Another Christmas Weekend Story

December 30, 2008

Dear St. John and St. Anne:

I love the fact that I don't have to write Catholic and Lutheran Churches...we truly are the priesthood of all believers....just had to celebrate that fact once again. I smile every time at look at that salutation and realize what a beauty it is that we are united in ministry and united in God's Love for the good of GOD'S HOLY CHURCH.

I have waited some time to post this story as I wanted to ponder carefully how to say what has been so troubling me on many fronts. This is really a journalling entry, a closer glimpse into some of how journalling has helped me in my days here and in my understanding of my ministry here. Now, onto my story...

The weekend after Christmas, Bahati’s sister, Marie Jeanne, and I traveled together to the village of Rubare to spend the weekend with her parents and Rosette so that we could all celebrate some Christmas time together!!!!

Now, the heart of this story…a short story, but a lifetime of pain in the story. A rather tall man, a very tall man, came to the bus stop to join us on the trip from Goma to Kiwanja. This man made some plans with the bus assistant and requested to sit in front as he is so tall it is very difficult for him to sit in the back seats. So it was that we sat next to each other on the trip and had much time to visit. As I told my story he came to hear that I was a nurse and of the work we are about in the Parish of Rugari. He was very attentive and interested in all; expressing his appreciation for the work we are doing. Upon hearing that I am a nurse and bringing medicine with me he asked me if I had medicine for the heart and sadly I reported to him I had no such medicine with me. I felt bad that I would be unable to help him and immediately started wondering what heart condition or medical problems he might have that were the reason for his request, but I kept my thoughts to myself as I tried to evaluate how I might be of help to him. I started to ask him about his story and his family…then understanding began to take shape.

He told me that both his mother and his father had been killed in Rutshuru. He described how his mother was shot and killed in 1999 and then his father the same in 2006. Then I realized perhaps his need for medicine for the heart and asked him if this was the reason he had asked about medicine for the heart and he said yes, this is the cure he is seeking. Then I had to ask him who had performed such atrocity as he described…in a very quiet voice he said it was FDLR.

This is the reality of Eastern DRC. A person whose parents have been murdered cannot openly and sadly say what has happened because there are so many around who will remember and who will mark him…perhaps as a target of their hatred. He was a man heavily burdened in sadness at the loss of his mother and his father. He is a student of law at the University of Goma, close in age to Marie Jeanne, with one year yet to finish. The appearance of this man’s sadness will take some time to ease from my memory.

Another story that weekend was hearing of how some few years ago another man’s wife was pulled from his house while he could do nothing. He begged for them to take him and leave his wife, to take his belongings, to take everything he owned, but to leave his wife. They said they didn’t want any of his things, they didn’t want him…they only came to take his wife and so they did. She was found dead some days later in the farmland, body rotting, and parts of her body dismembered. This is the work of FDLR in the Eastern DRC that has been going on since 1994. It is the work that so traumatizes people; they carry the sadness so deep in their hearts and bodies that you can see it in their face. The eyes tell of great sadness.

These are the people who cannot so easily forget the murder and mayhem, they cannot forget the refugees who wait in camps on the border of Rwanda to return to their homeland of DRC, who wait and dream of the day they are free of fear, free of FDLR and free to return to their homes.

Then on Sunday night while Rosette, Marie Jeanne, and I visited with Mama Bea in Rubare another thief came out from the woods. He arrived on the street of Rubare to steal what he could from one of the businessmen on the street. The person was then shot in the stomach…the perpetrator was a MAI MAI, as reported by one villager, but another villager says it was CNDP…. Whoever these perpetrators are, these are the crimes that must stop.

I like to ask people what it was like here before the FDLR, BEFORE THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE and the influx of Rwandan refugees running into DRC…the influx which included not just innocent refugees, but included many of the offenders of the genocide.

The answer I always hear is, before that time there was peace here, people got on with one another in harmony; work, school, village…they had peace. Of course there are so many factors at play in the history of this nation that affect what is happening. One person from South Kivu Province describes one of those factors to me this way, “We had been kept in the dark and kept down by MOBUTO to the extent that fourteen years ago, we did not know what a cell phone was, we did not know the wealth of our land in minerals….WE DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING THAT COULD HELP US TO LIVE BETTER LIVES… MOBUTO kept it that way so he could take care of his own and live off the backs of the people.” Now more and more people know, but still, the lack of knowledge, the lack of education, the tragic ignorance, the suppurating hatred that has been instilled in some, and the resulting mistrust of most all is keeping the people down. Without a government that truly knows how to lead and govern I don’t know HOW MANY MORE YEARS it will be before they can really claim this is a true democracy?

In the two years since a ‘free and democratic’ election of their current president, more than 500 HUNDRED PEOPLE FROM POLITICAL OPPOSITION STANCES HAVE BEEN KILLED BY THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT!!!! If that is freedom and democracy, take me back to school…I must have missed something. When people are daily paying bribes to city police, government soldiers, government officials, highway police and more…I don’t see freedom and democracy in action…when people hide in the dark in their homes at night because they are afraid of the soldiers and bandits who come to steal and often kill in the night...I don’t see freedom and democracy in action. When children run the streets instead of going to school…I don’t see freedom and democracy…when children are forced to work instead of going to school because they don’t have the money for education…I don’t see freedom and democracy…when government officials live in palatial homes and own 5-6 such homes throughout the land and drive not 1 but 3-4 very expensive cars such as HUMMERS…all the while claiming the government does not have enough money to pay the teachers of their land even one cent in wages…I DON’T SEE FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY!!! I see corruption, I see lack of vision, and I see lack of understanding and commitment to the true ideals of freedom and democracy that so established and grew the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

We are so blessed in our land, truly blessed…perfect, NO…but truly privileged. I contrast that with the lives of those here who have literally nothing every time they are put to flight by FDLR, PARECHO, MAI MAI, FARDC, or CNDP, they have no freedom, they have no assurance of education for their children, they have only the clothes on their backs and the few belongings they may have been able to take with them. Then they return to homes that have been looted and/or destroyed. They must start life over again and often times because of the sins of the very same soldiers who are charged with protecting them.

This is the strange and troubling question that has bothered me now for months, why do the government soldiers have such a penchant for destroying the very infrastructure they are supposed to be protecting??? When fleeing in front of the advance of CNDP, why is it that FARDC soldiers are the ones who destroy the homes, the shops, the schools, and the hospitals of their very own people…are they trying to force the people to run… what kind of purpose are they serving when they are the ones who perpetrate the rapes, the looting, and the destruction of their very own homeland, their very own people???? The stories that came out of the recent fighting in the past months were horrifying and the worst of them were perpetrated by FARDC.

Yet we go on, NGO’s doing their job, churches doing their job, serving the people, and the IDP’s and refugees keep dealing with the cards they are dealt, all the while all of us are hoping and praying for the day when real freedom, real justice, REAL SOLDIERS, REAL GOVERNMENT can take care of this land and its people. They wait for the time that DRC is a viable and settled democracy, they wait for a government and an army that truly know how to do the best for their people rather than building their million dollar mansions, they wait for the time when people don’t have a penchant for killing as a way to settle differences, they wait for the time when soldiers, factions, and politicians can agree to disagree, can work together to solve differences, and still focus on the best for the greater good of the people. FREEDOM…DEMOCRACY…

January 2, 2040 hours, 2009
….gunshots out in the street near my room… FREEDOM…DEMOCRACY ...hummmmppphhhh ANARCHY reigns here in DRC!!!!

Then why am I here and how do I keep from being consumed by the disappointment, the tragedy, the failure of humanity….?

By the hearts of so many who are so filled with desire for the good of their land, with the desire of God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
By the kindness, the laughter, the love, and the goodness of so many people here in this fantastically grand and beautiful land.
And most of all, by the call of Christ our Savior who asks this of us, "...to go to all lands (into all the world) proclaiming the Good News to all creation!!!!"

NRS Mark 16:15 And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
NAB Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
NJB Mark 16:15 And he said to them, 'Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation.

Now I remember why I am here and how not to become discouraged...GOOD NEWS!!!

Celebrating Christmas in RUBARE

One of the first things that grasped my attention at the Mass in Rubare the weekend after Christmas was the presence of this fantastic artwork in the paintings of the "Stations of the Cross." In Catholic churches here I am amazed at the beautiful artwork in many of the "Stations of the Cross." This one I have titled, "DOWN FROM THE CROSS." Notice the helping hands...helping hands.

Ironically this photo is an EASTER remembrance, but I was in RUBARE to celebrate some Christmas Holiday with Bahati's family. Rosette had returned home the week before Christmas, but Marie Jeanne had classes on through Christmas and she remained behind in GOMA.

And of course I also remained behind in GOMA, unable to return home to the States for Christmas. Marie Jeanne and I decided to travel home to RUBARE for the weekend to share some fun, laughter, good food, and HOLIDAY TIME with family.

We were so excited to have time to spend together and to just relax without having to rush away for work. TWO DAYS OF JUST BEING WITH FAMILY AND RELAXING...
...IT WAS HEAVENLY!!!!

TITO brought out the dried ears of corn and starting preparing a place to work...and I could not help but to join in!!! Oh the joy of joining hands together, voices in conversation, neighbors coming to join and visit and move on...it was an afternoon of blissful work, unhurried, uncomplicated...relaxing.

Ray, Loretta, Lester, Rita, Deanna, Gene and all you corn and soy bean farmers out there in Royal, ILLINOIS... hope this brings a smile of nostalgia to your hearts!!! These are also two big crops grown here in Eastern DRC...corn and soy beans, which are then both ground into flour and used for cooking of UGALI and UJI, which are staples of the diet here.

We spent the afternoon breaking the dried kernels from the ear. My thumbs were sore by the end of the day...I am getting soft in my old age!!!

The kernels will be dried some more in the sun and finally run through a frinding mill powered by a gas powered motor, to grind it into corn meal. This corn meal is then cooked with water to make a very firm mash which is served in a large round ball shape on a large dinner plate. This corn meal is so firm you can pull pieces of it away with your fingers and dip it into meat and vegetable stew to eat. It is called UGALI, a very bland, starchy food and you count on a very flavorfull stew to give it a good taste.

While we were working TITO had the great idea of getting a picture of all of us working together...and of a photo showing just our hands as we worked.

So guess who was sitting on the other side of the porch doing her work as well...it was ROSETTE who took the photos of us at work. And she did such a fantastic job with these photos...I see she has talent already. I immediately thought she should take up photography as her future work...who knows...

So this blog is becoming a blog about helping hands, hands have such meaning; how we speak, how we work, how we embrace those we love, and how we welcome the children as Jesus instructs us in this Sundays Gospel.


Helping Hands....

Baba Bea, Mama Bea, and I couldn't pass up our opportunity to capture our holiday on digital media as well...helping hands.

To the right are Eme, Rosette, and Baba Bea.

Eme is the nephew of Bahati, Marie Jeanne, & Rosette; he is the the first born son of Bea, Bahati's sister, the oldest child of Mama Bea & Baba Bea. It is the custom to call the parents by the name of their first child, hence my name is Mama Joshua!!!

This was a photo after Mass back at the house when Bahati's Aunt and Uncle stopped by for a visit. Notice the hands, so meaningfully Bahati's Uncle reached out his hands, to grasp my hand for this photo...Helping Hands...

The youth were disappointed that I went to Mass with Mama Bea instead of with them...guess I will return for another Sunday so I can partake in the youth Mass, which of course they say is much better than the first Mass for the elders!!!! I love the youth and find it so exciting to see them building their faith and participating so fully!!!

These photos show Rosette, Tito, Marie Jeanne, Eme and another I cannot name as they were preparing to leave for the midday youth Mass.

At one point during the weekend I was sitting on the back porch helping Mama Bea prepare some food. As we sat in the evening light, a neighbor child sat next to her house crying and crying. Not a soul in sight...then all of a sudden a woman came out of the house and picking up a strap started hitting the child, who then REALLY started crying all over again. Mama Bea called out to the woman to stop beating the child and she stopped, returning to her house. After some minutes I asked Mama Bea if she had ever beat her children in such a way...she said she never had it in her, for her heart was always with the sorrows of the child. This is the woman I have observed cleaning and caring for her grandchildren with the most loving hands, the woman who so gently instructs me and guides me in the ways of cooking at her house...above is the lovely face of Mama Bea.

Our weekend ended and we returned on Monday morning to return to work and to school and to our lives in Goma...oh how I miss the life of Rubare.

Then on New Year's Day in Goma I received three most delightful guests to my room. Marie Jeanne, Aline (a younger sister of Eme), and Innocent, a youth who Baba Bea has asked to come and help out with pushing the wheelchair for Rosette as she goes to and from school.

These three helped me to start the New Year with joy and celebration. We visited, laughed, drank much tea, ate fruit and bread, read the internet, and spent the whole afternoon in joy. Thank God for such a blessing.

One last look at some of the beautiful artwork in the Roman Catholic Church at RUBARE VILLAGE,

NORTH KIVU PROVINCE,

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO...

...another world away from USA, but filled with the kind of helping hands we all know and love.

Peace,

Jackie