Our First Course in Pointe-Noir

Today we held our first course in Pointe-Noir. We trained 13 physicians  in Helping Babies Breathe. They will join us in teaching the other courses here in the Republic of the Congo. We held today's course at the offices of the local health ministry.

We have also been learning a little more about the city of Pointe-Noir. It is the economic capital of the Republic of the Congo. Since the discovery of oil off the Atlantic coast, the petroleum sector has become the major part of the Congo's economy accounting for over 90% of its exports and 65% of its Gross Domestic Product. However, slumping oil prices over the last several years have badly hurt economic progress.

The Republic of the Congo is a former French colony. French is the official language here, and that is the language in which we are teaching. However, there are actually 62 different languages in the Congo including the three major recognized regional languages: Kituba (the major language of the Southern part of the Congo including Pointe-Noir), Lingala (the major language of the northern part of the Congo with 10 million speakers in Africa), and Kikongo (spoken by 9 million people in Africa).