Reflections

My time in Uganda gave me the opportunity to reflect on my first 3 months in the Congo. It gave me the opportunity to answer some questions God was prompting me to answer. Tough questions, not easy questions. And while some questions are trivial matters with answers that have little impact in our lives, the really tough questions of life are different. We need to have an answer for those kinds of questions and we need to have the right answer because we are going to be charting our lives by them.

How do you know you are following God’s will for your life? How do you make decisions in a godly manner and then be happy with those decisions and not continue to second-guess yourself? Basically, am I on the right track? Am I in the right place? In Gods eyes.

These are questions many of us have probably asked ourselves. I know that I have asked them of myself many times and continue to do so. I felt God especially prompting me to reflect on these thoughts?

Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered, and endured, because he trusted in his Father’s wisdom, love, and word. He began learning obedience as a child in his home in Nazareth Remember, in Luke 2:51 after his parents found him , it says: “He went down with them then, and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.” He didn’t learn it through punishment as we often do, he learned it through knowing and experiencing that perfect obedience brought him perfect peace and union with the Father, even when what he had to go through was painful. He learned it through love. In the Gospel of John we have Jesus’ own words on his life in obedience to the Father.

In John 15:10-16 of Jesus’ last discourse, Jesus instructs his disciples and us: You will live in my love if you keep my commandments, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and live in his love. All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if You do what I command you. I no longer speak of you as slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is about. Instead, I call you friends, since I have made known to you all that I heard from my Father.” The blessing of obedience is complete joy in friendship with Jesus.

Obedience frees us for friendship, intimacy and union with God through Christ. Obedience makes us citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven where God’s will is done perfectly and therein lies all our joy and peace, our bliss, the beatitude of God.

I have to say, that right now, i feel a real closeness, intimacy in my relationship with God. A realm sense of peace. Its no secret I was very frustrated for my last 6 months at home, especially in my walk with Jesus. I didnt feel like I was in the right place, now I do. I looked around me and felt other people were growing in their faith but I was not. The decison to obey the Jesus and obey his commands has given me that sense of peace in my walk with him right now. I am confident I am in the place, on the right track. For now, anyway!!!

Kampala Riots

Im back in the Congo, in Bunia right now and travelling on to Isiro tomorrow. It was an eventful R&R, not always restful. At the end of our trip to Murchison National Park, we were involved in a road accident. Thankfully, nobody was injured but we rolled the car and the vehicle completely overturned. Of course, then comes the hassle of trying to sort all this out. For my dad, who was visiting and on his first trip to Africa, it is an experience that he is unlikeley to ever forget. The enduring image for me was sitting in a police staion in Northern Uganda for several hours, trying to report the incident to a policeman who seemed much more interested in talking about Premiership football and Manchester United. Of course, we needed the police report for insurance purposes.

Then on to Kampala and a much more serious discussion point. Last Thursday, riots erupted in central Kampala, leaving myself and my colleague Melanie in the Medair team house unable to leave for a couple of days. Evidently, we had enough food and water. People from the Buganda tribe had started to riot because the government had prevented their traditonal King from holding a rally. When Ugandan TV started to show pictures of what was happening on Thursday, we started to realise how serious things were getting. By Thursday afternoon, the protesters were engaged in running battles with the police and military, who were responding by firing indiscriminately into the crowds, beating people up, conducting house to house enquiries. By Saturday afternoon, the military seemed to have taken control of the city.

Tribial conflict always seems to be lurking just beneath the surface in this part of the world. Maybe the use of the word `tribal` is a little simplistic on my part, but many of the recent problems in Central Africa, whether Congo, Rwanda or somewhere else, do seem to have been split along these lines.

Uganda has a deeply unpopular president in Yoweri Musiveni, and with an elction scheduled for 2011 it will be interesting to see how things develop. For more info on the riots, Id suggest reading either the New Vision or Independent newspapers.

http://www.independent.co.ug/
http://www.newvision.co.ug/

Murchison, Uganda

A less serious post from me, to reflect my mood on R&R. I have posted some photo highlights of my trip to Murchison National Park in Uganda. Enjoy!!! My dad came all the way to visit me from good old Manchester, and we had great fun exploring the park and this part of Africa. An experience that will stay with both of us for a long time!

Field Trip

Im back in Kampala...relaxing and reflecting on the first 3 months in the Congo. This time last week I was in the middle of my first field trip, which proved to be very eventful. Myself and Karin visted the town of Wamba, about 2ookm North of Isiro, to visit some Medair projects going on in that area. The roads were terrible, the car broke down, we got stuck and even managed to visit some Pygmy villages. This is where Medair's programmes have become a bit blurred between emergency and development programmes. We have constructed some health centres, helped to provide some medical kit and trained some of the medical staff. Wamba is not an insecure area, but is desperately poor.


The road from Isiro to Wamba. Not exactly the M1. Its about 200km. It took us 11 hours.

Crossing the Poko river. North Eastern Congo.

A pygmy village. About 20km north of Wamba. There are about 50,000 Pygmies living in the forest that surrounds Wamba. They try to live their traditional lives as much as possible, but they are extremely poor, their tribes have been ravaged by illnesses such as leprosy and terbuculosis. They are a forgotten people, ignored by the government, reached only by a few NGO`s, missionaries and some inspirational individuals.

Im at the back of this picture with 2 friends, Dr.Jose and Fr.Justin, a Catholic priest. Both reach out to the Pygmy community, with pastoral and medical care. Some of the health centres have even built small huts for the Pygmies, as they feel uncomfortable inside the normal hospital strutures. Its small acts of community like this that really give me hope for the Congo. Individuals reaching out in love to transform lives. Amazing.


The Pygmies still hunt with the bow and arrow, poisonned lethally at the tip. This picture was also supposed to give you some idea of their size. The health centre in Wamba, built by Medair.

Inevitably we got stuck on the way back home. It looks more like a river than a road.

Effects of the War, Isiro

Yesterday myself and my friend Karin managed to take some photos in the old rail station in Isiro. Built by the Belgians, amazingly, it was operational until 1996 when rebels completely destroyed and looted it. It has never been used since. Too far away from Kinshasa to matter, it has never been restored. You can imagine what it was like in its heyday. Now just another symbol of a shattered infrastructure

The railway. You can see the power cables. Completely overgrown and left in ruin.

More pictures of the rail lines. I was stood on the platform taking the photo, but even that has been overtaken by jungle.

Not sure what this was. Could have been a taxi, or a bus to transport passengers. Its lying in the grounds of the station.

One of the train carriages, in the old maintenance warehouse

Some of the old machinery sat in the workshop. Apparently still in resonable condition, but it cannot be used because there is no power or fuel. The guy with me used to work at the station, since 1972 so he told me. They have not been paid for years, but him and few others turn up every day to guard the equiment and show people like us around. Can`t imagine there are many visitors. I have to say i don`t understand why they turn up everday. He told me they went on strike a few years ago but they were completely ignored, so eventually they just came back, presumably as they were unable to find jobs anywhere else. Maybe they have some blind hope it will be restored one day. Crazy!!!

I think this was a generator. Now just left there, never used. What a waste!!! More transportation. Burnt out and left to rot. In the grounds of the station.

The old entrance to the rail station. You cant really see it here, but there were obvioulsy some gardens in front of the station. They are completely destroyed now.

One of the old buildings still standing at the station. 1000 employees used to work here apparently, they exported coffee, soap, fruit all over the Congo.

Old fuel tank.

The old ticket office. Abandoned.

The reality

The reality of working in Africa can be quite difficult. There is a steep learning curve, it can be challenging and exhausting. I remember, back in Manchester a few months ago, I was talking with family and some close friends, how I needed a fresh challenge, that God was calling me to something new, away from a secure, comfortable, happy environment at home to something more unknown in Africa.

mmm..be careful what you pray for? No Im joking, so far I`ve loved every minute of my time with Medair in the Congo. Through the ups and the downs, I have a great sense that im in the right place and God is really at work. There are definately challenges to working in this part of the world though. I am enjoying being stretched in many different directions.

The strongholds of poverty and dependency can mean that a lot of poeple are out for something. When they see a white face, they see dollar signs. You have to be very careful about you present yourself and the organisation you work for. Its very easy, with a Western mindset, to see the material needs here....money, clothes, school fees etc. There is a huge danger of setting a precedent if you decide to give some support to one individual. Even letting somebody use your internet can cause problems...before you know it you have the entire community asking if they can use your computer, at all times of the day. Its almost expected. Knowing how to manage these expectations is a skill I am still learning.

Then there is the problem of corruption. Its endemic in Congolese culture. Mobuto, when he was in power, said in a national newspaper "If you want to steal, steal a little in a nice way. But if you steal too much to become rich overnight, you'll be caught.". Mobutu was a notoriously corrupt leader, rumoured to have stolen over $5bn. There is a natural level of mistrust and suspicion in Congolese culture. Meeting with Congolese customs officials in recent weeks has been a testing experience. Naturally, the office in Isiro seems to have made up its own rules, they are completely different to the rules employed in Kinshsasa. We had a tricky situation, trying to prevent some of our motorbikes being impounded. We managed to negotiaite our way out of it, with some prayer and divine intervention helping us on our way. They really wanted us to pay the fines more than anything else, despite the fact that that we are a humanitairan organisation here to help the Congolese. Also our motorbikes are pretty important as our medical supervisors use them to get out to the field. Aarghh!!!

Managing Congolese staff can be challenging. Proactivity, initiative, planning, all key activities in Western organisations, are ofthen skils that are missing here. These are, of course, generalisations but management skills, especially when managing projects, seem to be a particular area where we can really develop capacity. Timetables, schedules, deadlines are not really followed. Communication can be frustrating as well, especially when you have staff based in several locations. There is a real opportunity for capacity building here

Im loving all the challenges so far though, and I still have lots to learn. Its a steep learning experience, no doubt about that. I will be ready for my holiday, at the end of August. You certainly need the regular breaks when working out in the field.

For What Its Worth

I have just finished reading Simon Guillebaud`s `For what its worth`. Simon has been a missionary in Burundi for 8 years, living through some pretty interesting, dangerous times. The book is essentally a call to radical discipleship, to complete surrender of your life to Jesus. The book brings out some interesting points, many of which i was contemplating when deciding to come to the DR Congo with Medair.

Following Christ was never meant to be easy, comfortable or safe. Its supposed to be tough, real and impacting.

`Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a 3 piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fabrics, choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing yourself in a miserable home, nothing more than en embarassment to the selfish brats you`ve spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future.Choose LIFE`

This, of course, come from the closing scene of the cult film Trainspotting. Its raw and cynical and relfects the grim pessimism which embodies the films central character, Renton, a heroine addict. While this is not representative of most people lives in our modern society, his sentiments that life are meaningless resonate with many. His escape is drugs, to get away from the mundane, but what choices do we have?

The choice I was confronted with was to follow Jesus, to really follow and trust my life to him. To go to the Congo or not. Either that, or settle, settle for less than what God had for me. Many Christians fall into this trap. They turn up for a church on a Sunday, they live a comfortable life but they are not fulfilled in their relationship with Christ, they complain and wonder why? My hope for myself, and for you, is that we can live a life where opportunites are seized, gifts maximised, risks taken, obstacles overcome, storms weathered, people impacted, and most importantly, our calling is filled.Choosing life involves embracing and enjoying Gods awesome creation and the opportunities life presents us with. As followers of Jesus, we have the choice to embrace or reject a life of puropse, fulfilment, meaning and challenge. Are we going to settle for the safety of existing, where life is comfortable, or will we choose to embark on the adventure of really living. Jesus is calling each one of us. will you say no or will you say yes?