Last Wednesday Joseph Kabila was officially sworn in as the elected president of DR Congo with all of the (Congo style) pomp and circumstance you’d expect for such an occasion. By the grace of God (and a lot of political wrangling) J.P. Bemba, the losing candidate, did not cause any trouble with the proclamation and there hasn’t been open conflict this week in Kinshasa.
I got a call at about 9PM last Wednesday from a staff member. He told me, “In a few minutes you are going to hear several explosions. Don’t worry, it’s just fireworks to celebrate Kabila’s installation as president.” I thanked him for the information and waited for the show. It wasn’t well announced and many people didn’t know it was coming. The problem: fireworks sound an awful lot like bombs. People are still tense. The memories of war do not fade fast. Much of the city could only think that war had broken out, especially the folks in outlying communes who could not see the red and yellow and purple bursts in the sky.
The show went on for about 40 minutes and just as it ended I got a call from my friends out in Mangobo. They urgently asked me what was going on and I told them not to worry at all, that it was just fireworks – and I’d seen them with my own eyes. After that brief call I was thinking about how afraid they must have been and I felt good about telling them there was nothing to worry about. Then I went to church out on the fringe of town with those same friends Sunday. I was seated next to Pastor Andre on the platform and we were talking while one of the youth choirs was singing and dancing barefoot on the dirt. He told me that they moment they started hearing the explosions Wednesday night they instantly thought of me and my safety. They had to find a way to buy phone time to call me, that’s why the call came late. I foolishly thought they were worried for themselves… they were concerned about my safety more than their own! They wanted me to know that if I was in danger here downtown that I could come to their neighborhood and they’d take care of me there. I’ve always enjoyed fireworks. But now whenever I see them I’ll be reminded of genuine care and compassion that I feel from these beautiful friends in Kisangani.
Brian,
What a beautiful testimony to the power of friendship you have established there. Thank you for sharing such a neat story about the joys of a peaceful election in DRC and also of the incredible love your friends there have shown you. Please tell them that those of us in the U.S. who also worry and pray about your safety are so thankful God has placed such goodly and godly people in your midst who have taken you in as one of their own and who have become the hands and feet of Jesus to you.
Rob