A Blog by Belinda Bauman

Thank you to all who are following and seeing Congo right now.  I am so grateful for the friendhsip of The Ten.  Lynne Hybels is an amazing expereintial journalist; articulate, accurate, and so very human and hopeful.  Here is her latest Congo Update:

Though fighting between national soldiers and rebels has quieted, frustrated members of the Congolese populace are creating their own violence.  Impatient with their government’s inability to defeat the rebels, and angry because of apparent Rwandan support for the rebels, some Congolese students and young men have begun attacking Rwandan civilians living in Congo.  Because of their frustration with Congolese President Kabila, these angry young men have also attacked local people who are wearing Kabila campaign t-shirts.  Unfortunately, some of the poorest citizens of Goma wear these free campaign t-shirts that were distributed during the last election because they are the only shirts they own.  As always, the most vulnerable people suffer the most in any violent conflict.   With the very real possibility that rebel insurgents may find their way into Goma from various entry points, UN security forces have issued directives that no NGO vehicles are permitted to move north from Goma (where our new friends are), and all NGOs must provide contact information for expatriate (foreign) staff members so they can be protected.  NGO means “non-governmental organizations,” such as World Relief and other humanitarian organizations.  Additionally, emergency security centers have been established in three locations to shelter people in the event of extreme violence in Goma.  This indicates the current level of threat and uncertainty.   One major concern: It has been announced that on Wednesday there will be a meeting between the Congolese government and the rebel leaders at the African Union in Addis Ababa. Unless there is a comprehensive agreement, resumed conflict is likely.  The current “calm” is an uneasy calm, at best.   The World Relief Congo Country Director sent these words this morning: “We appreciate all prayers sent in our direction and especially for our dear brothers and sisters in Rutshuru, Kiwanja, Rubare, Kako, Rwanguba and other communities whom many of you have met.  This is a very tense and stressful time and it is only God who can help us through ‘the shadow of the Valley of Death.’ God bless and keep you all!”   Donate to World Relief

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In awe this morning, 24 hours after reading about the looting and pillaging of Rutshuru.  24 hours after hearing that the faces and hearts joined to mine were fleeing as internally displaced people.  24 hours after wondering if the rebels were turning  towards Goma.  Laying my head on the pillow last night, I knew  the world releif staff was waiting the sound of gun fire on the road into town.  

The awe of this morning is in a security report I just recieved from our Congo Country Director describing what happened “on the road to Goma”…

“After a very tense and anxious night we have awoken from a strange dream into an even stranger reality.  The national army soldiers spotted on the road to Goma from Rumangabo have been diverted to other locations and the M23 adherents in Rutshuru and Rwanguba have retreated into the bush.  No skirmishes have been reported in the past 12 hours in any location.  Many people have returned to their homes and shops in Rutshuru and Rwanguba.  Bunagana remains very tense and the border is still closed.  There are numerous reports that the government and the M23 representatives will meet in Addis Ababa on Wednesday to try and negotiate a ceasefire, but this is unconfirmed.”

No skirmishes, no death, no fighting in the last 12 hours… Rutshurua trickling back to their looted and torn down homes and stores, but returning…

The outpouring of hope, of prayer and of help is the source of my awe…this stranger reality, a pepaceful morning may only be temporary, but it is hope none the less.

Thank you, all of you who “with confidence drew near to the throne of grace” for your brothers and sisters in Congo.  Please, continue to pray as World Relief  seek to help those left  int he wake of a still rumbling situation.

To God Be the Glory!!

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…took my breath away.  It is one thing to remain rationally aloof to terrible news.  Just knowing that it is terrible somehow doesn’t drive home the reality of war.  For me this morning, I viscerally feel the pain because I know the faces, the voices, the children and the vulnarability of those who are fleeing Rutshuru today.

Sometimes we can make the leap from abstract to “hitting home” when people we know stand between the ones we should feel for and our own place in time.  They become “intercessors”, laying a hand on us and an hand on those who we need to see in their suffering. Today, I willingly lay a hand on you and a hand on my friends in this small Congolese town… an area that has been called “The Reape Captial of the World” and the Congo “home” of Ten for Congo. The hospitality and hope we felt while staying here less than a month ago is still tangible to us all.

From the Associated Press just minutes ago:

M23 rebels seized the town of Rutshuru Sunday. Kavota says the army looted during their retreat.
” We appeal to the international community to do something to protect the civilians who fled the fighting and are living in fear,” he said.

In a place where the UN has declared it is safer to be a soldier than a woman, can you extend your heart to pray for them, to STAND for them?  World Relief is active and working here with devoted, effective Congolese pastors and rape councilors.  Please read, know and pray… and when you are done, consider STANDING with World Relief at http://worldrelief.org/lynnehybels.  Any sacrifice helps build up in a place that is being so torn down.   

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/local-official-congo-rebels-seize-town-in-volatile-east-after-army-flees-advance/2012/07/08/gJQA8XksVW_story.html

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The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.—Flannery O ‘Connor

She seemed to materialize from somewhere behind the mud houses and blue tarps full of dried beans.  At first my eyes only took in the obvious: orange shirt stained with work; pink and blue tie dye skirt wrapped around her very tiny waist; yellow head wrap advertising the local church tent revival in ’84; and neon green flip flops with white daisies. High cheekbones, deep set eyes, her lips pulled tight as if she had a pain at her temples, her feet were planted and calloused like the roots of a tree.

The first to speak, she patiently led us into her story with a quiet voice. Eyes down cast, hands folded at her stomach, she spoke her name, her age, and the number of children under her care.  She is 50. She has four children.

She unfolded her story, slowly, like a new garment, opening each sentence to the light that filtered through the windows of the Kiwanja church where we sat.  She and her husband went to find cooking wood.  “It must be done,” she said, “even though it is dangerous.”  They met a militia in the bush; each man carried a machete tucked inside their fatigues.  Each had a gun.  In a clearing, they bound the hands of her husband; he struggled.  Involuntarily, she threw her hands to the top of her head in surrender. She knew what they would do. They shot him. Then they threw their fists at her face.  They bound her, flung her to the ground, and stripped her clothes. They raped her, leaving her torn, bleeding and paralyzed.  She lay for three days in the forest, bleeding, and crying.

She did not say how she was found.  She did not say how she struggled at the hospital with the month- long treatment for HIV, pregnancy, and STD’s.  She only said that the violence she endured was so traumatic she could not be repaired with surgery.  She lives with unobservable scars to her body and to her soul.

She would have despaired if it were not for Mama Odile and the counselors. She went to see them at the church.  They clothed her, cleaned her, and took her to the hospital for a rape treatment.  They came to see her often. They brought her children food. They helped her work.

They reminded her she was still human.

As she finished her story, slowly the shadow of pain eased, and the tightness of her lips relaxed into a smile.

Still human.  Still a woman.  Still a sister.

Note, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an estimated 2.1 million women have experienced gender based violence, as young as 18 months and as old as 73. In Eastern Kivu, nine out of ten women have been raped.

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Church leaders in Kenya have bravely placed their personal peace aside so that the peace of a nation can emerge. We listened to strategic leaders in the student, business, church and civil service community discuss the development of their new national constitution. I felt as if I was observing history being made. I am humbled and awed at their commitment. They are people of faith who to seek to help their country embrace the character and hope they will need to become a leader in this conflicted region.  

It was a sheer joy to speak at this peace building conference with my TEN for Congo friends,  Lynne Hybels and World Relief Staff.

Tonight we are finally in Congo…the road to Goma was full of  thousands of refugees.  People like you and I who are terrified to return to their homes.  Tomorrow we will spend time with the World Relief Congo Staff, disucssing programs and  prayiing with the bautiful saints from the church that are helping bring peace in this troubled place.

Looking forward to telling the stories we encounter tomorrow. Praying for open ears, and wide open heart…

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Today was a watermark day for me… the Ten for Congo Team is all packed, and our first member is already in the air!  Tomorrow I will board the plane holding my heart in my hands, with a deep sense of hope.  As we depart, Lynne Hybels has encouraged me to write about this sense of hope… and today I was a guest writer on her blog.  Lynne, ever the gracious friend and co-laborer, wrote this about the post:

When I first met Belinda Bauman I was shocked to learn that for eight years she and her husband had lived and served aboard a Mercy Ship and traveled the globe offering medical care to people who had no other medical option. I’d toured the Mercy Ship and knew it was the opposite of a luxury liner. It was a patched up old ship with a mission that demanded hard work and offered little in the way of perks. But Belinda isn’t after perks. It’s obvious that for her, a life worth living is one that puts her where the needs are greatest. I wasn’t surprised when Belinda was one of the first to join the Ten for Congo team.

Read the post on her blog… and while you are there, add her to your follow list!  She will be one of your favorites!! 

http://lynnehybels.blogspot.com/2012/06/congo-journal-10.html

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