The adventure continues

So the adventure continues. I have to say I was a bit surprised this week when Medair asked me to take over as the acting Country Director of the Congo programme. OK its only for 2 weeks but is still a big deal. You have to be fleixbile in this line work, no doubt about that. My move to Dungu has been put back by two weeks. Anyway, i was greatly blessed to recieve this message from Lynn, one of the pastors at my church back home in Manchester. Enjoy!

I am part of the “Fellowship of the unashamed”

I have Holy Spirit Power.
The die has been cast.
I’ve stepped over the line.
The decision has been made.
I am a disciple of His.
I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.

I am finished and done with low-living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colourless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, miserly giving and dwarfed goals!

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity

I don’t have to be right, first, top, recognised, praised, regarded or rewarded.

I now live by presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer and labour by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up or burn up till I have preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up and stayed up for the cause of Christ

I am a disciple of Jesus, I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know and work till He stops.

And when He comes to get His own. He’ll have no problems recognising me. My colours will be clear

Switzerland

So last week i was back in Europe for the first time in 5 months. I was attending the Medair logistics conference in Lac Neuchatel, close to lausanne. It was a great week, a fantastic opportunity to co-ordinate with the people who work in the other Medair country programmes, to generate ideas, see where we can do better and to plan for the future. Some photos from the week below.

The beautiful Geneva

Dungu

Sorry i have not updated my blog for some time. Its been a little busy. I took over as temporary base manager In Isiro fir a while. That coincided with demonstrations and security concerns arising in the town. The civil population decided that they were going to introuduce a `ville mort` in protest at the state of the roads in Isiro. A `ville mort` is when the local population forces the town to completely close down for 3 days.

The roads in and around Isiro are all in a dreadful state, and there is now no possible way to access Isiro by vehicle. This all despite election promises from Kabila in 2006 to improve the infrastructure. All to predictable! And of course the demonstrations turned violent, 2 people killed, looting, gunfire very close to our base. We had begun preparations to evacuate. The military and police finally brought the situation under control.

The other big news is that i will be leaving Isiro at the beginning of November. I will be taking up the position of base support manager in Dungu. You can see on the map above where Dungu is, in far North Eastern Congo. The LRA crisis touches the Northen edge of town, there are 500,000 IDP`s in the area. I will be taking over the role as Base Support manager, responsible for logistics, finance, admin, security and some donor relations. It will be a challenging environment, more basic living conditions, more insecure, just myself and 1 other expat, our medical co-ordinator. It promises to be be an interesting few months.