The church is setting up a bakery project in a Goma slum(Photo: © Stephen Burgess/CMS)
The Rev Desiré Kadhorho, the project officer for the Goma and Rutshuru
archdeaconries, took him to a huge internally displaced people’s (IDP)
camp known as “
Kibati” a few miles outside of Goma.
Here hundreds of thousands of people, displaced by the fighting between
the rebels and the army, have built makeshift homes on the lava from
previous eruptions. They have no land or way of earning a living, food
handouts are insufficient, and their survival depends on
micro-businesses within the camp and Goma.
In the middle of the camp Steve met the Rev Boniface Nzabavanyuma. This
area on the outskirts of town used to be part of Goma parish but the
numbers of IDPs have got so big that it is now evolving into its
own parish, Buvira. The Rev Boniface and his congregation are trying to
reach out to provide pastoral care and to expand the presence of the
church in this area. Their ministry is to disciple and witness from a
place of shared hardship and daily trust in God.
Their witness is representative of a financially under-resourced but
faith-rich outreach in Goma. In response to the massive expansion in
the town’s population due to the fighting and insecurity, one of the
priorities of the church in Goma is to plant new congregations. Steve
visited one of these fledgling churches in
Nyabushongo about 5km from
St Paul’s, Goma’s central Anglican church. Sunday morning services are
held in a small lean-to room by the side of the main road but it is
already serving a hundred people.
Serving from weakness
Land is especially scarce in the “Majengo” or slum area of Goma,
which is built on the lava flow from all the different volcanic
eruptions. Here those with few other options carve out small places to
live and run small businesses.
It can be particularly hard for widows to find anywhere secure, and St
Paul’s have responded to this need by offering the site of an
old primary school as a place of safety where widows from their
congregation can make more stable homes.
One of these widows leads the main church choir, and has inspired her
daughter to lead the Sunday school choir. Two women, delighting in
worshipping God and sharing the joy of that worship, despite the hard
place they are living in.
Mount Nyiragongo looms over Kibati IDP camp(Photo: © Stephen Burgess/CMS)
Many Christians are working without wages, giving at cost to
themselves to try to serve their local community. The Rev Desiré is
now, despite the huge logistical challenges, coordinating a range of
ministries which reach out to people where they are, demonstrating love
and care for their practical circumstances.
St Paul’s has set up and is part-funding a
bakery project as a
practical ministry to help alleviate poverty and address unemployment
among widows. Together they share the belief that “as the church we are
commissioned to bring the gospel of hope to people who are poor,
vulnerable, powerless and isolated in order that they might have
abundant life.”
What can we do but pray?
“Call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honour me.” Psalm 50:15
Pray for the church in Bukavu diocese, for strength and wisdom in serving the people and ministering to their needs.
Pray for people like Bishop Bahati Bali-Busane of Bukavu and his
wife in their leadership; for Fidele, the Rev Desiré, the Ven Ise-somo,
the Rev Boniface and others faithfully serving.
Equipping the leadership of the church to inspire, teach and serve
remains a key priority for Bishop Bahati, as he responds to the
continued insecurity. Bukavu diocese has three bible schools but two
were destroyed in the war. Bukavu Bible School continues to equip
church members for leadership and there is a strong desire to rebuild
and resurrect the bible schools at Rutshuru and Bangwe (south of Uvira)
and enable them to serve students locally. Like the ministries in Goma,
Buvira and Cirunga, functioning bible schools would be a testament to
the continuing presence of the church, and its ability to offer
faithful witness in hard places.
Pray for the Diocese of Bukavu, and especially Goma and Rutshuru
that the church can respond to the needs of more than 100,000 displaced
people.
Please pray for Rwanda and DR Congo as tensions mount, to find a way
forward; pray for the governments and the rebel groups to honour the
peace agreements.
Please pray for God to overrule in these tensions and for peace to prevail.
CMS has received a request from the Diocese of Bukavu for humanitarian assistance. Many displaced people are in the church compounds in Goma and Rutshuru. We are able to send funds to Bukavu Diocese.
Please use the link below or send a cheque marked “Congo emergency” and payable to Church Mission Society to CMS, Watlington Road, Oxford OX4 6BZ.