Key points:
- More than 110 people, including five United Methodists, have been killed by floods and mudslides in eastern Congo.
- A local United Methodist Church was destroyed by the waters. More than 300 United Methodists are affected.
- In the face of this humanitarian crisis, Bishop Gabriel Unda calls for an urgent mobilization to help the victims.
United Methodists are among the hundreds of people affected by the devastating floods and mudslides that have killed at least 110 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in eastern Congo.
Five United Methodists are among the dead. The local Bethsaida United Methodist Church — with a congregation of more than 300 — was swept away by water and mud.
“This is a tragic loss for our community,” said the Rev. Mashimango Munsangwa Elias, the Bethsaida congregation’s pastor.
Among the United Methodists who lost their lives in the floods and mudslides were four children aged 3 to 7 from two United Methodist families and 76-year-old Catherine Mazobela. The pastor said Mazobela was one of the pioneers who worked to establish The United Methodist Church in the area.
To Help
United Methodists can help in recovery and in supporting people displaced by war in Congo by donating to the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s International Disaster Response and Recovery Advance No. 982450.
The floods took place in the village of Kasaba on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the Fizi territory of South Kivu, eastern Congo. Fizi is home to the United Methodist district of the same name in the Kivu Annual Conference, East Congo Episcopal Area.
In addition to washing away Bethsaida Church, the floods left “250 houses destroyed, 30 people injured including some United Methodists, many agricultural fields ravaged,’' said the Rev. Rigobert Mtaka, Fizi District superintendent.
He added that the flooding has resulted in “significant losses of material goods of United Methodist faithful left homeless and exposed to the weather.”
Mtaka said the catastrophe began on the night of May 8-9 when torrential rains of rare intensity caused the Kasaba River to overflow its banks.
According to local media, the rains caused flash flooding and triggered a devastating landslide — leaving behind a scene of desolation and mourning. A number of residents were startled awake as the onslaught swept away their homes.
Mtaka said the destruction of Bethsaida United Methodist Church has left behind only mud and the faithful scattered in neighboring villages, where they are surviving in precarious conditions.
The disaster has brought more trouble to a region already marked by insecurity.
“In addition to those displaced by the disaster, we have those displaced by the war in the Haut Plateau, where the rebels continue to advance despite international calls for a ceasefire,” Mtaka said.
Aimerance Bishonde, a survivor of the floods, says she gives thanks to God for her life but worries that relocating could put her family in the middle of armed conflict.
“My husband and I fled with our five children without taking anything,” she said. “Today, we are sleeping under the stars, and starvation is threatening our lives. We are afraid to go any further because of the insecurity in the area.”
Faced with this humanitarian crisis, East Congo Area Bishop Gabriel Unda calls for an urgent mobilization to rescue the victims.
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“These families no longer have any shelter or food,” the bishop said. “It is imperative to act quickly to come to their aid.''
Unda offered his sincere condolences to the families affected by this disaster. He urged the local health authorities to work preventively in anticipation of an imminent health crisis.
Unda also pleaded with the various parties to the conflict not to hinder the movement of humanitarians and organizations and people of good will who could bring aid to the victims.
The Council of Bishops, which includes Unda, also recently released a letter calling for peace in Congo.
“Jesus reminds us that the very nature of Christian discipleship is the call to peace,” the bishops wrote. “As he once said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God,’ Matthew 5:9.”
Kituka Lolonga is communicator for the Kivu Annual Conference.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer, news editor, newdesk@umnews.org or 615-742-5469. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.
