Press Releases

Executive Director
Pakisa K. Tshimika
pakisa@mmhhope.org

Board Members

Dalton Reimer, PhD
Gary Nachtigall, MA
Carolyn Brodt, MPH
Gail Newel, MD
Ken Neufeld, BA
Roger Fast, MD
Sonja Wiens, BA
Dave Dupuis, MSW

4921 E. Townsend
Fresno, CA. 93727
Phone (559)905-6186
Info@mmhhope.org
www.mmhhope.org
 
January 1, 2006

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Mama Makeka House of Hope!

During this holiday season, we rejoice in the birth of our Savior and His faithfulness to us. Here at Mama Makeka, and we hope for you and yours as well, celebrating God’s goodness comes easily! Yet, as the warmth of Christmas diminishes and the cold of January envelopes us, we take a look at the world around us and it is easy to become discouraged and feel helpless. We see hunger, poverty, and injustice. It is easy to become overwhelmed, and it is difficult to know how to begin to help. However, if we look at individuals and small communities rather than the oppression at large, we see how little gifts can make a positive difference in other’s lives.

This past year, because of your encouragement and monetary support, Mama Makeka House of Hope was able to assist doctors, caregivers, teachers, and students in Congo, Zimbabwe, and south Fresno. The Fresno area medical community contributed $30,000 towards the purchase of medicine and supplies for the hospital in Kajiji, Congo. Jackie, Tecla, and Stella, three women caring for AIDS orphans in Congo and Zimbabwe, received assistance through personal visits and encouragement as well as monetary and material aid.

In January, more than twenty new sewing machines and fabrics will arrive at the Girls’ Schools in Kikwit and Kajiji allowing the girls to learn a trade and the schools to generate income. And in south Fresno, Mama Makeka House of Hope is working together with students in the Medical Academy at McLane High School, through a grant sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, to study the effects of early exposure to violence in this community. We have also submitted a grant proposal that will allow us to implement a “peacebuilding for healthy communities” project for Eastern Congo in partnership with Interchurch Medical Assistance and Eastern Mennonite University.

As we enter a new year, I challenge us all to approach this time with confessing hearts and with minds and hands willing to engage in the responsibility we have been given as a people commissioned to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself”. I long for a year full of deep character and quality relationships, a year not only where much will be found in the window but more in the room. Furthermore, I long for a year where it will be possible for people to cross the streets to meet both their local and global neighbors, and to find great joy in doing so.

Shalom,

Dr. Pakisa Tshimika, Executive Director

Appel au respect des aspirations du peuple congolais.

Le 30 juillet 2006, le peuple congolais démontrait son désir d’un processus pacifique et démocratique au Congo en exerçant un droit de l’homme élémentaire qui lui avait été refusé pendant 40 ans : il a voté.

L’élection présidentielle tant attendue a reçu des éloges émanant des quatre coins du globe. Malheureusement, lorsque la Commission Electorale Indépendante annonça la nécessité d’organiser un second tour, les partisans des deux principaux candidats à Kinshasa répondirent avec violence. De tels troubles violent l’esprit et les aspirations des Congolais qui aspirent à reconstruire leur nation pour vivre en paix, dans la stabilité. La création de sous-commissions par la Mission des Nations Unies au Congo constitue une avancée positive. Ces commissions ont pour tâche d’enquêter sur ces violences et de garantir la tenue d’un second tour dans un environnement pacifique. Cependant, l’appui international est critique pour prévenir l’éruption de futures violences alors que le processus électoral se poursuit.

Nous appelons la communauté internationale à appuyer le processus démocratique et le travail de la commission en :

• Rejetant toutes tentatives, par tous partis, de saboter une élection par ailleurs pacifique

• Exigeant des deux candidats qu’ils respectent leur engagement à soutenir les commissions

• Acceptant le vote final des Congolais dans le second tour à venir de l’élection

En votant, les Congolais n’ont pas seulement exprimé leur préférence pour tel candidat ou tel autre mais aussi pour un processus démocratique et transparent, dans lequel les dirigeants politiques accèdent au pouvoir par la voix du peuple et sont responsables
envers leurs électeurs.

Des pressions bilatérales et multilatérales significatives doivent être exercées sur toutes les parties et sur leurs soutiens afin qu’ils respectent les souhaits du peuple congolais et les résultats du second tour à venir de l’élection. L’intérêt de 17 millions d’électeurs
congolais ne doit pas être subordonné à l’intérêt de groupes armés.

En tant que personnes de conscience et de bonne volonté, nous avons le devoir de nous rallier solidairement au peuple congolais pour assurer que ce fragile mais critique processus s’achève dans la paix. Les générations de Congolais présentes et à venir ont
mérité cette occasion de reconstruire leur nation, de connaître la paix, la stabilité et une administration à la hauteur de la dignité et du courage dont les électeurs ont fait preuve ce 30 juillet 2006. 

The DRC Coalition:
Friends of Congo
Run For Congo Women
Congolese Community of Southern California
International Rescue Committee
Oxfam America
Open Society Institute
World Relief
Muadi Mukenge, Global Fund for Women
National Peace Corps Association – Friends of the Congo
Congo Peace Action Network
Council for Peace and Reconciliation, Bukavu (COPARE)
Tous Unis Pour Batir (TUBA/KiKuiT)
The Bayindo Group SA
Mama Makeka House of Hope
Dignity, Inc.
Mennonite Central Committee
Bureau pours le Volontariat au service de l’Enfance et la Sante (BVES)
Coalition des Pluralistes et des Patriotes Congolais (COPPAC)

An Urgent Call to Respect the Will of the Congolese People

On July 30, 2006, the Congolese people demonstrated their desire for a peaceful and democratic process in the Congo by exercising a basic human right denied to them for the last 40 years: they voted.

The long overdue presidential election received praise from all corners of the globe. Unfortunately, when the Independent Electoral Commission announced a run-off election would be necessary, supporters of both leading candidates in Kinshasa responded with violence. Such unrest violates the spirit and aspirations of the Congolese people who yearn to rebuild their nation and live in peace and stability. The creation of subcommissions by the UN Mission to the Congo that are tasked with investigating this violence and ensuring a peaceful run-off election is a positive step forward. However, international support is critical to preventing the outbreak of further violence as the election process continues.

We call on the international community to support the democratic process and the work of the commission by:

• Rejecting all attempts by any party to hijack the otherwise peaceful election.

• Holding both candidates accountable to their commitment to support the commissions.

• Accepting the final vote of the Congolese people in the upcoming runoff election.

The votes of the people are not votes solely for one candidate or another but rather for a transparent democratic process through which political leaders assume power through the will of the people and are held accountable to those who elected them.

Optimum bi-lateral and multilateral pressure must be brought to bear on all parties and their supporters to respect the wishes of the Congolese people and the outcome of the upcoming run-off election. The interests of the 17 million Congolese who voted must notbe subordinated to the interests of armed groups.

As people of conscience and goodwill, we must join in solidarity and partnership with the Congolese people to see this very fragile but critical process through in a peaceful manner. Current and future generations of Congolese deserve the opportunity to rebuild their nation, experience peace, stability and a leadership that lives up to the dignity and courage shown by the voters on July 30, 2006.

The DRC Coalition:
Friends of Congo
Run For Congo Women
Congolese Community of Southern California
International Rescue Committee
Oxfam America
Open Society Institute
World Relief
Muadi Mukenge, Global Fund for Women
National Peace Corps Association – Friends of the Congo
Congo Peace Action Network
Council for Peace and Reconciliation, Bukavu (COPARE)
Tous Unis Pour Batir (TUBA/KiKuiT)
The Bayindo Group SA
Mama Makeka House of Hope
Dignity, Inc.
Mennonite Central Committee
Bureau pours le Volontariat au service de l’Enfance et la Sante (BVES)
Coalition des Pluralistes et des Patriotes Congolais (COPPAC)

Fresno, 1 December 2007

Dear Friend,

We bring you warm Season’s Greetings from Fresno, California. As we celebrate the end of another good year, we want to take time to thank you for all your prayers, encouragement, enthusiasm, and financial support during the past twelve months.

As many of you already know, Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors.  In one of his many insights, he writes, One of the most radical demands for you and me is the discovery of our lives as a series of movements or passages. When we are born, we leave our mother’s womb for the larger, brighter world of the family. It changes everything, and there is no going back. As we grow older, it becomes easier to see the movements and passages of life and the evolution of the world of the family.

At the end of December 2007, we will be celebrating five years since the IRS recognized Mama Makeka House of Hope as an NGO under section  (501) (c) (3). During this period of time, you have become part of our family. It has changed everything and there is no going back.

We have accomplished many things in the realm of health, education, and peace-building initiatives during these past five years such as providing housing for orphans in Victoria Falls and supporting the Queen Elizabeth Children’s Home in Zimbabwe. We have sent sewing machines and supplies to two girls’ schools in Congo, medicine and supplies to the hospital in Kajiji, and witnessed the beginnings of a small women’s enterprise in Kinshasa. In addition, we have sponsored scholarships for several university students in Congo and donated financial and technical support to the Kinshasa Center for Peacebuilding.

Our network of institutional partners has also increased during these past five years. We are very thankful to Northpark Community Church in Fresno, Mennonite Brethren Missions and Services International, Mennonite Medical Mission Association, Fresno Family Community Church, and Seattle Queen Anne United Methodist Church for joining with us to build strong relationships that allow us to move forward effectively and creatively in our international work.

We also continue to build strong relationships in Fresno. In partnership with McLane High School medical academy, we used theater and role play in 2006 as a means of educating students regarding violence prevention. This year we moved into a new partnership with Fresno Parks and Recreation using three community centers as locations for continuing our program in violence prevention among our Fresno youth.  Kaiser Permanente has provided strong financial support over the past two years for our local program. We are also thankful for financial assistance received this year from California Union Bank.

Several of us, including Dalton Reimer, chair of MMH Hope, Dr. Gail Newel, Dr. Kim Smith from Kenya, Jill Janzen from Bologna, Italy, Sarah Hagey, a filmmaker from San Francisco, and Rebekah Zemansky from Lawrence, Kansas, will be traveling to Congo in January where we hope to launch several activities we have been working on during this past year. These activities are related to the commitment we made to collaborate with the Walungu Health Zone to provide physical and emotional healing and empowerment opportunities for women who have experienced sexual violence. Specifically, we will offer peer counseling training in trauma healing; management training and seed funding for micro-credit programs; sewing machines, supplies, and training for income-generation programs; supplies and training for doctors in OB/GYN surgeries at Walungu Hospital.

We will also support initiatives that promote security in the Walungu region by building relationships with grassroots peace and reconciliation groups in South Kivu.  Specifically, we will participate in collecting and exchanging weapons for bicycles or tin roofing. Weapons will then be destroyed, melted, and transformed into agricultural tools to be redistributed in the local communities. In addition, we are looking forward to developing a documentary project that will focus on women of the Walungu region who have been victims of sexual violence. By doing so, we hope to provide them an opportunity to reclaim their voice, and to help us all address the question, “What can be done?”

While reflecting on our achievements over the past five years and anticipating the challenges and opportunities which will accompany the January trip, we are also looking forward to an exciting New Year. One long anticipated project we are envisioning is the development of an International Center for Professional Resourcing in Kinshasa. Its mission will be to provide an environment for educators, peacebuilders, and health professionals to develop and improve their knowledge and skills which will enable them to achieve their professional goals, improve the productivity of their organizations, and provide leadership and service to their communities. We hope that by developing such a center in Kinshasa, Mama Makeka House of Hope will contribute to the very much needed space for research, networking, and logistics that promote high quality service delivery for our partners in Congo and other African regions, especially Francophone Africa. It is our hope that such a space will also be used by non-Africans to share their skills with their African colleagues.

During this Christmas season and throughout the year, please continue to pray for Mama Makeka House of Hope staff, Board of Directors, and partners, both in North America and Africa, as we discover new ways to work with our brothers and sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fresno and Zimbabwe sharing our gifts in mutual support as together we seek to be the message of the Christ Child incarnate. In the name of gift sharing, we would also like to invite you to consider ways you might to be involved by joining us on one of our trips to Africa or through financial contributions to our projects.

Shalom,

Dr. Dalton Reimer                    Dr. Pakisa K. Tshimika

Chair of Board of Directors                Executive Director