We weren't looking for this move to DR Congo. We were happy with where we were at in Harrisonburg: our awesome church community, parenting Anthony, great frisbee scene, etc. Mark's year-long grant was going to end at the end of August, but they would have been happy to have him stay for a while longer.And MCC actually had someone lines up to fill the position of Seed Co-Facilitator, but that fell through.
So we've had a strong sense of God's leading in this from the beginning. When I (Karen) read the job description, I got really excited and sent it on to a few people, telling them it's my "dream job," largely because it's at the interpersonal level, within a multi-cultural team, and working closely with a counterpart from another culture. Mark encouraged me to apply and was also excited about the possibilities it would open for him in finishing learning French and doing anti-corruption/human rights law. The positions we're entering into really fit our gifting and prior experience well. And this came to us not through our own efforts and planning but rather out of the blue.
What Karen's doing:
I'm co-facilitating a multicultural team of young adults (only 2-3 from US/Canada and 5-6 from the Africa Great Lakes region - DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi). They come for two years as part of a service, learning, and reflection program. Participants will be placed in local communities to accompany the community development work of a church or NGO (non-governmental organization = non-profit organization) doing work in trauma healing and food security in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs - like refugees but still live within their home country). At the beginning of the program and at intervals throughout the two years, we'll gather together for learning/reflecting retreats to focus on a particular peacebuilding theme, such as "Connecting the rural and urban". I'm looking forward to being an organizer for the program and encouraging participants as well as doing some sort of spiritual direction.
I think I'll leave what Mark's doing for another day. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment