Nebobongo Hospital Crisis

Although this is not an actual blog post, I wanted to post it for those of you who follow my blog.  This is a newsletter that I wrote for our 501(c)3 ministry regarding a crisis in the Congo.  I thought you would all like to see what we are involved with here.  For those friends who follow E4 and have given to this cause, thank you all so much.  We have raised over $4500.00 since yesterday afternoon!  100% of all donations given to this cause are going directly to the hospital.  Please pray for the Bantaneni family and other staff serving at the hospital.  

Nebobongo Hospital, Congo - Urgent Request

We are sending this out as a plea for you to financially support some immediate needs at Nebobongo Hospital in the Congo. We also ask that you pray for our friends in the Congo and the current medical crisis that they are experiencing. If everyone receiving this newsletter gave $10, we could provide for all of the immediate needs at the hospital.

There has been an outbreak of severe malaria accompanied by salmonella, mainly among children in the surrounding villages. For the past couple of months, children have been pouring into the primitive hospital that does not even have running water and limited electricity. The doctors are working around the clock to save the children, who are currently about four to a bed right now, in a hospital that only has 100 beds.

In addition to this outbreak, several cases of ebola have been diagnosed this week in a nearby village, putting the hospital in the "red zone" because of the dangerous proximity. The hospital needs very basic supplies such as rubber gloves, sodium hypochlorite, mops, plastic barrels for retrieving water, and many more basic supplies. They do not have enough of these necessities to keep the hospital disinfected right now for the patients.

Nebobongo Hospital is a Christian run hospital that is under the authority of the regional church, CECCA -16 in the northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Nebobongo Evangelical Hospital, for all of its resource challenges, remains the best-equipped and staffed hospital in an area serving over 260,000 people. Just the fact that they have doctors and medicine in their pharmacy puts them on a level above the majority of hospitals in the area.

At E4 Project, we are working towards developing long term solutions for equipping and empowering the doctors and staff at Nebobongo Hospital. We have a relationship with Jean Claude and Christine Bataneni who serve as doctors at this very basic hospital. Jean Claude and Christine were both born in this hospital and were clearly called by God to return to their home village to serve among their people. Jean Claude finished his surgeon program and five year residency at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon about a year ago. He returned with his family to their home village in the Congo.

The Bataneni's have two young boys and Christine just gave birth last evening to their third boy. He was 5 weeks early, but both Christine and the baby are doing well. We praise God for this! Jean Claude has put Christine and the children in a home in seclusion from the villagers so that she and the baby are not exposed to the outbreaks of illness that are currently happening. Our plan with Jean Claude was to evacuate her and the rest of the family this week, so that she could deliver in a safer environment. The new plan is to allow her to recover from the birth for about two weeks, and then evacuate the family and an additional family member to help, for two months to a safer city. Jean Claude is making arrangements to have Mission Aviation Fellowship fly them out in two weeks and also arrangements for all of their accommodations.

We sent funds on Friday to cover these costs for the Bataneni family. The money arrived quickly via wire transfer and is in their accounts today! The funds that we sent will also cover the first two tiers of the emergency medical plan that Jean Claude outlined for us in detail. If you are interested in viewing the spreadsheet for the emergency response plan, please let us know and we will email it to you.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this amazing medical ministry in the Congo. Please continue to pray for the Bataneni family and those affected by the awful outbreaks of serious illness.

As many of you are aware, the DRC is a war-torn country with little infrastructure and even less medical care. We are serving with the Bataneni family as they serve their own people in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Please help us by donating today at http://www.e4project.org/give. In the comments field, please enter the term "Nebo" Thank you very much for your prayers and support.