Busy learning about DR Congo!

I had thought I'd be writing on the blog regularly by now. But every free minute I'm picking up one of the five books I'm reading about the history and current situation in Congo. I thought I could share a few websites that have been interesting and helpful.

1. This website has a list of a lot of organizations working toward peace in the region. We may be working with some of these groups, and it's exciting to realize that there are many people coming at it from many directions - that's a good thing, especially if we can network and collaborate.
http://www.insightonconflict.org/conflicts/dr-congo/

2. This is an article written by one of our co-workers in Bukavu (with whom we'll live in the same compound!), and it's about one of MCC's partners in the region, Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC).
http://mcc.org/stories/healing-trauma-community-way

3. A good reminder that Africa has a lot to offer US! It challenges a couple common fallacies about missionary work: the Messianic complex (gonna save 'em!) and the Adam complex (we're the first ones; doing something new!)
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/reject-apathy/you-need-africa-more-africa-needs-you

4. DRC's Presidential elections are scheduled in Nov. 2016. This is a really interesting article on the topic that challenges my thinking. I'm not sure to what extent I agree, but it's good to consider.
http://christophvogel.net/2015/06/24/presidential-term-limits-in-central-africa-utility-or-artifact/

And a couple pictures of our house-to-be, just for fun!

While waiting to leave Colombia… ***updated with pictures

My first trip to South America was a great experience that would have been better only if Mark had been with me.

I was travelling with a group of other Seeds Facilitators which always included Serge (my colleague in DR Congo) and two gals who will be leading the new southern Africa program. Our fearless leaders were the current Colombia Seed Facilitators and one current Columbia Seeder who is soon to replace one of the facilitators here. Here are some pictures of us.

When we were in Bogotá, I stayed with Carolina, the Colombian facilitator. There was also an undergrad student from EMU who was staying with her. We spent three days in the MCC office here, and three days travelling to sites where the Seeders live and work. It has increased my understanding of the program exponentially!

Highs and lows of the week:

Lows:

- My flight out being cancelled and spending 16 hours waiting in the airport.

- Runny nose and sneezing a lot

- being confused between Spanish and French a lot when I tried to talk another language!

Highs:

- We took a tram up a mountain overlooking the city. There’s a lovely, old cathedral there, and I really enjoyed the coke I drank at the café at the top!

- A taxi ride home by myself one night with a driver who was interested in my work in Congo and wanted to practice his English. I felt confident travelling by myself and that is such a good feeling.

- A short walk between bus and taxi at dusk on our last night in the cool of Bogotá

- Hearing that our foster son is moving to a home he really enjoyed when he visited and will be going to the same school

Colombia is a lovely country. The rural areas feel a lot like Africa. I like that things are in Spanish instead of Afrikaans or Swahili or Hindi. I’m happy to be stretching my international travel and sleeping wherever muscle again.

Checking South America off my List

While I'm sad that Mark doesn't get to share the Colombia experience with me, I'm a wee bit happy that I get another country and continent on my list of places that I've been (and he doesn't). He is pretty far ahead of me in the number of countries visited, thanks largely to the bike trip he took with his sister Julie through eastern Europe when he dropped out of college.

I've been at the MCC base in Akron, Pennsylvania for a week and a half now. It's been great being here with people going to countries that face similar challenges as DRC. Here's a few pics from around here. (Pardon the blurry ones - taken while jogging.)

I'm going to Colombia with three other new Seed Facilitators to learn from the program that is in its third cycle there. The two facilitators from Colombia have also been here with us for most of the time and have answered a lot of questions.

Here's some of what I've learned about the Seed program. There are three pillars, which are service, learning, and peacebuilding. The latter seems to be used largely in Mennonite circles but gets at the idea that injustice and vast inequalities drive conflict and violence. If we work to address these inequalities and improve access to resources for the poor, then there will be less reason for conflict. Another way to explain it is "negative peace" (the absence of violence) vs. "positive peace" (where justice is being realized for all people).

So we'll have 8-10 young adults in DRC, half from US/Canada/Europe and half from the Africa Great Lakes Region (DRC/Rwanda/Burundi). They will come for two years and work for local partners in the projects that are already happening. For example, doing trauma healing work among Internally Displaced People (IDPs) - like refugees but still in their home country.

Okay, sorry if this is becoming a crash course in peace studies. Back to the point.

I leave for Colombia for ten days tomorrow! It's kinda like a short term mission trip, but it's actually more like a learning tour. I'm trying to have an attitude like I would have going into a mission trip, that is, Flexible and open to new experiences and willing to be out of my comfort zone!

Here are some specific prayer requests:

- smooth and safe travel

- good time of connection with Serge, my co-facilitator. (We've sat side by side in class a lot but haven't really had much opportunity to get to know each other. But what I know of him, I'm excited about!)

- health and energy

- good connections with people, and willingness to stretch myself when I'm tired of being around people (INTROVERT)

- vision and clarity about our future Seed program in DRC
- being away from Mark (and pray for him while I'm gone, too)

Okay, gotta wrap it up and go to bed so I can get to bed early and to the airport.

Our big announcement!

We have accepted a position with Mennonite Central Committee and will be moving to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in October! We will be based in Bukavu, Eastern Congo - just across the border from Rwanda, and we will be on a three year term.

I (Karen) will be a team leader ("facilitator") for a new service and learning program for young adults called Seeds. I'm currently in Pennsylvania doing training and will leave for Colombia (South America) on Thursday to visit and learn from their Seeds program. I will be working closely with the Congolese co-facilitator who is a man named Serge.

Mark will be working with a partner organization doing legal work on human rights issues. We are both excited to begin doing work along the lines of what we’ve been dreaming of for a long time! Karen with intercultural mediation and teaching between Christians, and Mark with human rights/anti-corruption legal work in the developing world.

This is us the night we decided we were going to accept the invitation

We are SO EXCITED! And scared and sad and tender and excited! 

Please pray for: 

- All of the logistics that need to fall into place before we go.

- Karen’s relationship with her Congolese co-facilitator, Serge.

- Mark’s placement with a legal human rights organization.

- Our 17-year-old foster son, who will be moved to another home.

- Discipline and success in learning French!

We're excited to share the news with you and will be blogging more as we head into the unknown.