Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Travel to Rugari for Sunday Masses

November 10, 2008

Dearest family and friends,
Peace and grace to you from God our Father. Those words are ringing in my head again. I have so much to tell I am at a loss as to where to begin. Many of you know well my sojourn and how events have come to pass that have placed such longing deep in my heart to continue this work that has lit such a fire in my heart…or would it be the love of Christ which has lit such a fire; in my mind they are one and same!

This past weekend I joined with people facing unbelievable hardship, gathering for Sunday worship…worship that has not stopped because of the war that encompasses their lives. Worship of God to whom they continue to give praise, to whom they continue to give all trust…for I hear over and over it will be only God who can deliver them from this war that has ruled life here in eastern Congo for the last 14 years. They sang with joy, but also their hearts know much mourning. This was a place where many people died in the past weeks. Now they are seeing a relative calm and the fight has traveled away from their area for the time being and they are grateful for this space to breath again some relative time of peace. Peace is so relative here, relativity reigns.

If you look on your maps the worship we attended was in Rumangabo, the location of the military base that has been taken by CNDP. After this worship and a class for those preparing to be parish workers, we were invited to eat a meal. It was so delicious. This meal included boiled potatoes, a vegetable called sombe, beans similar to kidney beans cooked with onions, and the most delicious thing I have tasted since my arrival…a dish of stewed champignon (mushrooms). It was so delicious I can see it and taste again just thinking about it. One kilogram of these mushrooms sells for $2 and we ate it all, this was a feast for sure. After our fabulous meal we thanked all who had received us and gave them encouragement for their days still to come, knowing this is not yet over and we cannot know what will come yet again to this area. We climbed back into the car and headed back down the road to visit the parish house of Rugari before returning to Goma.

At Rugari we checked in on the condition of things at the house and see some small things the local population are doing to get back to work at the parish. They are again working a bit on the grounds; flowers and grass are being tended. We visited the puppies who are growing and missing there formative months of training and so just want to jump and play and have very sharp teeth. Another pup has joined them smaller than the first two and so our family is growing and we are not even there to help them become good dogs…BAH HUMBUG. After our visit at the house we added one more to our number for the return to Goma; the charismatic evangelist of the church joined us so that he could visit his brother who is staying in Goma. This is the same man whose 9-year-old a FARDC soldier raped and with whom I have yet to follow up with because of the war that has consumed the village and our lives here. We had a car full of people and so I felt unable to have this conversation with him.

We were six people in the car and passed down the road without any problem, that is until we reached the barrier set up by FARDC. Many trucks were stopped and as is customary we continued past them to be allowed through the road block, but to my surprise the soldier stopped us and asked now for the Congolese in the car to show their identification…and then he asked the evangelist to get out of the car; instantly I knew it was because this man looks like a Tutsi. Seeing him called out of our car I felt the fear in my belly build….knowing this was a moment I could only sit through all the while my mind was screaming, “No, No!” Waiting and watching with every fiber of attention all the while trying to look not too concerned…not wanting to make a scene or start something that could escalate out of control all too fast. How many times have I said to people in the past few weeks, bullets don’t know friend or enemy…stay quiet, stay low…now I find myself trying to follow my own advice. The place is very public and there are people enough around and so we wait…NONCHALANTLY. Then we see him being set free and walking toward the car; he is coming, the look on his face one I will never forget…it is a look of relief, even a bit of a smile, but there is a fearful knowledge on his face, he can never be innocent again, innocent to believe all is good and well in the world. There is a shadow behind his eyes of one who knows what it is like to be a target because of the way he looks, because he resembles one who comes from the wrong tribe…this is one of the awful realities here in eastern Congo.

In these days of continued fighting I find myself telling people here of the civil war America suffered because of the color of peoples skins and the sins of slavery, I tell them of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. and his I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH. Then I tell them of the importance of celebrating together in the election of OBAMA and I say, their civil war will also end…how and when…we wait… The suffering continues… inflicted on the citizens of eastern Congo by all parties to the conflict…another sad, sad reality to life here. Please hold these people in your prayers and we thank you all for the financial and spiritual support to the endeavors we are about here for the Parish of Rugari, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo.

A bit of good news about our projects is that the funding for building of rainwater cisterns is coming in from St. John Lutheran and after discussions with an engineer also working out in our area we hope that perhaps in one month we can be able to start this building project for the dispensary of Rugari … if the calm continues. We hope and pray it will be so. And we will build with cement and stone so that bullets cannot ruin this cistern; it will stand the test of time and of war. We are also looking again to another NGO to give us more medicines for the dispensary as well, our stock is again very low…but the patients continue to come. I hope to visit there this Saturday when we go out once again to the parish…if the calm continues. So I conclude this story with the prayer ….DEAR LORD LET THE CALM CONTINUE.

Yours in the peace and love of Christ,
Jackie