Honoring Dr. Douglas Carew 
Congo Initiative joins our colleagues at Africa International University (formerly the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology) in celebrating the life and mourning the loss of one of Africa's great, contemporary Christian leaders, Dr. Douglas Carew. Dr. Carew served as the Vice Chancellor (equivalent to "President") of AIU/NEGST from September, 2004 until his death on November 9, 2012. Dr. Carew was 56 years old and died unexpectedly in his sleep while traveling in the US. Dr. Carew was preceded by our own David Kasali, who served as the Vice Chancellor of NEGST from 1996 to 2004, before leaving his post to establish Congo Initiative with his wife Kaswera.
To learn more about the life of Dr. Carew, please visit the memorial website for him here.
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Invitation to Churches
We are always looking for new US churches with whom we can partner in the work of transforming DRC. If your church is searching for ways to do mission that is characterized by partnership, mutual giving and receiving, and connecting people to meaningful opportunities for cross-cultural service, please contact Cullen Rodgers-Gates today to begin a dialog with us. |
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ENGAGE!
4. Spread the word by hosting a gathering of friends to tell the story. (We can provide you with resources to do this!)
5. Volunteer with CI in the US.
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Our Teaching and Research Library
Finally! The week we had been waiting for arrived. Henk van Dam, Project Officer with the Royal Tropical Institute's Information and Library Services (Amsterdam), arrived in Beni on Friday, November 2. He came to UCBC to train faculty and staff in library research and information literacy skills and to work with UCBC's librarian.
 | | Henk van Dam with UCBC staff |
For the past twelve months Henk, along with Helen Boelens of the European Network for School Libraries and Information Literacy, has been a long-distance, behind-the-scenes friend, advising us as we grow UCBC's library. Henk's expertise with university libraries throughout Africa has guided us over the past year. What a thrill is was to have face-to-face time for five days of training.
During the week UCBC's faculty and staff worked with Henk to improve their online search techniques and information literacy skills. Under Henk's tutelage, UCBC's librarian, Isaac Lwanzo, developed his skills in cataloguing resources and basic library management.
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UCBC librarian Lwanzo
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UCBC is one of 15 universities in a 40 mi radius of Beni-an area with an estimated population of 1 million. Of these 15 universities UCBC is the only one with a library and access to print and digital resources. Currently, UCBC's library serves the university's students, faculty, and staff. But our vision is for a Teaching and Research Library that serves the larger community. UCBC's Teaching and Research Library will make resources available to community leaders, health workers, pastors, elementary and secondary teachers, business owners, and farmers. It will teach them how to access and use print and digital information to help them in their work.
We are grateful to the many individuals, churches, and organizations that have contributed to the work thus far, and given their time and expertise, donated books, and contributed funds.
For more details and to learn more about how you can become a library champion in support of this project, click here.
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 Teaching Chemistry Steve Gluck (Ph.D, Chemistry) came to teach a Chemistry course to students in Applied Sciences at UCBC, November 5-9. Dr. Gluck is a water purification specialist, who has been working in research and development for more than 30 years. Steve is passionate about empowering others by sharing the skills and knowledge he has. Steve noted that at UCBC students are really attentive and they want to learn. "Even if Congo is going through a war context, there are still strong people who want to make change," Steve remarked. By God's will, he will be back to teach chemistry again at UCBC in the future. UCBC Communications student Regis Mathe contributed to this article. |
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M-23 Situation in Goma, DRC
An emergency summit was held this past weekend where the Presidents of Uganda, DRC, Tanzania and Kenya, along with Rwanda's Foreign Minister met to discuss the current crisis in eastern DRC. The Congolese rebel group known as "M-23" has been wresting control of parts of eastern DRC, most notably having taken control of the city of Goma last week. Goma is a city of approximately 1 million people, and is located on the border between DRC and Rwanda. The summit attendees issued a statement, calling for M-23 to cease its military aggression, withdraw its forces from Goma, and cease plans to overthrow the DRC government. We are committed to keeping you updated on this current situation, particularly with reports from our team in Beni. Look for an update later this week, and please continue with us in prayer for a peaceful and speedy resolution to this situation, and for protection for all, especially the many who have been displaced by the conflict.
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 Meet our new Webmaster We are delighted to introduce you to our new webmaster, Alicia Glaze. Alicia has graciously committed to serving CI in this volunteer position for the next year, and we are already enjoying the fruit of her many talents. Alicia has a background in Psychology and counseling and technical expertise in software development and web design. Alicia currently lives in Chicago, IL. |
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