Dear brothers in Christ,
I would like to express my great joy for contacting you and my deep gratitude as well as the gratitude of my Congolese brothers for the shipping of two containers with humanitarian aid from the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity. Their arrival created a festive atmosphere with dances, hymns and songs. With earnest enthusiasm the students of our Orthodox Theological School unloaded the containers and filled the empty warehouses of the Metropolis with useful supplies.
The two containers contained basic food items, clothing, stationery, sewing machines for the Sewing School, folding beds, sacred vessels, church bells, liturgical books (such as the Parakletike, i.e. the Great Octoechos, the Pentecostarion, the Triodion, the Menaia)various icons, theological books for the University library, dental equipment, insulation materials and many other items, all sent with love by our brothers in Greece.
Daily there are times when I hear the students discuss with each other:
“Our Orthodox Greek brothers must love us very much! We’ve heard that their country is facing a great economic crisis. What adverse situations they must be going through! We did not expect them to have such a rich and generous heart and deprive themselves of many things in order to help us. May God bless them”.
Students and believers and all of us who are here working in the vineyard of our Lord Jesus Christ in ministry of Him, feel great appreciation and earnest gratitude for your Fraternity.
Upon arrival of the containers, our collaborator Mrs. Stella Papadopoulou organized with students clothing and footwear distribution to poor students of our schools in the area of the capital Kinshasa; also food was distributed to families in great need and to the surrounding villages.
I praise the Holy Triune God for making me worthy to serve Him in the depths of the African jungle and disseminate the true Orthodox faith in our indigenous brothers.
A sincere thanks to His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, who gave me the blessing to serve here and minister to the long-suffering people of Congo.
Finally, once again we would like to thank you wholeheartedly for your continuous support and assistance. May the Benevolent God give you His heavenly and earthly blessings in abundance.
† Nikiforos of Kinshasa
