“See You After the War”

I was prepared to send an update about the many positive projects that have happened here in Minembwe in spite of the current conflict, but things here became worse than “worser.”

We ended our last update with us all being in the neighboring country of Burundi. Miles was able to return to Minembwe on September 26 and, on October 5, our friend Patrick (from Wenatchee, WA) and I made our way to Minembwe via a road trip then an airplane.

Bob and Bing on the road to Goma.

Patrick’s wife Thelma remained in Bujumbura with the rest of our family, because Lisa and Aimee were being treated for E. coli infections and Sophia had a Urinary Tract Infection after being treated for a kidney infection. The girls are now fine, but Lisa still needs to be retested as she has just finished her latest round of medication.

Those who were left behind.

 

A few days before Patrick and I were to leave Bujumbura, we heard through Miles and others that the ongoing conflict was starting to intensify in Minembwe. In the far-flung areas of Minembwe, where the local cowboys take their herds to graze during the dry season, the Mai Mai were (and still are) hunting the “cowboys” and their cows. In August, Namajana, who daily works alongside of us, lost her brother, cousin, and a friend, who were herding their families’ cows to market when they were kidnapped and eventually executed by the Mai Mai. Then in early October, a couple of days after Patrick and I arrived, Namajana, along with her whole family, lost ALL the rest of their cows to another Mai Mai attack; those cowboys were also shot and badly injured. There are no banks here and nowhere to safely stash your cash—your cows are your “savings,” the pasture is your bank, and the cowboy (typically a family member) is the bank guard. Recently, most people brought their cows back to our area, but the grass here isn’t very nourishing, and there is little of it growing due to the very late fall rains. Sadly, cows are dropping right and left, carcasses are everywhere as, for some reason, no one buries them; the stench can be overwhelming.

The situation here is that the Mai Mai rebels have joined forces with a notorious rebel leader who seems to run around Eastern Congo without much resistance. To this, add a RUMOR that some within the DRC government wouldn’t mind seeing a genocide, or at the least a forced exodus of the Banyamulenge people who are the main tribe within Minembwe. To that, add that some within the FARDC (the DRC army) seem to be holding the door open for the rebels versus chasing them away. The local UN peacekeepers are severely limited in how they can respond having a mandate to protect and stabilize, but they are restricted to assist only when the FARDC engages, which doesn’t happen very often. On top of all of that, add that a “defense army” of Banyamulenge men from other nearby countries, such as Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, made their way here to battle the Mai Mai. This would be positive news since the FARDC army rarely intervenes, however there was a RUMOR that this Banyamulenge “army” planned to “enlist” local older boys and young men (via threat of death) to join them in defending their homeland and people. So… the people here are afraid of the rebels, afraid of the army, afraid of the government, and sadly, also afraid of the “army” that came to save them.

As for the real army, the FARDC soldiers are under paid and rarely paid, so stealing and looting is how they survive. The sad joke is that one group of soldiers are called “The Android Army” because they steal “smart” phones from people, but they also smash the non-android/non-smart phones that they take from people. This is NOT a rumor as we know people here who have lost their phones to soldiers in this way, and we know that the soldiers have been roaming through the Friday market taking items from vendors. When the vendors try to protest, the soldiers put their finger to their own lips to indicate that these people need to keep quiet about it. Everyone knows that you get a beating if you don’t comply.

In our community, many people have already fled, but there isn’t a guaranteed secure route to take to hike out of the area—you’ll either be hunted by the Mai Mai or extorted by the FARDC soldiers who monitor the road and exact taxes from those using the road. Busy Bee Airline, who for the last year and a half have flown scheduled weekly roundtrip flights from Goma to Minembwe, is completely booked for at least the next four weeks. We don’t know where people are getting the money for tickets because to buy a ticket you need to sell a cow, and no one is buying cows because people can barely keep the cows that they already own alive. Also, because few people are wanting to fly INTO Minembwe, ticket prices out of Minembwe, formerly $150 one way, have risen to $260.

Five days after I was back on the ground here in Minembwe in October, I was saying goodbye to one of the young men who was fleeing due his fear of the Banyamulenge “defense army” enlisting him. I said, “Hopefully we’ll see each other soon.” His reply was, “Yes, see you after the war.” A few days after that, as another good friend (from the Moshi tribe) was leaving us, his parting words to Miles, speaking of the Mai Mai, the FARDC, and the “defense army” were, “Don’t worry, no one is going to kill you, they will just steal from you.” Thanks to a text that Lisa sent to me right when I got back up to Minembwe, every time I go to bed, the words of her text go through my head… “Goodnight, and don’t let the Mai Mai bite.”

Eventually, everyone found out that the rumor of the Banyamulenge “defense army” forcing young men and older boys to enlist in their army was false. Sadly, many young men and older boys had already fled Minembwe, which had to be a difficult, if not a dangerous journey, and costly in terms of the money needed to travel, plus the high cost of living in a city. Plus, if these young men had stayed, they might have found some courage to stand against the enemy, or at least support those who are defending, which would have allowed them to celebrate a victory if that ever comes to pass.

On October 28, Miles was scheduled to leave on the helicopter to travel to Bujumbura to be with his family. As happens so often, his flight was canceled due to the helicopter needed to transport wounded people to a hospital. Miles next two flights were also canceled, but he finally was reunited with his family on November 5. Lisa and Thelma had flown up to Minembwe on November 3.

The attacks on the Banyamulenge people are coming from the north, south, east and west, so thousands of people have nowhere to go and are fleeing to our area of Minembwe. We’ve got a humanitarian crisis brewing here; there was already a food shortage. In addition to this, the refugees are bringing what cows they still have, but our area cannot support all these cows, and many of the cows are running amuck in the planted fields and gardens eating or destroying the crops that are so desperately needed.

A few months ago (right before this crisis), we started buying beans and corn to store up, hoping to sell them later when prices increased and use the money to support the orphans and pay teacher’s salaries. But now we have thousands of hungry refugees surrounding us, so we and the university are working with the leaders of villages that have fled to distribute the beans and corn to those in need. You would think that the price of beans and corn would skyrocket, but no one here has money to buy anything, so we are trying to buy more beans and corn to distribute while prices are still low.

Our stock of beans and corn.

 

The refugees themselves did most of the work; they were polite, caring and hardworking.

No refugees have been left to sleep outside as every refugee has been crammed into a home in our area, a common practice that has been used here over the years. Last week,  we visited two of the villages that are sheltering refugee families to take note of their situation, especially with regard to all the babies.

 Every family was thankful that we came to inquire upon their situation.

 

 

Patrick and Thelma distributed all of the baby blankets and knit hats that were made by friends back in Wenatchee, Washington. We could have given away dozens more; at least four babies have been born to these families just in the last week.

If the situation here in the center of Minembwe stays this “calm” then Miles will bring his family back up to Minembwe, hopefully as soon as the first week of December.

 

Somehow. – Michael