Lisa and I finally arrived in Minembwe on January 21. We had to leave Miles, Emilee and the four girls behind in Bujumbura as all of us got the flu (not COVID), but Emilee and Ruth didn’t recover in time to travel/fly on our appointed date. The good news is that all the Ostranders are now healthy.
Fortunately, right now there is a time of relative peace here in Minembwe. The good guys, the local militia, that was formed to battle the bad guys, the Mai Mai (rebels), have done an amazing job at pushing back the rebels. Another huge benefit to this is that a good number of DRC government soldiers, who were fighting alongside of the Mai Mai, have been captured, wounded, and killed, which has discouraged the soldiers from continuing to fight alongside of the Mai Mai. That said, we can hear RPG’s (Rocket Propelled Grenades) being fired waaaaay off in the distance. Right now there is a MUCH lower presence of the DRC soldiers in our area of Minembwe, which means almost no incidents of harassment of the locals by the soldiers; before the soldiers were stealing from the locals, as well as beating them, and even killing them. When I was here back in February of 2020, it was the most uncomfortable thing about living here.
Lisa and I are assessing the physical situational needs here in our area. Our top two priorities at this time are to continue to get more food, seedlings, and seeds to the refugees, and to address the overcrowded housing situation for the orphans.
Somehow!
Michael