The New Vehicle, DR Congo

Streams of Mercy | 06th July 2016 | Prison Ministries

    Soil is dampened and  taken from the termite hill, pressed into the moulding machine  and stacked to dry in the sun. Then they are  re-stacked to make a kiln with space inside for wood to be laid. The exterior is covered with soil and the wood set alight. The fire burns for about a week. He bricks are hen suitably hardened and ready for use.  70000 bricks were made here.  ...

Streams of Mercy | 07th August 2013 | Prison Ministries

On their second visit to Uganda one pastor suggested to Janis and Laurie that the prison ministry should be extended into other parts of Africa. This was repeated on their third visit by a Congolese Pastor (Pastor Israel Lenge), resulting in a ministry trip to DR Congo in 2009. That trip covered 4 countries – Uganda, Kenya (just for a weekend) Zambia, where through the choir ministry in the UK contacts in two Zambian prisons were already corresponding with Janis and Laurie, and finally up into DR Congo. Later that year a mission was undertaken to Kenya with the main aim of encouraging prison ministry there. Pastor Israel Lenge had been leading a church in Kenya and had helped to organise that mission. He was so encouraged by the results of the ministry both previously in Congo and now in Kenya that he felt God’s call to return to DR Congo to specialise in prison ministry there and currently is setting up Streams of Mercy Prison Ministries, Congo. Janis and Laurie visited DR Congo again in May 2010 with the aim of launching that ministry, and again in July 2011,June 2012, and Janis alone in May2013. In January 2013 Janis and Laurie ministered in  South Africa and Janis include a visit to prisons in Zambia in May 2013. To date 67 African prisons have been visited. (33 in Uganda, 15 in Kenya, 4 in Zambia,7 in DR Congo and 8 in South Africa) and over 3800 inmates have indicated a desire for God to change their lives, as well as a few prison officers! These men and women are being followed up by local pastors. Some have now been discharged from prison, are leading honest lives in the community and are established in local churches. Picture: Left to right. Pastor Jimmy Wandera; Ex prisoner (now a committed Christian), Laurie Homewood. Another prisoner in Tororo came to see us with the news that having accepted Christ as a result of our ministry, he was released two weeks later and reunited with his wife who, having returned to her parents home during his imprisonment, was so impressed with the change in her husband that she became a Christian also! Both are now established in a local church and the man is now studying to complete his education and thus improve his job prospects. ...

Streams of Mercy | 07th August 2013 | Prison Ministries

Having seen the results of our prison ministry in Uganda and Kenya, Pastor Israel Lenge has felt God's call to leave his pastorate in Kenya and return to his home town in DR Congo to set up Streams of Mercy Prison Ministries, Congo. We were able to share the vision and preach the Gospel on Congolese TV on a Saturday evening. The programme was broadcast to the whole of the Katanga province. Prisoners are people with deep needs. Yes, they are in a place of correction. However, the aim of prison should not be just to punish but to correct and rehabilitate. And the life changing Gospel message has been shown to be instrumental in turning prisoners from their former lives of crime into good honest and useful members of society, and this is accepted by most of the prison governors we met. But we also need to show the love of Christ by helping to meet some of the prisoner's material needs also. PASTOR ISRAEL'S VISION The vision is to visit the prisons regularly, initially to preach the Gospel message, then to follow on with counselling and instruction for those who accept Jesus Christ. In each prison an assessment of material needs will be made and some assistance will be given as resources become available. We are praying that Christians here in Congo will catch the vision and that the majority of the needed resources will be given locally. One problem facing many prisoners is how they will cope on the outside when their sentence is completed. Often they have no place to go, no financial resources and few vocational skills. And obtaining work with a prison record is never easy. So an important part of the vision is to set up a reintegration centre where inmates can come to stay for a while after discharge. In the centre there will be access to conselling and spiritual instruction as well as assessement of their needs and family situation. Where possible appropriate vocational training or help in finding work will be offered. And when the time comes for them to leave the centre they can be introduced to a church fellowship in their local area where they can find Christian fellowship and support. It is also hoped to set up a small school to enable the children of prisoners who cannot afford school fees to obtain an education. For this to be successful the support of local people will be essential. We need local people with compassion who can join Pastor Israel in the ministry and help in various ways. We need Christians , both local and in UK who will pray for the work. We need those who can give their time to help with the Gospel ministry in the prisons. Then there is need for those who can give to the work – either financially or in other ways – eg by donating food, clothing, blankets etc. to help improve the life of those still on the inside. Then there will be a need for those with skills to help in the reintegration centre. People who can teach vocational skills – carpentry, tailoring, agriculture, building etc – and maybe literacy skills also, as well as teachers for the prisoner's children. There will also be a need for local employers willing to take on apprentices or to offer employment to ex prisoners. There will also be a need for pastors and counsellors to help guide the centre's clients and help them deal with particular psychological, spiritual or relationship problems. This is a big vision – to begin in the Lubumbashi area but once established to extend into other parts of the Katanga province and maybe even to other parts of Congo. We personally hope to revisit DR Congo annually to monitor progress, visit the prisons and encourage those involved locally....

Streams of Mercy | 15th July 2013 | Prison Ministries

Our first visit to an African prison took place in October 2006 in Kamuli. On a Sunday afternoon Janis and Laurie were whisked off by George and Angela Bufunvu, the church's prison ministry team, to the local prison. Nothing could have been further from our experience of English prisons! At the door we were admitted by a prison officer recognisable only by the fact that one of the church team introduced him as such! No one asked for ID or searched us! The next difference was that the prisoners were all sitting around in the compound. They were wearing a simple light uniform..   The church prison ministry team led the prisoners in some of their own songs. Then we introduced ourselves and sang some songs in English. Janis spoke to the men from God’s Word about ‘God’s Treasures’ and Laurie gave an updated version of his testimony of trusting Jesus at all times and in all things. He also shared more of 'God's treasures' instancing two outstanding examples of Christian prisoners known to us in the UK. After we had all ministered, one of the African team members gave a Gospel call and eighteen prisoners responded. We also gave out SOON (easy English) leaflets to all the inmates. We asked afterward "Does this level of response happened often" — and were told "No, we get one or two, but this is different. These men are now your (spiritual) children!" Our second prison visit was in Masufu prison with Pastor Jimmy Wandera and the church prison ministry team. Again, very different to our English prisons. We arrived at the prison compound, the gate was opened and we drove straight in. Again, no ID, no search! The prisoners were in the compound having a meal provided by the church. When they had finished, we ministered to them in song, Janis gave a Gospel message and Theo and Laurie gave testimonies. Of the forty present thirty-two subsequently responded to the appeal given by our African colleagues..   We gave out SOON and UPESI (Swahili) leaflets. These men had no uniform - they wore whatever they possessed. Laurie noted one man barely decent in his rags. (He took along a pair of shorts the next day to give to him). We prayed for the men who were due in court for favourable verdicts, that the truth would prevail and that justice would be tempered with mercy. Some of these men were claiming innocence. The Governor was present and stayed throughout the service. He was very sympathetic to the prisoners in his charge, understanding that with 80% unemployment in Uganda and a lack of skills training, crime was almost an inevitability. He was very keen that the Gospel should be preached there and obviously had a good rapport with the church team. Further Visits On our second visit some who had been in Court on the previous day swelled the number to fifty. Again we sang and ministered to them, and they received food paid for by us. Understandably there were no further commitments this day - most of them had made them on the previous day! But some of the church team had gone shopping after we had arrived and came back with supplies of soap, toilet paper and bananas. We were impressed by the way in which the men sat in orderly 'crocodile' lines for the distribution of the three items in succession. One other thing left a lasting impression on us. After the men had all received their bananas there were some left over and a prisoner took one and walked to the perimeter fence and passed a banana through to one of the armed guards on the other side! Before we left we prayed for a number of men with a variety of conditions; back pains, heart conditions, a wife pregnant with their first child, gambling addiction which impoverished a man and led him to waste his money and land him in prison. Then one of the church team quietly led Laurie to the living quarters to pray for a man with syphilis. We also prayed f...

Janis Homewood | 03rd August 2020 | Blogging

During the Pandemic Streams of Mercy are still being allowed to operate in the community.  They have been using an integrated approach offering various clinics dealing with family hygiene, nutrition, domestic violence  and the Gospel  as well as visual problems, which are very common and often go untreated.  People were given an eye test The optician can then find the right spectacles for the person from the many that were donated.                                                   Today was a special day for these children who have been suffering from bad eyesight  from childhood, this young boy was very excited he told me that now that we have given him specs he is to study get his degree get employed and his money will be used for helping those with eye problems.  Other children have problems needing other treatments which Pastor Jimmy hopes to be able to arrange. The need is very great.   Pastor Jimmy writes;    thank you for the spectacles they are giving us an opportunity to preach the gospel.  So far we have reached 2000 people who have got the spectacles, 40 eye operations, 1200 eye treatments, it is great to see how many people with eye problems are flocking to the office. We already have partnership with Masafu hospital eye department .As long us we have allowance for them we are free to move with them wherever. The challenge we now have out of all this people we have over 1000 people with cataracts and they need operation where our opticians here cant do. The government is also appealing to us for help in this. I am trying to apply to other international organisation who can send volunteer opticians to come and do operations.      ...

Janis Homewood | 01st May 2020 | Blogging

Message from Pastor James Wandera We are in crisis, just received report from our center leaders that our orphans living with HIV/aids are starving as the care givers cannot raise anything to feed, Now that the lockdown has been extended to more 21days.we are less in funds as the church does not gather for fellowship, please let us share what we have for the sake of this little children 10kg of corn and beans will help a lot. True religion should be demonstrated now. note - 10 kg of corn and beans costs 50000UGX  which is about £11 sterling.   ...

Janis Homewood | 06th August 2019 | Blogging

We  have collected a lot of very  useful and needed items for Uganda but need help with funding the purchase  and shipping of the container. We also need help at this time with school fees for a number of children, in Uganda, DR Congo and Zambia. Pastor Israel in DR Congo has severed connection with his church to concentrate on Streams of Mercy ministry, which now includes churches as well as prisons and village ministry.  They do need more support now.  They would like some funding to help set up a poultry project which would give them a steady source of income. Pastor Samuel in Zambia  is now  an ordained minister and leads a church which meets  in a large tent on land which Streams of Mercy have  purchased.  This work could also benefit from  more support  as whenever they do ministry in a prison they try to take  in much needed aid - usually  food or toiletries. If you can help us in any  way with these needs please email us at  streamsofmercy.lcc@gmail.co.uk and we  will give you details of how to donate.   Many thanks Janis Homewood International director....

Janis Homewood | 08th March 2019 | Blogging

Retired Colonel and Mrs William Rwolekya   have started an agricultural project growing greens and also fruit trees. These are irrigated by hand daily using different teams of women each day. The water is drawn from a well on the colonel’s land.  An irrigation system using a solar pump and preferably fitted to a well in the actual field would be a great help. This is a very good project which has also experimented with organic and inorganic fertilizers and proved that the results from organic fertilizing far exceed those from the inorganic fertilizers. The Colonel also started to teach carpentry and animal husbandry. A lot of problems with vision were reported. Some of these may simply need spectacles, others may need medical or surgical treatment. But there was also a report of problems with disabled, blind and deaf children.  Other needs were more to do with church buildings needing completion and keyboards and PA systems requested to help with the evangelistic outreach of these churches. In one centre 15 pastors were present from the local churches - there does seem to be a united effort for outreach in the churches. There was a need for pastors to have bicycles to enable them to cover the distances they have to travel to visit people in their areas. One Officer requested a motorcycle as he needs to go to meetings and other visits which are too far away to go by cycle. Some pastors requested laptops – we were able to supply the officer at the resettlement centre with one we had taken out with us. Sponsorship for orphan children was also requested –six orphans were singled out in one centre as being in particular need. One Pastor’s widow has five children in need of support for school fees, and  two SA Officers need help with school fees....