Goodbye, Hello.

Dear dear friends:

On Thursday December 15 I flew home, to the USA.  I was paying close attention to the US Embassy warnings about restricted travel in and out of Congo.  I would not be able to return on the 18th as I planned.  It was unclear when I could return. 

So I came home.  Last Saturday I received a message from the US Embassy in Uganda, warning of terrorist threat against the US EMbassy and US citizens.  I made the right decision. 

This has been very sudden and surprising for me.  I do not plan to return to Congo for a while, if at all. I have started to look for a place to live and for priestly work in CT or NY.  Adjusting to "home" seems to be taking a long time. 

Please continue to pray for the Congolese, for the Archbishop Isingoma Henri and his family.  Please keep me in your prayers, as I know you have done for a very long time. 

Advent peace and Christmas blessings,
Pam

So, what HAVE I been doing?

So... what HAVE I been doing, what's going on, where's it at, how... well, evidently it's been exactly one month since I updated my blog.   Lots has happened. 

I changed guest houses in November, to go to CARITAS, run by the folks who operate the Roman Catholic charity of the same name.  BIG difference in accomodations... you know how I am about hot water.   Anyway.  There I met Sarah and Tony with their daughter.  They are adopting 2 Congolese orphans, Micah, 2 and Rita, 16months.  Rita is so underdeveloped and undernourished she could not hold her head up.   We would share a dinner table together and catch up on the day's successes or otherwise.   It was great to get to know them; Americans share a lot in common, besides language.   Then 7 couples arrived from France. They were adopting Congolese orphans, as well.  To get ahead of myself, Im now in Uganda and have seen several couples with children who I assume to be Ugandan orphans.   Blows me away.  If I were 20 years younger... 

The Anglican Church of Congo has big plans.  The archbishop wants to train lay catechists and evangelists to go throughout Kinshasa diocese and raise up new Anglicans!  There is one church, St. Peter's, above which the offices of the Province of the Anglican Church will be completed.  TEC has generously supplied a grant for that.   ERD has made a grant to get Internet into the building so the Provincial offices can work quickly and efficiently, communications-wise. There's a possibility of an Internet cafe on site, to make some money! 

I should explain:  The Province of the Anglican Church in Congo is comprised of the dioceses of the ACC, of which there are 8: Kinshasa, Kisingani, Boga,  Mbuji-Mayi, Katanga, North Kivu, Kindu, South Kivu and Kasai.  Each diocese is led by a bishop, as in TEC (the Episcopal Church). 

OK.   My work involves keeping in touch with the nascent Congo Network, who meet monthly to discuss things Congo... Which TEC group has given what to which diocese, what needs are on the horizon, how can we build capacity in partnership with the Anglican Church of Congo?  I work in the relationship-building aspect of TEC/ACC partnership at present.  I've just received an invitation to go to Lumbumbashi to visit an Anglican street-kids project, which I will do sometime in January 2012.

 So.  THe  Congo presidential elections were held on Mon 28 Nov.  The winner was supposed to be announced yesterday, but the election commission is still counting, so it will probably be Friday when the announcement comes. 
I came to Kampala, Uganda a couple of weeks ago, because people in the know, have told me there;s the possibility of violence after the winner is announced.  As it was, there were 18 deaths in the run-up to the election.  So we'll see what happens.  My return to Kinshasa will depend on what happens next.  So I am safe, enjoying Kampala and doing a lot of writing, finally, this blog update.  

oh, did I mention I was guest of honor at the local pre-school in Entebbe Christmas party? (What's Advent?) will try to post some pics... the kids are so cute.     
Please hang an ornament on your Christmas tree for me... it looks like I will be back in April for a couple of months to fundraise, then back in congo in June. 

May the Prince of Peace bring you rest from your preparations for you-know-what.  
Love,
Pam

Kinshasa in October

October 29, 2011, Saturday.   

I have been in Kinshasa now about 3 weeks.  I am staying at a guest house which is also a convent, called l’Usuma… the foundress was murdered after she had taken her vows and she refused to marry an insistent fellow.   The room is big enough, bed, table and chair and… for anyone who has ever visited Africa… there is a sink and shower with running water that works. 

The convent is in between two schools so at 6:30 each morning the air rings with the sounds of kids getting ready for a day of school.  Very cool.  Saturday is included in the school week which works well here.  St. Raphael’s Roman Catholic Church, primary and secondary and university occupy a big campus locally.  Roman Catholicism plays a large role in the life of the 9 million people in the city of Kinshasa.  Anglicans have their work cut out for them/us.

The Protestants, no slackers here, have a huge cathedral close by.  I wound up there yesterday with Rev. Etsa, Anglican parish priest.  We thought we were going to see an apartment.  We walked into a huge Celebration of the Women of the Church of Christ in Congo.  There had to be  600 – 700 women there, singing, listening to speakers, singing, praying.  It was pretty amazing.  Imagine if the women of the Episcopal church (ALL of the women) came together in one place to celebrate their work of mercy and compassion.   It turns out that Olive Kabila, wife of the country’s president, Joseph Kabila spoke.  Two hours well spent.  We never did get to see the apartment.

My work is connecting by Internet with Mission Partners in different dioceses in the USA and possibly in the UK.  David Copley, director of Mission Partners, suggested I build a Facebook page for the Anglican Church in Congo with links to the different dioceses.  I’ll begin work on that on Monday, Hallowe’en.  There is no observance of Hallowe’en here; I imagine people have enough to do with getting by, day by day.

There are four parishes in the Diocese of Kinshasa and I am visiting each one with the Archbishop and his family to see where I can fit in to do ministry.   While Internet work is a ministry, parish ministry is where I’d like to be.   

The Presidential elections take place on Nov. 28^th. and there are 11 candidates for president and 19,000 for 500 senate positions.  There is concern that the country is fragile and order could break down after the election results are announced.  I believe that is true of any election held in North Africa after the Arab spring.   I will be safely tucked away in Uganda, unless some anonymous donor wants to send me to Rome for 10 days….

I am getting acclimated to… well, the climate.  Its 81 most days.  It can rain amazing amounts and the ground sucks it right up, except for the roads.  The mud that comes with the rain is a force to be contended with, on foot or by car. 

Keep the prayers coming and I will pray for you as well.

Peace, Pam

I'm still here/there...

Long time no post!  It is the middle of October and I have arrived in Kinshasa, DR Congo.  I visited two dioceses in eastern Congo, the Anglican Diocese of North Kivu and the Anglican Diocese of Bukavu.  In North Kivu the diocesan center is in Butembo.  Bishop Isesoma took me to visit many classrooms and I got to say “Hello” in French which for me seems to be a patois of French-until-I-don’t-know-the-word-for-something. 

The Anglican church in Congo is doing a great work in the education of children.  I will post pictures in a second blog.  The number of students per class varies from 40 to 70.   Yes, 70.  Most people understand that education is the key to a better life and a better future as citizens of DR Congo.  I told them to dream big dreams because they are the future leaders of this country.  Most seem to know that Obama is President of the USA.  Like in most places, children and adults respond to a smile.

In the city of Goma, there is an outpost of the Anglican Diocese of Bukavu, which I visited after Butembo.  There the vicar introduced me to some of the widows and victims of violence.  These women form a group that meets once a week to make baskets, sew hand linens and school uniforms which they can sell.  They have become their own support system and it is beautiful to see.  The schools we visited were similar to the schools in Butembo.  The only difference is that violence against women continues to happen not far from the city itself, I was told.   In Bukavu, Bishop Bahati took me to visit schools, which are also overflowing.  The desire for education is huge.  Classrooms burst at the seams.  Yet they have “courage” which is pretty much the same as the English word.  This keeps them moving forward to the future they will construct. 

The war traumatized both survivors and victims physically and psychologically..  I asked a group of women on Sunday to say if their lives were better, the same or worse than three years ago.   To a woman, they began by speaking of the war and how attacks on women outside urban areas are continuing.  Then they spoke of the microcredit program of lending them small amounts to do business, make money and repay the loan.  There is a program of “Alphabetization” where women and older teen girls learn how to read and write.  This has been highly successful.  The premise is that if you educate a woman, you educate a family.   Many positive programs are happening.  It may take a while before the memory of the war recedes.    

I was warmly welcomed wherever I went.  They showed me great hospitality in the visits they arranged and the meals we shared together.  Now begins the next chapter:  Kinshasa and the work with Archbishop Isingoma.  Stay tuned. 

yes, I have arrived safely: The mission is to see 1sthand the work of the Holy Spirit in the face of violence, little gov't support.
I want to show the Good works I see, to all, not only TEC. Someone said that my visit or any mzungu visit inspires hope, that others actually care about what happens to them. more abt visits made later in this week. miss you all; praying for you.
stay tuned! POS

Learning how to upload photos

 

Left to right:  Archbishop Isingoma Henri, Primate of the Anglican Church in Congo,  Canon Jamie Calloway, Secretary General of the Council of Universities and Colleges of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, Canon Sabiti, dean of the Anglican University of Congo.    

The Archbishop of Canterbury laid the first stone for the remodeling of the former Institut Superieur Theologique Anglicane, (ISThA) now the Anglican University of Congo.  

L-R:  Bp. Bahati, Abp. Rowan, Abp Isingoma, Bp. Molanga Jean, provincial secretary, praying at the grave of Apolo Kivebulaya, who was the first evangelist from Uganda to enter Congo in 1896.  His mission was to convert the Pygmies.   This is the birthplace of the Anglican Church in Congo.   

:-)

The Church's One Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord

Habari, folks....

The last time I posted from Congo, we had just been so energized by the Archbishop of Canterbury and we were preparing for the visit of our very own Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori.  I was asked to translate the history of the Anglican Church in Congo from French into English.  The only challenge was that my Mac did not have iWorks, which is comparable to a PC not having a Word program.  Problem solved:  translation done in email form, a week before Bishop Katherine was about to arrive.  I was invited to concelebrate the 10:00 mass with the Archbishop's secretary, a big deal since there are not many, if any women priests in the country.   If you can believe it, I left my vestments in the trunk of my car when  I came to DRC.  The Archbishop gave me a complete set of vestments and stoles as a gift from the Province of the Anglican Church in Congo.   Ready to concelebrate when the PB celebrated the following Sunday.
Arrangements were made for a grand accueil (welcome), for meetings with women traumatized by the war,  with the Mothers' Union, with parishioners.  I hear it was a terrific visit.   I returned to the US for the funeral of my son's father two days before her arrival in Congo.

 
Just a word about the welcome and hospitality of the people of the Anglican Church in Congo.  Amazing.  People come together, having made the most delicious food, to welcome visitors because there is a cultural imperative, founded in Scripture, to offer hospitality.  When the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived, everyone was at the airport ... hundreds of people.   When he arrived in Boga, the birthplace of Anglicanism in Congo, people lined the roads for miles, waiting in their best clothes and withering heat, to welcome him.  I'll try to upload some pics.

I am really looking forward to going back as soon as possible.  Please keep the Congolese people in your prayers.  Next post:  the fruits of peace.