The conflict/war here rages on, making it hard to really get into a “flow” so we’ve been doing our best to assess the situation and then accomplish what we can each day. One of the things that Brian and I have been able to accomplish has been to encourage and challenge the students of University Ebenezer University of Minembwe (UEMI). We began with a seminar that was open to all the UEMI students, focusing on their hopes and dreams for their future in Minembwe by teaching the basics of formulating a business plan.
The Business Plan seminar.
Class photo with the 80 or so students who showed up.
We followed this up with a three-hour class meeting for the students from the Community Development, Education Sciences, and Health Sciences faculties, focusing on how they can use their studies, and eventually their degrees to impact Minembwe and the world. Next week we’ll meet with the students of the Agriculture and Theology faculties.
With the Health Science students.
With the Education students, the future teachers of Minembwe.
In the midst of the ongoing conflict, one of our constant sources of joy is our relationship with the orphans. For a couple of years now, friends of ours from our hometown area in Washington State have knitted hats for the orphans.
Please pray for Prince. This photo was taken on New Year’s Day, just after Prince and the director of the orphanage had returned to Minembwe after weeks of trying to get Prince’s mysterious six-month illness diagnosed (paralysis in arms and legs, horrible stomach pain, nausea, and pain in his back). The best any medical personnel there were able to do for him was get his strength back up with rest and nutrition. Prince was okay for a week, then he was back in our local hospital. Two weeks ago we finally got him on a plane to Bukavu, DRC, but nothing was revealed there, so he’s now in Kigali, Rwanda going through tests.
The plane that Prince flew out on was the first flight into Minembwe for Busy Bee Airline since the crash of one of the Busy Bee planes back in November that took the life of our friend Capt. Didier and 26 others that were on the plane and on the ground.
It was great to once again see our friend Captain Ted, who is also the owner of Busy Bee Airlines.
Bella and Sophia with Captain Didier in Minembwe last May.
Our daughter Demerey, a social worker by education and profession, has worked with a lot of people who have suffered from trauma. Due to the fact that I’ve been living in a war zone for the past eight months, Demerey has voiced her concern that myself and others need to be aware that going through a situation like this can result in us dealing with forms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We are trying to figure out ways to be proactive, if possible, by doing things to help work through the ongoing emotions and stress.
Here’s an example of how I’ve been dealing with the stress:
From the time we first arrived in Minembwe, we’ve had night guards whose sole duty used to be to protect our gardens from cows, goats, dogs, and chickens, but now naughty FARDC soldiers and Mai Mai have been added to the list. I recently reminded the night guards that if danger from the Mai Mai gets too close, that they need to pound loudly on my window as I nightly wear ear plugs to eliminate waking up to random gunfire.
Speaking of random gunfire, last week, at about 8 pm, Brian and I both heard a noise that sounded like automatic gunfire. We met each other in the hallway to discuss the noise and had a conversation something like this:
Brian: “Was that automatic gunfire?”
Me: “That’s too close for automatic gunfire; maybe it was the neighbor trying to start his corn grinding machine?”
Brian: “He’s trying to fix his corn grinder at eight o’clock at night?”
We stand and listen for more gunfire or corn grinding but it’s quiet.
Me: “If it was fighting this close then we’d hear people screaming and more gunfire… I vote that it was the corn grinder.”
The next morning, we found out it was a nearby drunk soldier who got spooked.
Somehow…
Michael