on the muddy streets of
Kamina.
Residents flow from mud-brick homes to greet the bishop, who is
resplendent in a finely tailored silk shirt. Even as the entourage
grows, well-wishers appear small next to his massive ebony frame. But to
these villagers, he is a giant not so much in size as in heart.
A representative from Global Medic, an UMCOR partner,
instructs
local community
health workers in using
bio-sand filters to
purify water.
View in Photo Gallery
“Because of the bishop, our houses are not destroyed,” explains a man
simply identified as Kikalu, “and we had a lot of mosquitoes. But now
we do not have a lot of stagnant water and mosquitoes anymore.”
Kamina has no paved roads, only occasional electricity and limited
clean water. When Ntambo is asked how many people live here, he gestures
toward the crowd, smiles and proclaims, "All these people and many
more.” It’s estimated to be about 70,000, and many are United
Methodists.
“Now, we have mosquito nets and the canal, so no problem of malaria,”
says a young mother named Ndamana. Her tidy, thatch-roofed house sits
like a sentinel against the rains, a ribbon of water moving quickly
through the front edge of her yard.
The canal solution was so successful in Kamina that Ntambo took the
idea to rural residents in the Maseke village, 250 miles away. With
shovel in hand, he helped clear massive tree trunks and decades of
vegetation from giant colonial-era canals.
He hopes the Congolese government will replicate the idea in other
communities. But for now, the bishop understands that this is just one
empowering action that his neighbors can take to fight malaria.
While villagers hail him as a hero, he bows to others, “Praise the
Lord,” he says. “Praise The United Methodist Church and to the great
work they are doing to save lives.”
*Snider is a producer for United Methodist Communications.
News media contact: Jan Snider or Fran Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615)
742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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