Here in the Congo

"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us" Psalm 62:8 NKJV

It is always exciting to cross a border and enter a new country. Zambia shares borders with a number of other African countries and so once I had a visa, it was a short road trip into the Congo. I have been here a month and am staying in an office/guesthouse, much like the one we have in Kabwe where I normally reside.

The two big differences for me are that English is no longer a common language, as the Congolese are French and Swahili speakers. The second, is that there is not the same freedom of movement, as it is not as safe for foreigners as Zambia. It is, however, a wonderful opportunity to be in a new country with a different people and culture.

Going to church is a a marathon of music. Services can go for four hours and the worship is passionate. There are four very committed choirs in the church I am attending. Each choir singing a different style of gospel music from the more traditional sounding hymn, praise choruses and indigenous traditional gospel songs. The choirs meet three times a week to practice and each one sings three or four songs in turn. This explains the length of service, including a sermon that goes well over an hour. There is not so much congregational singing but then nearly all the church members are in a choir! The singing is sublime. My impression is that singing and chorale membership is a national pasttime and that the majority of Congolese are gifted singers. It is wonderful to hear so much praise going to heaven.

The Likasi Service Centre team are taking good care of me and supporting me when we venture out into community. They serve six communities in urban and rural areas. Likasi is surrounded by dozens of mines, digging for copper and cobalt. Many of the communities we work in are on the wastelands outside operational mines.

In one of these communities I stayed overnight with a new family that had just been adopted into the Care Point. The family's husband and father had collapsed and died suddenly, probably from an underlying chronic illness. He left behind six children and his wife pregnant with number seven. The eldest child had also recently returned to the family home with her two young children. Her husband having divorced her when the the opinion of his family turned against her. When the new baby arrives this will take the family to 10 members in their small house. Life is now a very bitter struggle for a family who has lost its main bread winner. The two eldest girls have found low paid domestic work, which is not able to meet the needs of the family and showcases their vulnerability to exploitation. Their mother has not gone to the clinic about her pregnancy because she can't afford to and so has no idea how she and the child are fairing.

Africa does have a winter and so the temperature overnight dropped dramatically. Mud brick homes that are not sealed from the air outside are little freezer boxes. It was too cold to be able to sleep and I had warm layers of clothes to put on. The family had little to put on or wrap themselves in. The house itself was perched on the edge of a drop-off down into a valley. Looming above the houses is a high dirt wall, approxiamately 50 metres high and 100s of metres long. It surrounds the mine that overshadows the community that has built up around this poisioned wasteland. In the valley is what at first looks like a running river but its run-off from the mine full of acid. Tragically poverty and injustice most often intersect to completely damage the lives of the most vulnerable.

The pain of grief and broken relationships dominated the visit, as the newly divorced young woman spoke in a torrent for hours without pause. Her mother also shared her own story well into the evening. The need to be seen and heard is as pressing as the needs for food and health. As with most visits like this, the family was delighted to have us come and stay with them. There is an open and loving welcome that always humbles me. I thank God that this family was adopted into the Care Point. The support from Hands at Work can't solve all their issues but now they are not completely alone. How grateful these families are that they are supported to help their children when so much in life has set itself against them.

This overnight stay with the family coincided with two days we spent in this same community. We were there for a special event of ministering to and encouraging the care givers of the children. From the story I have just shared, you can appreciate how broken down, despondent and fatigued many of these care givers are. Survival is hard and knowing you cannot provide all the needs of your family is even harder. We had a programme of ministry of worship, the word of God, prayer and an opportunity to invite Jesus into our lives and submit to his lordship. We were greatly blessed to witness the Holy Spirit minister deeply to people and help them deal with their pain, fear and the false gods in their lives. Whenever, people make decisions for Jesus the demonic shows itself clearly as the devil often has a prior claim, as he has already been invited into a person's life. God is faithful and wants to deliver us from everything that binds us. The days were also filled with fellowship and fun. Shared meals and some opportunites to make things like bead necklaces and ladies caps. We can't underestimate how the opportunity to create something and focus the mind on something simple and productive can be a healing thing. The luxury of having some material to make something for yourself is also special. The pleasure of very simple things is very humbling. What a great blessing it is to have the opportunity to bring some joy to someone's life.

As always, thank you so much for your support and prayers,

Emma

Please pray for...

• The Congo, the second largest country in Africa with a population of more than 100 million. Though I am safe and well in Likasi, just over the border from Zambia, other parts of the country are involved in a horrific conflict. More than 7 million people are displaced in the Congo because of this conflict. It has its roots in hostility between Tutsi and Hutu peoples that was the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide in 1994. There is a Service Centre team in Goma courageously trying to support children and care givers that had to run for their lives from an armed rebel group that kills, rapes, pillages and destroys in its wake. These dispalced people are now in ramschackle refugee camps around Goma with poor food, water and santitation. It is not safe to return home and rebuild their lives and plant their food and so they are trapped in a hellish limbo. The conflict could evolve into a regional war at anytime, as many believe the rebels are backed by the Rwandan Government.

• The Likasi team that so faithfully serves communities, Care Workers, children and care givers in great need. Pray for wisdom, strength, protection, provision, unity, peace, health and spiritual growth in their lives.

• The care givers not to lose hope but turn to Jesus for all their needs and trust him to take care of them no matter how desperate it becomes.

• My health and protection. I have just come back from the clinic where I had a chest xray and blood test that has confirmed a chest infection. I am now on a course of appropriate medication. I will be relieved to stop coughing at long last! I will also be travelling back to Zambia with some of the team here on the14th of August. I would appreciate prayers for the travel and easy crossing of the border.
  

Care givers of children from the Care Point making ladies caps on a special day to bless and encourage them.

Members of the family we stayed overnight with.

View of the mine's dirt wall from the family's house.