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“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — Luke 23:42

Together in Service in Congo

Presbyterian Women can be Together in Service in Congo, helping both adults and children. Photo by Cheri Harper

While visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2007, Presbyterian Women made a three-year commitment to support mission in Congo. By offering initial support on projects that are sustainable and a long-term source of income, once a project is established, PW can shift its mission focus to another part of the world. PW is now focusing on the Roma Development Project in Eastern Europe.

If you feel called to continue your personal mission work by supporting the Together in Service in Congo, there are three main ways.

 

PW Palm Development Project

The PW Palm Project has become a great success! In 2007, Presbyterian Women made a three-year commitment to help our Congolese sisters plant palm trees so that they could produce and sell palm oil. The profits from these plantations provide women with income to support their families and also subsidize educational programs, hospitals and clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

PW’s goal was to raise $60,000 to purchase the palm trees. In fact, PW gave more than $100,000, and the first plantations already are producing palm nuts! The nuts will be pressed to produce cooking oil for the women to sell locally.

With the palm trees now bearing fruit, financial contributions to this project will go toward the purchase of palm oil presses, bicycles to transport the oil, and consultants to advise the women as they establish their plantations. Therefore, the PW Palm Project has been renamed the Congo Palm Development Project.

Give funds to PW Palm Development Project

Give online through Together in Service — type “PW Palm Development Project” in the comments box.

Give

Or send checks to
PW Remittance Processing
PO Box 643652
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3652

Checks are payable to Presbyterian Women. Write “PW 000007” on the memo line.

Palms and partnerships growing!

During PW’s 2008 Global Exchange to Central and Eastern Europe, the women of the Reformed Church of Hungary asked if they, too, could become partners in the Congo Palm Development Project. This “seed” of a project is now becoming a three-way partnership in mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo!

Go Nuts! Promote the PW Palm Project

Ideas for Palm Project celebrations

  • Throw a garden party.
  • Play games like pin-the-nut-on-the-palm or pin-the-palm-on-the-map.
  • Sell cuttings from participants’ gardens.
  • Ask local florists to give flowers or plants for a raffle.
  • Have a cake walk — helping Congo is a piece of cake!
  • Host a garden tour — how does your garden grow?
  • Host a gardeners’ market — share the harvest!
  • Celebrate Palm (tree) Sunday.
  • Invite children to collect donations in coconuts or use flower pots to collect coins.
  • Plan a Palm Saturday before Palm Sunday.
  • Use a palm tree for a Christmas tree — request donations for ornaments.
  • Celebrate PW’s 20th Anniversary by donating 20 palms.
  • Wear stickers that say, “I’m nuts for Congo”

Ideas for bulletin boards and displays

  • Display a palm tree that can “grow” as donations are made.
  • Congo line — add dancers to your Congo line as donations are made.
  • Display a poster of a palm, add nuts as donations are made.
  • Make a plantation of palms — add a palm cut-out with each donation.

Sell individual palm fronds to create a palm plant — see how big a plant you can make!

Mattresses for Congo

Many of us take for granted basic comforts, such as a mattress on which to rest while in the hospital. However, hospitals in Congo and Malawi were in need of this hospital staple. A grant from PW’s 2005 Thank Offering helped purchase new mattresses for hospitals in those two countries. While this grant has made a huge impact on the functionality of many health institutions in Congo and Malawi, many beds in Congo still have no mattress or merely an old, unsanitary wedge of foam.

With the help of Presbyterian Women, it is possible to supply every bed with a mattress and a sheet in our partner hospitals in Congo. On average, a hospital mattress costs only $60.

Give funds for mattresses

Give online through Together in Service — type “Mattresses” in the special instructions box.

Give

Send checks to
PC(USA)
PW Remittance Processing
PO Box 643652
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3652

Checks are payable to Presbyterian Women. Write “Mattresses” on the memo line.

Bicycles for Congo

Having a bicycle to transport a family's harvest means the family will be able to sell their produce, earning money for education, health and more. Photo by Caryl Weinberg

In many places throughout Congo, roads can be treacherous for vehicles, and the trucks in working condition are often too expensive for most villagers to rent. Given these restraints, the bicycle is the best way to transport goods. A family with access to a bicycle has the strongest family member — usually an older son — push the bike from their remote village to a city market, loaded with up to 400 pounds of produce. The biker will sell the produce at the city market and buy hard-to-find items for the village, such as sugar, salt and clothing — and then push the bike back to the village.

Bikes of high enough quality to haul produce cost approximately $80. With this minimal investment, Congolese families can lift themselves out of poverty. They can turn their hard work in the fields into cash they can use for education, health care and other development activities that improve their quality of life and give them a chance for a better future.

Give funds for bicycles

Give online through Together in Service — type “Bicycles” in the comments box.

Give

To give funds for bicycles:

Send checks to
PC(USA)
PW Remittance Processing
PO Box 643652
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3652

Checks are payable to Presbyterian Women. Write “Bicycles” on the memo line.

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