Crisis in Moma

A letter from John and Gwenda Fletcher serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

December 2015

Dear Friends,

When Congolese health professionals Dr. Jeff Mukendi and laboratory technician Mr. François Mukenge saw a group of machete-wielding villagers angrily advancing toward them, they were understandably frightened, but optimistic that it would be possible to de-escalate the situation. When the angry group started to lash out with their machetes, Dr. Mukendi and Mr. Mukenge realized they had miscalculated and ran for their lives into Dr. Mukendi’s office, closing and locking the door behind them.  After pushing the desk in front of the door and piling the rest of the room’s meager furnishings on top of it, they sat on the floor to pray and to assess their situation.  By God’s grace Dr. Mukendi was unscathed and the defensive wounds Mr. Mukenge had sustained to his hands and arms were non-life threatening.  How had things at the rural Congolese Presbyterian Church (CPC) hospital in Moma gotten to this drastic point?

Shaking hands—delivering medicines and a new computer: (l to r) Dr. Mukendi and Pastor Mboyamba. Mr. Muthui of MBF in blue shirt.

The hospital in Moma is one of the eight CPC hospitals where John serves as a surgical consultant, so naturally we are deeply concerned about this situation and how it affects the health care of the community, the witness of the church, and the well-being of our close colleagues.  Moma is located in the extreme southwest of West Kasai Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  An early missionary observed that the area was home to a single tribe named the Basala Mpasu. In what may be one of the world’s great understatements, the missionary said that the tribe’s practice of cannibalism “discouraged any tribal mixing.” This was a group that didn’t welcome strangers.  Nevertheless, in the 1950s, after the colonial government gave land in Moma to the American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM), Dr. and Mrs. Dickerson were sent there to serve as Presbyterian missionaries.  Over their many years in Moma the Dickersons participated in and witnessed great growth in both medical and evangelistic outreach and oversaw the construction of a 125-bed hospital.

Congo has experienced years of decline and decay, and the same can be said for most Congolese institutions, including the hospital at Moma.  In 2012 Linda Dickerson Johns, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Dickerson, became aware that the Moma hospital was struggling.  She and her sister, Mary Dickerson, established “Friends of Moma Hospital,” associated with the Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF), which through prayer and fund raising started a renaissance at Moma hospital. Some buildings were rehabilitated, the water system was repaired, medicines and supplies were replenished, the hospital beds got new mattresses, and Bibles were distributed to patients, staff and the local church. In short, patients were once more receiving medical care in the name of Jesus Christ and the gospel was once again being shared in hospital corridors.

About a year ago the CPC appointed Dr. Jeff Mukendi to head up the hospital at Moma.  Dr. Mukendi is not from the Moma area and, tribalism being what it is, over the past year the local community decided they didn’t want this “outsider” to be in charge of “their” hospital and determined to run Dr. Mukendi out of town with the help of their machetes.

Happy mothers on Moma Hospital’s maternity ward

After 10 to 12 hours of sheltering in the office, Dr. Mukendi and Mr. Mukenge realized that the angry crowd had dispersed.  They left the hospital and made a beeline for Dr. Mukendi’s motorcycle (vandalized but still functional), on which they hurriedly sped out of Moma for the safety of their home territory of Kananga.

The CPC’s overall supervisor for medical work is Rev. Zacharie Mboyamba, who is deeply concerned about the situation.  It’s not surprising, given that Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world and fraught with a history of conflict, that this work would exhibit challenges that we are unfamiliar with in the U.S.  Thanks to a grant from PC(USA), Pastor Mboyamba, along with Presbyterian mission co-worker Rev. Bob Rice and CPC education administrator Mr. Adalbert Kalambayi, was recently able to fly to Rwanda to participate in a powerful and effective training session on peacemaking.  All three came back inspired and equipped with skills to share with colleagues in the CPC and to address the serious inter-ethnic conflict at Moma.

Pastor Mboyamba will soon travel to Moma to sit with the village chiefs and elders, leaders of the local Moma church, and the community at large to seek a peaceful resolution to the issues surrounding the community’s rejection of people from other areas and tribes serving as hospital leaders.  This will be a difficult and potentially dangerous mission. Mboyamba will take with him a beautiful letter written by Linda Johns to the Moma community in which she points out that her parents were outsiders who went to Moma in the 1950s to serve the people and preach the gospel.  She continues: “And now so many years after, God has once again sent specially trained doctors and technicians to the hospital. Just like my parents who came from another land, God uses people from other tribes to heal the sick. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ no matter where we come from.”

Linda urges the community to support the medical professionals sent to them and closes by reminding the people of Moma, “We are here on earth to glorify and serve our Lord Jesus Christ, putting aside our own disagreements and walking in His steps. We recall what is said in Leviticus: ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself. . . .’ “

We don’t yet know how this story will end and what will become of the medical work in Moma that John has supported for the past six years. Providing health care in a country that is not only among the poorest in the world but also has a history of extreme conflict has some unique challenges, so please pray for the peacemaking process in Moma and for the safety of Pastor Mboyamba and his delegation. MBF and the Friends of Moma Hospital group are prepared to resume their generous support of the medical work in Moma as soon as the community commits to welcoming and working alongside the medical professionals sent to help them.

We thank you for your generous support of our ministry here.  As many of you know, World Mission has experienced a serious shortfall in funding for mission co-workers and in April notified ten mission co-workers that they were to be released from mission service.  We were recently informed that unfortunately, even at this late date, our ministry hasn’t been fully funded for this year.  Will you please pray about this situation?  If possible, will you increase your gift for this year?  Would you consider advocating for our ministry with neighboring congregations to see if they would join us?  We would so appreciate your help in these ways.

We look forward to personally seeing many of you during our upcoming Interpretation Assignment.  We have been gratified by the warmth and enthusiasm of your invitations.

Blessings,
John and Gwenda Fletcher

John:  jfletcher1420@gmail.comGwenda:  gwenda.fletcher@gmail.com

The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 147