Journey to Hope

Sister Victorine learns a young woman is in labor. The nearest hospital is 150 miles away, and there is only one road to get there. When medicine must reach a child, there is just this road. When school supplies, food, or parts for the solar power system are needed, the story is the same – it all depends on this road.

In the village of Kinsaku in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Sister Victorine lives and works, there is but this one road to the outside world. This road is seldom paved. Yet every delivery, every emergency journey, every trip of any kind depends on having a vehicle capable of travelling this road.

As Americans, we seldom think about roads; they are there for us wherever we need to go, whenever we need to go. But for a moment, imagine no reliable roads. Imagine no planes, ferries, buses, delivery trucks, mail service or ambulances. Everything – from food and medicine to spare parts and physicians – is 150 miles away.

And in those 150 miles, it can be a ten-hour journey on the best of days. More often than not, the trip includes hours mired in mud or slowed to a crawl by axle-cracking potholes. There are no roadside services, no rest-stops, no repairmen, no police.

Our Sisters have been in Kinsaku since the 1990s, and together with the community have built schools, installed photovoltaic panels for electricity, drilled for clean water, and created opportunities that once seemed impossible. Where there was limited access to education, children now learn and dream of brighter futures. Where families once walked long distances for water, clean water is available nearby. Where there was darkness, there is now light.

Yet every one of these blessings – education, electricity, clean water, access to healthcare – depends on this single lifeline of road.

While we may not be able to improve the road itself, together we can ensure our Sisters have the reliable transportation they need to travel it safely and manage its challenges.

Working through the Missionary Vehicle Association, we want to purchase a 10-passenger Toyota heavy-duty Land Cruiser for our Sisters in Kinsaku. The Land Cruiser will replace an older vehicle that has served the Sisters for many years but is so battered and patched that it’s no longer able to meet the demands of this difficult road.

With this letter, we are hoping to raise the $73,000 necessary for the Land Cruiser. Any gifts received beyond this amount will be directed to its maintenance.

The next time you are on a road – any road – I hope you will remember Sister Victorine and the people of Kinsaku. Though separated by thousands of miles, we are alongside them in prayer, compassion, and hope.

Please keep our Sisters in your prayers, and if you are able, consider a donation. All our Sisters, and especially Sister Victorine, thank you!

Sincerely,