Worship in the Congo

Thursday, August 16
Hi Everybody (from Sarah)!

It's about halfway through my trip here in Goma, and it's been pretty challenging to fully grasp all of the complexities of life here, in a country that continues to be terrorized by guerrilla warfare. Certainly the war is "over", but in the eyes of the innocent Congolese people, this war is far from over, and the psychological effects will remain for generations to come.

In Goma, our team mainly spends time at two places, and they couldn't be more different. We stay at this beautiful house along Lake Kivu, a lake at least twice the size of Lake Tahoe, with a beautiful English Garden, and comfortable but simple rooms with private bathrooms. For meals we eat out on this amazing verandah that overlooks the Lake, where we enjoy the company of not only our team from Berkeley, but people from around the world, learning and listening to their respective research projects they are working on while they stay in Goma. Sometimes we have 20 people at dinner! The house is impressive, complete with it's very own obnoxious dog, and workout room in the attic so we can get our wiggles out and sleep better at night. Last night we had a lightening storm, and I sat with a friend in a hammock on the verandah as we watched the sky light up over the lake.

Outside the gates of the house, however, is a much different story. In 2003, a volcano (which you can see from the hospital if it's not super hazy and looks very majestic with smoke rising from its top), exploded and lava covered 40% of the city. Not only that, the presence of armed forces, Congolese police forces and army, are at every corner, controlling traffic, stopping people at will. The UN forces are also a presence and every time I see a truck of peacekeepers roll by I am reminded that although the civil war ended a few years ago, guerrilla groups continue to exist in force outside of the city and continue to terrorize the Congolese civilians. The city is covered in black lava, unlike the red dirt that exists in the majority Africa.

The other place (aside from the house) where we spend our time is around the hospital, HEAL Africa . Inside the walls of the hospital, (which is in desperate condition, yet is one of the best hospitals in the DR Congo), there is intense suffering. Despite all of this suffering and chaos, even in the midst of it, I see both the pain and hope of the Congolese people. Let me tell you a story. Every morning we go to chapel at 7am, a service for the entire hospital staff and it's patients. Three choirs perform each day, probably about 5 or 6 people per choir. As I was sitting there in church listening to them sing, I was comparing their songs for that day to the songs they sang on other days, acknowledging that today just wasn't "as good". I was disappointed. I laughed at myself, realizing my selfishness, and shook my head. What happened next will always stay with me, and if this is what heaven sounds like, then count me in, seriously. Luckily we have this recorded, I don't think I'm about to do it justice. The women in the church, the broken, the ones suffering from Fistulas, and some pregnant by their rapists, began signing this song about taking their bags to Canaan, because they were free. As they sang this song, people started clapping to their own rhythms, and placing whatever they had, purses, babies, Bibles, whatever up on their heads and forming a conga line around the room. As I clapped and danced along with the people, I watched the line go around the room. There was this woman singing carrying this baby with his skull twice the size of what a normal head should look like. I choked back tears and watched her love the Lord through song and dance, and all of the sudden I was amazed at the resiliency of all of these women, men, doctors and nurses. I get to come and go as I please, for my little two week stint in the Congo, and then I go home to the comfort of my home, my big bed, my mattress, my fiancé, my diet coke, my big meals, my comfortable life in Oakland. The people here are faced with this reality day after day, they face it head on, with determination, resiliency, hope, and faith in their God, who is a God of justice, a God of Healing, and a God of Life.

Whew. I know most of you are wondering what I'm actually doing on a day to day basis, and lets just suffice to say, that I'm learning TONS, and my mind is constantly being expanded to what the CONTINENT of Africa really has to offer the world. I'm investigating how HIV/AIDS education works here, what individuals are doing to keep the epidemic from taking control of this generation like it has so desperately in South Africa.

In case you were wondering, I'm also learning that colonialism really sucked and continues to plague African society to this day.

I'm also learning that despite my sickness on Wednesday, my missing cell phone, and slow internet, the frustrating language barrier, it really just doesn't matter.

I love you all, keep those prayers coming!

Sarah