wfn.org | ABCUSA: CONGO VOLCANO ERUPTION DISPLACES HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS

[RICH.SCHRAMM@ecunet.org]

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE 
Office of Communication  
American Baptist Churches USA 
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851 
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

CONGO VOLCANO ERUPTION DISPLACES 
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
 The eruption of the Mt. Nyiragongo volcano in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo has devastated a part of 
that country near the Rwandan border and affected social 
and other services, including those administered by 
 American Baptist ecumenical partners.  
Particularly impacted has been the city of Goma, 
most of whose half-million residents have fled into 
Rwanda.  Reports indicate that a third of the city is on fire; 
the preliminary death toll in Goma and more than a dozen 
villages in the volcanic lava's path stands at 45.  Local 
headquarters of the World Health Organization, Save the 
Children and other nongovernmental organizations have 
been destroyed.
 A previous eruption of the 11,380-foot-high 
mountain in 1977 claimed some 2,000 lives. 
 American Baptist International Ministries 
missionary Bill Clemmer, stationed in Kinshasa (900 miles 
west of Goma), contacted International Ministries' offices 
here today with updates:
 "Goma is the regional site of our SANRU [French 
acronym for SANte RUral, meaning `rural health'] based 
health program.  We have a permanent SANRU team 
there whom we visit monthly....  I have had phone contact 
this morning with Dr. Joe Lusi, a Congolese orthopedic 
surgeon who is the medical head of the Goma health zone 
(a principal SANRU partner).  Dr. Lusi also directs our 
church-based (ECC) residency training program, Vanga 
Hospital's partner in the East....  His wife, Lynn, has taken 
five American doctors across the border where a refugee 
camp is being set up. They tried to get back to the 
hospital where they operated last night `but could only see 
it ablaze from a distance.'...
 "Dr. Lusi told me that it has begun to rain and the 
soot and ashes and clouds of smoke obscure visibility 
beyond a few hundred yards.  He said that houses 
continue to burn and the death toll will not be known for a 
day or two...'but will be significant.'  Joe's present concern 
are the masses of people, homeless and now shivering in 
the rain: `There is nothing to eat nor drink...how am I 
going to take care of these people?'  Joe reflected that if 
this is what the `end times will be like, than it will be 
terrible' even more so for those without the comfort and 
hope in Christ.  He covets and appreciates our prayers...."
 "Our SANRU coordination team... is across the 
border and we are trying to make contact with them this 
morning.  We are presently meeting with our Mission 
Aviation Fellowship partners in Kinshasa to explore options 
of getting in with vital material...and, of course, medicine 
to help combat likely outbreaks of cholera, etc.
 "There is a meeting with International Relief 
Agencies, the Health Ministry and others in the next few 
hours.  We will respond in whatever way we can....." 
 "Please pray for our American Baptist partners in 
Goma, the Lusi family, our SANRU team and all the 
inhabitants of Goma and Eastern Congo who have 
endured so much these past years, and now confront 
another crisis, of proportion difficult to imagine."
 News updates will be available through the 
American Baptist News Service and on the International 
Ministries Web site-www.internationalministries.org.

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