Last Thursday I traveled to the eastern border city of Goma. I’m beginning to get my wits about me when it comes to navigating Congo’s red tape and rigamarole. Two HOPE staff members also helped guide me through the airport protocol. Our airport is tiny and they’ve built a wall through the middle of it splitting it in two. The left side is for commercial traffic and the right side is for United Nations operations. There are still others that fly in cargo planes and I am not sure they go into the terminal building at all. There’s often a huddled mass of folks ready to climb into an old Russian Antonov with sacks of produce and contraband. I’ve learned that many of the regular requests for small bribes may be avoided or deterred by some mild mannered joking or even sincere conversation.
I flew with Congo’s top shelf airline, Hewa Bora (Swahili for “better air” or “excellent wind”). Their ticket office is conveniently located at the foot of the building I live in. Yet after three failed attempts to buy a ticket, I decided to buy it at the airport. They seemed much more organized when they showed up at the airport to get ready for the aircraft to come through. Boarding card in hand, I was walked out by one of their agents to climb into a Boeing 727. It was an enjoyable flight. The cockpit door was left open the entire flight and I could see right out the front windows. When we landed in Goma we came in over Lake Kivu, one of Africa’s great lakes. There were some brisk last minute maneuvers to put the nose on the centerline and when we touched down the passengers burst into applause. I couldn’t help but join in. Then the pilot slammed on the brakes. Nearby Mount Nyiragongo’s most recent eruption in 2003 nearly destroyed the entire airport and the runway is significantly shortened by the lava floe that remains.
-Caritas. A true African mama.
I was met by my friend Pastor Masimango and he took me to the border with Rwanda to meet my friend Pastor Simon-Pierre. I stayed with Simon-Pierre and his family for five days. It’s a tremendous blessing to be a friend of his family. Whenever I show up there I am welcomed with open arms as a member of the family. I was able to help shop in the market and cook over the charcoal stove. The conversations are great, even the limited communication with their two youngest, Frasier and Esdras “Babu” is a true blessing. I am thankful that I’m just a short flight away from these friends.
-Frasi, Babu & me
Saturday afternoon I was asked to greet a group of caregivers, parents and orphans who are affected by HIV/AIDS. It was a large group and it’s encouraging to see that people aren’t afraid to let it be known that they are infected. They are beginning to organize and look to one another and the church for support. Simon-Pierre’s church has a program where families in the church surround someone living with HIV/AIDS. They commit to praying for them, caring for some physical needs, and visiting one another in frequent fellowship. It’s working. They call the program “peanuts”. Salted peanuts are a common tasty snack in Rwanda. The name is to signify the good feelings that everyone finds in their loving fellowship.
I met up with the Nazarene missionaries and a Point Loma LoveWorks team that came into town on Saturday night. I’ve led three of those teams to Africa in the past and it’s a different feeling living here and seeing the team arrive. Now I understand better than ever the excitement and energy that the team can create. It’s never easy to navigate the cultural and economic differences that can separate us, but it’s worth working at. It was great to be with them for a couple of days. This team really knows how to sing, too.
-Abinah (Pt. Loma Team) and Simon-Pierre.
The team brought a small keyboard that I’d ordered online. It was a bit dodgy getting it through customs into Congo. With the help of friends it worked out just fine and it’s great having it here. It’d been about three months of scarcely touching a piano and that was hard for me. Now I am back in business.
While I was in Rwanda I spent a lot of time with Pastor Simon-Pierre traveling over the volcano rock streets in the church’s Land Cruiser. He’d stop every few hundred meters to greet someone from the church or a neighbor he was acquainted with. Simon-Pierre has made many tough decisions under duress. He’s remained independent of political parties and regimes and he’s become a leader in the community on HIV/AIDS awareness and response. He’s also about to finish a beautiful large brick church that we started with him in 2003. He’s coordinated the work of many people and moved forward through the project in faith.
One of the people we met on our courses through town was Charles. The first thing I noticed about him was his cheerful smile. Then I noticed as he approached that he was missing his hands. They’d been brutally chopped off in the 1994 genocide when he was just a young teenager. A benevolent westerner in town took him in and had him sent to the USA for emergency surgery. He offered me a warm smile, greeting, and his forearm to shake. He’s an example of God’s faithfulness through struggle. Life goes on, peace ultimately trumps violence, death cannot overtake life in Christ.
I spent some time in Goma on Monday and Tuesday with another friend Rev. Balibanga. He filled me in on more intricacies and atrocities of Congo war politics. He reassured me of his hopes and his sense of peaceful months ahead in Kisangani. Now is as good a time as ever to pray for the peace of Christ to reign in Congo. It’s a good time to pray that for every place under the sun.
Brian,
I very much enjoyed reading this post. It’s good to hear something of the work of the church in the Congo. I am glad that you are there representing Christ, alongside the local Christians. I’ve heard a lot of missionaries speak of their work over the years. It’s brings it home a lot more hearing from a friend, though.
In some of what you wrote, I heard Mid City coming through loud and clear. I was thinking recently that I miss hearing the prayers at that church. The service that I attended there in May, when I was in SD for my sister’s graduation, reminded me. I sensed the same kind of prayerfulness in your writing, especially toward the end.
Your friend,
AJ