Greetings from Goma!
We have just returned from time with the kids in MN (and just in the knick of time since Rudi & Annika have already moved to GA where Annika has started her Master's in public health and Nathan & Anna move to Boston at the end of the month so Anna can start her MDiv). Leaving only Lydia and Bri in MN. We left the States on Thursday.
On Thursday I got the above video (showing them unloading Medair's supplies from the plane), and the
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| Ready to Use Therapeutique Food (RUTF) on its way to our warehouse |
following images, from my Senior Logs Officer, Jean-Louis MUSIMBI. Before I left, the coordination logs team was working on ordering supplies from Europe! We don't generally do this, except for urgently needed supplies that we can't find anywhere (because the shipping is so expensive)! But on Thursday the 3rd European air bridge flight arrived in Congo (to help humanitarian aid organizations get much needed supplies to the people we serve). These flights were arranged by the European Humanitarian Organisation. As it turned out there was not as much demand for this flight, so Medair was able to ship some very heavy nutritional inputs that normally are not accepted on these flights! I am, as they say, over the moon.
Besides the RUTF, we were able to get therapeutique milk and resomal, all three used in the treatment of malnutrition (which we see too much of in displaced persons). These products are super dense and heavy, so when I left we were unsure that we would be able to get any of these products on the flight. In the end we were able to ship all three!
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| The stocks being offloaded into our warehouse |
Besides these nutritional rehabilitation inputs (which we have been having a super hard time gettting - the global supply chain disruption continues), we also were able to procure a lot of essential medicines in the form of Interagency Emergency Health Kits. The contents of these kits were formulated by a consortium of humanitarian aid organisations, so they really respond to our needs on the ground. With these kits we will have not only essential medicines, but also some specialized medicines and medical equipment. As usual, we will supply these to health facilities with which we work in the emergency response.
We thank the Lord who has helped us get these much needed supplies! Please celebrate with us these supplies which are truly heaven-sent! Thanks also for your ongoing prayers for the people we serve and for peace in Eastern Congo!
