Ghana Update #5/ Congo Update #1 - Part #2

See Part #1 of this post here

Part #2

I arrived home to Toronto on the 14th of December and had a few days to enjoy Christmas celebrations with the family, but very soon thereafter I was on a plane again to New York where I went with Denise in order to visit our grandfather who had had a bad fall in his apartment. He's doing much better now, by God's grace.

I returned to Canada from New York on the 28th of December and was there for a couple more days during which I was able to visit a lot of people and spend a bit of time with the teens over at teen night in Agincourt. That was a lot of fun and we built gingerbread houses together before Ming shared a great devotional. The night was super, but far too short.

Only one day after the teen night party I was once again on a plane, but this time of the domestic sort. I flew to beautiful Quebec City where I stayed from January to March. I stayed with my wonderful host family, the Larose/Tarabulsys who were kind enough to welcome me into their home for the 10 weeks that I decided to spend in Quebec in order to improve my French. There is a lot I would like to say about how amazing, kind, generous and welcoming the Tarabulsys were to me -- they were an amazing example of Christ-like friendship and hospitality that went way above and beyond everything I was praying for, but I won't go on and on about it...

I can't believe I didn't get any group photos of the family before I left, but here are some shots of the typical meals that they served at the Larose/Tarabulsy house while I was there, just to give you an idea:

(Sushi night)

(Steak Frite night)

(Veal Parmigiana night (it might have been chicken, but I think it was veal)

(Swiss Raclette Night -- Think Korean Grill but with gourmet cheese!)

(Don't even remember the name of this crepe type berry dish, but it was excellent with maple syrup!)

(I don't even really drink coffee, which disappointed my host-father, George who is happy to whip one of these babies up for you any time)

A lot of people have asked me why I decided to focus on French at this particular random point in my life, and to make a long story short, I have found God to be quite persistent with me that I needed to spend some time in Quebec. I don't know if that is particularly because He wants me to have a better level of French for some reason or if He had some other more subtle reason to place me there at that particular time, but I have learned not to fight against these things when they are rather apparent, since in my experience, God usually succeeds in getting me where He wants me to be whether I go willingly or, alternatively, kicking and gnashing.

(This is a picture of the last day of my French class:)

The weather in Quebec was a little extreme, but one has to expect that. I actually quite enjoyed it!

Yes, this is a giant cake they made at the local shopping mall for Carnival!

After I finished in Quebec on March 14, 2014, I had exactly two weeks to prepare for the second installation of my "year of unemployment" -- essentially I have agreed to work with Channel Initiative over the next few months in the field (i.e. South Kivu, DRC). The founder and CEO of Channel needed some field support and so here I am, splitting my time between Channel's legal and administrative needs and also the Panzi Hospital's Justice Clinic's legal needs. Today is my first day and I am looking forward to seeing what this position will entail.

I need to give a respectful shout out to Christina Gagnon in this post, as if it weren't for her encouragement, there is 0% chance that I would be here right now. You may remember my post about Christina in my Super Hero(ine) post a while ago. Well, that short time in Zambia I got to follow Christina around and learn a little more about her passion for healthcare missions work in under-served populations in Zambia that got me to pray seriously about whether God was leading me to agree to support Channel as it seeks to do somewhat similar work in South Kivu. Thanks Christina ;) Dr. David, Dr. Ros and the fistula surgeon who's name I can't recall were also very instrumental in helping me to make the decision, but Christina was the real lynch-pin. 

Now, some of you have asked me to elaborate on what exactly it is that I am DOING here in the Congo. So I will give you a quick overview. I haven't yet sorted out what I will be doing with the Justice Clinic folks at Panzi hospital, but as far as administrative and legal work for Channel goes, here is a basic overview of what I am working on today:

1) Legal Admin Work

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I am handling the  requirements to have Channel Initiative registered as a 501c3 organisation in the States, basically so that American donors can receive income tax receipts for their donations. I've been working on this since July or so. Its a lot work...

2) Donations in Kind

A very special donor (you know who you are, C ;) gave us a feeding pump to use at the new clinic in Mulamba and I am now in charge of finding an inexpensive/reasonable source for the tubes/feedings bags needed to make it useful. Aside from that, I am finding donation sources for all of the other medical equipment/supplies that the new clinic will need (such as hospital beds, speculum, overhead lights, etc.) We will be shipping a container of supplies eventually so I want to have these things found and obtained so that they can go in that container before it is shipped! As of today, I have no idea where to find them. If any of you have any ideas, I am all ears!
I am also generally charged with finding donated sources of equipment and supplies for the maternal health projects of the Panzi hospital.

3) Community Liaising

I am looking into ways to effectively liaise with local pastors in South-Kivu to equip them to support pregnant women in their communities/congregations with the resources and help they need to avoid and/or effectively deal with maternal health emergencies that come up. We are also looking to try to work with local pastors and leaders to begin to address the myths that commonly lead to maternal health complications in this community. 
I am also attempting to liaise with another local rape crisis Justice organisation here in Bukavu to see whether there might be any possibility of supporting each other on some of the justice-related projects we both do to help minimize duplication and maximize effectiveness in the rural communities especially.

4) Social Media

I am now also charged with providing/creating the "media" for Channel Initiative's Social Media... including Channel's Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This is probably the part of my job here that I will find the most challenging. Most of you know how much I resist social media and marketing... and add to that the need to be creative on a daily basis AND have that creativity judged by others...sigh. But its a part of helping to find sources of funding and resources for Channel's projects, and that's really what the whole thing boils down to at the end of the day: channeling resources from their origin to a place of need. Can't do that without getting the word out. 

I have to upload a new photo to Channel Initiative's Instagram every day... so if you are interested in a daily feed of what I'm up to and where I'm at you can check it out :) (or just search "channel_initiative" on www.instagram.com). 

Alternatively, you can just check out the slideshow at the top of this page, which is all of our daily instagram photos of what we are up to. It took me like 3 hours to finally get that to work on here ;)


5) Shipping Container Options

I must work on finding a good, reliable, cost-effective shipping company to help us get the 20' or 40' container of medical supplies from North America to Congo...

6) Mapping Data

Surprisingly, I am also going to be helping to map the rural areas of Mwenga where we work! That should be interesting... I love mapping (yes, that is despite my lack of any sense of direction whatsoever)

7) Women's Empowerment/Justice Issues

And a portion of my time will be spent working with the sexual violence Justice clinic at the Panzi hospital. No idea what that will entail yet, since I have not met with them yet.

Well, that's about it for now for the update. I will be uploading a new picture to Channel Initiative's instagram each day (hopefully) so you can check that out if you search for "channelinitiative". I will also be blogging for Channel at least once a week -- which means that this blog will also be updated once a week!

I know that some on on this mailing list might have only been interested in updates about the project in Ghana that you helped to support so if you would like to be removed from this list now that I'm on to a new project, please just send a reply e-mail and let me know! No problems at all.

Thank you all for your continued encouragement and prayers, they are -- as always -- very much appreciated and coveted.

Yours truly,

Genna.