The following blog post includes the reflections of Patrick Nayelah, the Refuge and Hope project facilitator in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Patrick along with Stephen and Courtney McCalley ( who recently served with Refuge and Hope for three weeks) recently visited the thirty children that Refuge and Hope sponsors in Rwankuba and Goma, DRC. The following reflections is from their June trip.
These tears are for the children in Democratic Republic of Congo who have lost parents as a result of wars and terrorism in the Eastern Congo: For the fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives who have lost loved ones and above for the children whose innocent lives this war has touched. To the hard times past, of pain and struggles, of regrets and curses and lost hope. Tears, to the value we lost and the lost unfound, to the dreams we had and never achieved and to the people we were and never will become
I consider myself very put together when it comes to my feelings but I cannot help to shed these tears. I used to see it on television, the brutality that was happening in these civil wars, the genocides and post election violence. My friend, it’s a whole different ball game when it comes to encountering the victims of these atrocities face to face. What they have undergone is beyond comprehension- that not even the wildest fiction would write about. Absolutely unimaginable. Children who are forced to be slaves of physical labor, soldiers, wives as young as ten years old-forced to endure physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Many have been forced to shoot their own family members under the threat of being killed themselves or forced to watch their family members killed under someone else in someone else’s hands.
The circumstances which face children, men and women in Easter Democratic Republic of Congo and so many other countries in East Africa are seemingly overwhelming and insurmountable. I am, however, encouraged by knowing that God is bigger and has called us to “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly.” I am reminded that I am called to step out in faith and minister to those who are marginalized and neglected. I am encouraged by the following story: One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a figure along the distance. As he got closer, he realized the figure was of a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy he asked, “What are you doing?” The boy replied, “Throwing the starfish back into the ocean. The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they will die. “Son,” the man said “Don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of the beach and thousands of starfish? You can’t possibly make a difference.” After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”
When I first met Muomba Sebakungu, I was immediately struck. He just needed help, he just needed this program. He was so downtrodden, lacked self esteem and above all felt unloved. He was traumatized by the things he had seen and forced to endure. At an early age, both of his parents were killed in the war. He was forced to live with a distant relative. Muomba had no hope and no future. For many months, he had to walk close to six kilometers everyday to school. When he returned home each evening, he had to do his homework in a dark room, lit by a tiny kerosene tin-lamp (on the rare occasion that there was enough money for fuel). He spent many sleepless nights without food in a house where there were many holes in the roof.
Of all thirty teenagers that Refuge and Hope sponsors, Muomba Sebakungu stood out to me. When I first met him four months ago, he didn’t speak nor make eye contact with me. Over the last four months, I have seen God work in powerful and amazing ways in the lives of Muomba and others. What I have seen transpire over the last several months has taught me a very valuable lesson: No one is a master of their faith or a captain of their soul, only God is. I thank God for that. I thank God that God loves us deeply and perfectly. I thank God that he broke my heart for what has broken God’s. I thank God for being faithful for working powerfully to bring healing and transformation in the lives of these thirty children.
“If I had a chance to meet your relatives, and the relatives of the people who have made it possible for me to attend school, I would tell them that if there was a time that they felt discouraged, tell them to them remember that they have made this world a better place by making it possible for me to attend school. My hope is restored..” -Fadhili Augustine, 19 years old.
