Aru Palliative care team
An update from Peter Wyard (10 October 2026)
I am writing with some extremely sad news:
the tragic death of Revd Etsegeri in a motorcycle accident on Monday last week.
This is a terribly shocking loss. Etsegeri was in the prime of his life and ministry and had so much left to do in making disciples and pastoring the people in Aru Diocese. He leaves behind a wife and three children. His wife was seriously injured in the accident but is now recovering.
Etsegeri was my closest colleague in Aru and a good friend, with whom I spent a great deal of time during my 4 years in DRC. It is a seemingly needless death, of which there are far too many like it in Congo.
First and foremost it is a personal loss for his family, his colleagues and the community. But it is also a huge blow for the ministry in which he was involved in the department of Christian education, which he headed. It’s also a huge loss for the Rooted in Jesus course, on which we worked so much together. I was continuing to support him financially and by mentoring, and had spoken to him just a few days before his death. But I have found it very hard to be so far from Aru at this time, and am still trying to come to terms with what has happened.
We pray for strength for all from the Lord. The funeral took place last Thursday and the whole community was deeply affected. We trust in the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.
With many thanks and very best wishes,
Peter
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An update from Patricia Wyard (June 2026)
My former colleague, friend and nurse leader of the Aru Palliative Care team (the only palliative care team in Eastern Congo) Venerable Madhira who is also Dean of Cathédrale Toussaints, wanted to send his thanks for your contribution and prayers which, please continue to pray for them, are so appreciated, wanted to send his personal thank you. Excellent nurse as he is, he added some useful information about the state of the Ebola outbreak's effects in Aru and Below is a poster highlighting the work this team is also trying to do in the neighbouring health zones where conflicts are rife. It gives you an idea of the challenges the team faces, their perseverance and their trust in God.
Thank you so much
Patricia
(October 2026)
Dear friends
I thought an update would be helpful as Ebola in DRC really does not hit our headline news.
Here is a link to a WHO update on Youtube about 2 weeks ago by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeVnHdK3Sbs
The first 10 minutes of this video are about Ebola, which is why I sent you the link.
When I asked my Congolese nurse colleague of the situation in Aru, he confirmed what Tedros alludes to: the situation in Aru is stabilising but overall the number of cases are not going down. Aru hosts the Northern Ituri Ebola Treatment Center which has been attacked by family members and friends of the sick or deceased people. These attacks cause fear and conflict within the Ebola treatment centre and Ven Madhira has tried to negotiate and calm the frazzled nerves of the treating team members. These people are under constant pressure and fear od not getting contaminated themselves.
I am very proud of my colleagues in Aru. The MCZ (Medecin Chef de Zone) Dr Amanga who was trained in palliative care by Dr Elloway, who started the service and left in 2018, recently featured in the news:
Ven Madhira the palliative care nurse leader also told me that the team has used their community links to gain the trust of the rural populations and some of the money you kindly donated is being used to buy PPE for the health centre staff. So THANK YOU for all your generous gifts.
Your gists are gratefully received and, as always, do not send money to me, send it to Congo Church Association. I can tell you how to if you don't know.
The palliative care team's grant project funded by The True Colours Trust "Introduction of portable ultrasound in northeastern DRC: enabling palliative care patients in rural areas, far from the hospital, to access diagnosis and safe drainage of ascites by the community palliative care team" is due to end at the end of this month.Soon we will have to submit the final accounts. The team's work has been severely hampered by the Ebola outbreak but it has not stopped them and because their community engagement, well before the Ebola outbreak, who knows, they maybe saving lives.
There is so much more to say, but for now THANK YOU, don't forget Congo and I hope to send you an update before Christmas.
In grateful thanks,
Ven Madhira, nurse Anguyi and nurse Adriko, the real workers and me, Patricia
