What impacted me the most about this trip. By Jana Slater

What impacted me the most about the Central Africa Republic was the state of abject poverty the country is in. Everywhere you go it is highly visible; from street children/orphans in the city to the Pygmy villages down at the southern border - Bayanga.



(Poverty that leads to death through malnutrition -- look at the orange color of the little girl's hair, a sign of worse things to come)

There is no such a thing as making a living here. People are barely eking out an existence. Most places do not have electricity or water. It is a matter of day to day survival and people are exhausted because of it. The government is very unstable and there is no infrastructure in place to help the people.

There are only 25 operating businesses in the whole C.A.R. Because of people getting water from the rivers for drinking, cooking, washing, etc., water-borne diseases run rampant. Intestinal parasites, malaria and TB are prevalent in the whole country and these diseases are killing people daily. The main staple is gozo (a manioc root) which has almost no nutritional value after it's cut-up, ground, and boiled. There is also poisonous chemicals that have to be removed from the root before one can eat it.

Many, many children die of malnutrition before the age of five. Fifteen percent of the population has HIV/AIDS and it is imperative to reach the young people and educate them about the disease so we can stem this pandemic. There are many ways that we, as a church, can plug in and it is required of us. In Matthew 25:40 Jesus said: "Whatever you do for the least of these brothers of mine, you do for me."


(Jana Slater, with husband Dave, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris)