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| The Elikya Training Center in Ubangi, DRC. |
The second area I want to highlight where wells will be built with the efforts of Do: Living Water is the Elikya Training Center, another amazing ministry in Ubangi. In the years of civil war that have faced the Deomcratic Republic of the Congo, many women have lost their husbands and many children have lost one or both of their parents. This dilemma is catalyzed by the AIDS pandemic that has swept across Africa, leaving the Ubangi region with a huge number of widows, orphans, single mothers, and handicapped people.
These people must either fend for themselves or find someone to help them. Add this to the fact that most women have only a 3rd or 4th grade level education and only few know skills to earn a living, and you have yourself a problem that demands a response. The CECU (Evangelical Free Church of the Congo) stepped up and decided to take action. Instead of simply meeting the needs of the needy and creating dependancy on the church, they decided to create a facility that could train widows, older orphans, single mothers, and the handicapped to learn useful life skills that could earn them a living.
Enter the Elikya Training Center
In the language of the local Congolese, "Elikya" means "Hope." By offering six-month training programs, those who come to the Center can leave with a skill for making a living (Sewing, soap-making, and domestic crafts for the widows, unwed mothers, and orphan girls, with carpentry and masonry skills for older orphan boys). For many, the center is far away from their homes, so resident housing is given for those who would otherwise travel for miles to come to the programs there. More than all of this, the gospel is taught in these six months that people attend, giving them a hope for the future and a Hope for eternity.
The Elikya Training Center is almost a square mile in size, and as you can imagine, this creates a huge need for clean water. Do: Living Water has been in contact with the branch of ReachGlobal working in Africa, and I have personal word that a well will be drilled as soon as April at the Elikya Training Center!
