A so called life

I recently did a trip around the AGL region (Rurundi, Rwand, Congo). It was a media trip and the purpose was to capture media about the various ministries we are doing in the region. In fact all these pics are from Bryn who was on the trip, one of the pictures is from Myal who comes into this story later. While in Congo we were told to make a stop at a recently formed refugee/IDP (internally displaced peoples) camp just out side of Goma. We were able to talk with the Chief of the camp as well as the IDP's/refugees. We had with us a rep from World Relief headquarters, and a new friend Myal who is serving in Rwanda. Myal went to talk with some of the residents most of whom were teenagers, while I talked with the Chief. One boy, named Leik, was 16 he was living in the camp with his father and his older brother. But he was pretty much on his own. Neither, his brother or father were around, because they regularly left the camp looking for ways to get money or food, and his mother was, “in the ground,” his way of saying she was dead. He was staying in a small hut made out of branches and banana leaves. He sleeps on the ground, he has nothing to eat, has dropped out of school and has no one looking out for him.
In all, there were about 2500 families in the camp, which opened about a month ago. The residents of the camp were run out of their village in a different part of Congo by insurgent forces fighting in the on going conflict. As the conflict in the region is still ongoing, there is no predicting when they will return home. All of the inhabitants have to fend for themselves to find food, and there is no reliable source of water anywhere near the camp. There are no sanitary toilet facilities, and they were borrowing the bathrooms from a nearby school, but school started the day after we left (sept 1st 2007)so the school will no longer be an option. The kids in the camp have been pulled out of their schools, and there is nothing to do for work. Most of the IDP's walk 10 kilometers into Goma to beg, or carry bags for people or any number of menial tasks to get a buck. As we left congo our bags were searched, and once we cleared, a boy eagerly grabed my bag and carried it about 15 feet to the car. I tried to stop him because this happens all the time, and I didn't want to encourage this behavior. I knew he wanted money, and I was completely capable of carrying my bag, then I thought, he may be one of the refugees. I paid him, and said a quick prayer for these people. That is always a tension. One couple birthed a new child the same day we visited the camp. The husband approached me for food with about 50 others. I told him I didn't have enough food or water to give to everyone, and that it wouldn't seem fair to give food to just him. The others listening in said that they didn't need food or water as bad as him, and that it would be okay for me to give what I had to just him. I was shocked, mainly because this has never happened to me since I've been in Africa, starving people accepting the fact that I can give food to one family and not all the others. We gave the new father some food and water, and there was no rioting or fighting from the other refugees, they seemed a bit relieve that the man recieved some help though they were starving and without water themselves. It was a heart wrenching situation. Myal prayed openly with the people. I prayed silently, as I hurt openly for them.
Life there is about as hard as I have seen it in the AGL region so far. Everyone there has been completely uprooted from their lives and landed in a crowded camp with meager shelter, no food, no water and little prospects for being able to generate any kind of income to help provide for themselves. Refugees and IDP's also face the brutalities of being an unwelcome and unwanted burden on those around them, and consequently become severely discriminated against. They have little to rely on other than the basic human survival instincts and the hope that they will one day be able to return to their homes. I was told in a training program that Refugees are the fourth world. Currently in a province just across the boarder in Rwanda there are over 650,000 refugees because of this conflict. Here in Congo 4 million people have been killed in this region of Congo since 2003. The people in this camp just want to go back to their home in Rushuru which is about 100 kilometers west but the rebel faction leader NKunda and his troops are raping and pillaging all the towns in the area. So now they are displaced here, with little hope. Myal asked them for their prayer requests and promised them that he would have in in America join with in praying for them. So please pray for the following:

-for peace in their home area of Rushuru so that they can return home

-for food and clean water in the camp

-that the children would be cared fot

-God would show his love for the people in the camp and that they would be reminded of his care for the oppressed and the suffering.

There is also a refugee camp forming about a mile from my house in Bujumbura. I am hoping to visit with them soon, and talk with them. They are returning from Congo, and are in equally desparate need. I will keep you updated on this situation as it is very near to my heart as I can't imagine the challenge of being a refugee, let alone being a refugee in one of the poorest countries in the world... I don't know.