"This war continues to kill many people", says Mundeke Kiluba working with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo (ELCC) as coordinator for Action by Churches Together (ACT) in Katanga Province.

The ELCC has been in the forefront of ecumenical response to the needs of the tens of thousands displaced by two years of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 40,000 found their way to Katanga Province in the first two to three months of fighting.

At the beginning, local churches joined forces to provide bedding and medicine, and parishioners took displacees into their homes. "As the number of displaced persons grew larger, we sought outside help through Action by Churches Together," the global ecumenical response network, says Mundeke Kiluba.

The ELCC is a member of ACT, heading a 12-denominational effort to meet basic needs for food, medicine, clothing, bedding and pastoral care of now more than 125,000 displaced persons, including many unaccompanied children.

"The need is so great, so urgent," Mr. Kiluba comments on the situation in the war affected DRC. « But the churches' response is blocked by lack of funds. » In 1999, the global ecumenical community contributed nearly $146,000 toward ACT/Katanga's "phase one" budget of $180,300, but "phase two" response has been disappointing to say the least. Only $20,000 have been received toward a $331,343 appeal issued in October 1999, leaving Congo's churches frustrated and unable to plan.

The contribution from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) enabled purchase and distribution of 541 50-kg. bags of corn flour, a staple food item, in March - enough for 3,246 people for a month. The funds also supported four staff salaries, field visits, meetings, communications, office equipment and the audit of the 1999 appeal.

ELCC Bishop Ngoy Kasukuti of Lubumbashi expresses particular concern for the some 5,300 displaced school-age children in Lubumbashi and nearby Likasi, « who are welcome in local schools but need notebooks, pens, uniforms and so forth before they can enroll. Will they continue to be out of school in September? »

Mr. Kiluba describes the pressure on towns that have absorbed displacees. For example, Songue, population 2,000, now supports more than 11,000 people. "Its fields have been ravaged," he says. "Residents need seeds and food assistance up to harvest time. But without guaranteed income toward appeals, how do we plan?"

According to Bishop Kasukuti, "the global response is discouraging. The international churches have been almost deaf toward the needs of the Congo. God can use us with the few resources we have to witness to the love of God. But we need accompaniment. We have an unjust war. We need accompaniment, encouragement."

"Be our advocates," Bishop Kasukuti urged the world's Christians. "We need peace. We are here. We exist. We are people of God."

The ELCC's leadership of ACT/Katanga joins an already substantial array of ministries that share space with the Lutheran cathedral and administrative offices in Lubumbashi. « We look at how we can respond to the suffering of people », Bishop Kasukuti comments.

In-patient and out-patient medical services include a maternity ward, infant and child care and a pharmacy. An isolation ward is under construction, as are facilities for radiography and the hoped-for donation of Lubumbashi's first cat scanner. Construction is being paid for from local church offerings.

Schools, a meals program for inmates of Lubumbashi's prison and a congregationally based national shortwave radio network are among the ELCC projects as well as the production of serum for intravenous drips - the ELCC's newest ministry.

Until now, the ELCC's busy clinic has had to rely on imported serum, costly at $2 a bottle and subject to shipping delays. "We were seeing lives lost because of lack of serum," says Bishop Kasukuti.

The ELCC's Serum Production Unit, operational since June 30, cuts the cost to 30 cents a bottle. Production capacity is between 120 and 160 half-liter bottles daily, with some to be offered to the broader local medical community at $1 a bottle.

"We're expressing our Christian love, using the gifts we have," says Pierre Mwenze, staffing the new unit. He previously worked in the ELCC's dispensary as a medical assistant and nurse. He completed special training at the Infusion Unit Project of the Kilamanjaro Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania, in 1998. But in August 1998, just when the technician from Moshi was set to come to Lubumbashi to install the equipment, war broke out. National security was shattered as Rwandan and Ugandan troops occupied northeastern Congo, a stronghold of Congolese rebels. People displaced by the fighting streamed south to cities and towns across Katanga Province, including Lubumbashi. Serum production was set back by nearly two years, until the technician finally was able to come on June, 2000, to complete final installation.

« We need more staff », Bishop Kasukuti says. « Right now Mr. Mwenze is serving as technician, pharmacist and record-keeper. Especially in epidemics, we will need to increase production capacity ».

Carol J. Fouke, Director of News Services, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., visited the ELCC's offices, meeting with Bishop Kasukuti and the ACT/Katanga leadership team in Lubumbashi in July.