Back in Congo

Greetings from Congo!
I am so happy to be back in Congo. We arrived yesterday - it was raining but it was beautiful. It was and is great to see old friends. We discovered today June 30th is indepence day here in Congo and so we got an unexpected day of rest which was much needed. Our conference starts tomorrow.

When we arrived in Kampala, Uganda I got to meet with a group of Congolese refugees some of who we had met last year. The photo above is of them at our meeting. It was good to see them and spend time with them. They have gone through a lot this past year but finally have houses they live in, are officially recognized as refugees and are no longer on the streets - which is a great relief.

Congo is a beautiful country with beautiful people but there is so much destroying it. The level of corruption we have seen these past two days is worse than ever. Yet the people have so much hope. People are rising up to say they want to change the country and they want to be leaders. I was talking to our hosts and saying wouldn't it be wonderful if the African continent was not known as "The Dark Continent" but instead "The Continent of Light" or "The Continent of Hope". And with the determination of the poeple here in Congo I can see this being the case. It is always inspiring to me to come to Congo, to see the suffering and pain, to feel the intense evil and yet see the amazing spirit of the people here, their deep faith and desire to break the strongholds in this country and make it a great nation once again. Truly an inspiration for those of us from the Western world where our biggest decision sometimes is literally which restaurant are we going to eat at today!

Well, our conference starts tomorrow - so I'll provide an update in a few days. The conference is for caregivers (counselors, social workers, pscychologists, pastors, church leaders) who work with abuse survivors. The training is on how to work with the survivors and guide them through their healing and recovery process. We have many attendees who are working with human rights groups and action groups against violence. So we hopefuly will connect with many organizations and be able to equip many to work effectively with rape and abuse survivors. We are looking forward to all that God will ccomplish through this. For the first time we have materials and resources in Swahili which is going to be so helpful.

Thank for your prayers - they are truly felt and needed. Please pray for the conference.