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The Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the third largest country in Africa. Ordinarily, people move from one place to another either in search for jobs, green pasture for cattle grazing or good land for agriculture.
The phenomenon of moving families that is experienced today began long before the war started in 1996 to topple Mobutu's regime. Families moved aimlessly from one place to another to save their lives. You would see them moving with heavy loads of the little properties they could carry; women with heavy loads on the head and babies on the back and small children held by hand walking for long distances. Many died on the way from hunger, thirst, tiredness, and sometimes torture and murder by militiamen or rebels. Many women were widowed and children left orphans.
The worst was that men and women were severely torched by soldiers. Women and young girls were raped, sometimes in the presence of their husbands and parents. In some cases fathers were forced, at gunpoint, to sleep with their daughters. Women were sometimes buried alive. Because of this, thousands of people crossed borders into neighbouring countries for their safety. But there also life was not good. They often lacked shelter, food and sanitary help.
In 2001, there was another mass movement of people caused by tribal wars. This made things worse. There was no time to wait. There was no way to move as a family, for each member ran for safety from where the war found them. Children were found in schools or playing with friends away from their homes. It often happened that members of a family took different directions and it could take a long time before parents knew where the children were.
Many people have run to neighbouring countries like Rwanda and Uganda as refugees, living by God's grace. Some have joined United Nations' camps for refugees and are doing well, but others who are on their own are really suffering.
Family movement was also caused by the fighting of Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers in the town of Kisangani. This is a city in the equatorial forest, cut off because all the roads are almost non-existent. Vehicles were scarce, most of them having been looted or broken down. People could only enter the forest or cross the River Congo by hollowed canoes to take refuge on small islands in the river. In all cases, families have suffered a lot: children and elders suffered from malnutrition; widows and orphans increased in number; those who are HIV positive increased due to endless rapes; and still those displaced have to move again to their former places if peace is established. These movements have caused much suffering to families as many have lost property and others lost lives especially while crossing Lake Albert which separates Congo and Uganda.
It would be unfair to talk about the fate of others, without mentioning something about myself and my family. Since I was elected to be the Mothers' Union trainer in 1994, we had been living in Bunia. The Anglican Church's provincial office and the Anglican theological college, in which my husband worked as a chaplain and lecturer, were in Bunia. The work was going on well. As a trainer, I was able to initiate and conduct seminars in Boga, Butembo and Kisangani. More seminars and visits were planned. But in May 2003, we were forced to quit Bunia and seek refuge elsewhere. My children and I were lucky to get help from Mary Sumner House. We were flown into Kampala, Uganda where we live in a small house. Our house in Bunia was severely plundered: no doors, windows, furniture, other domestic essentials, books and electrical wiring were spared. Our office in Bunia was also looted. Life as a refugee has greatly hampered the exercise of my duties as the Congo Provincial Mothers' Union Worker and Trainer. It is expensive for us to live in Uganda. We hope to go back to Congo shortly. We need your prayers.
Lastly, thanks be to God for the work of the Mothers' Union throughout the world for they are doing their level best to counsel and help those traumatised by violence. At Butembo in North-Kivu, MU is catering for orphans who got separated from their parents due to the war. In total we have 160 children, of whom three have been diagnosed HIV positive. One child died, 90 of them are in school. But it is hard to find volunteers willing to pay their fees.
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