[The following pre-trip email was posted with the permission of Rick Howard]
Hello friends and family,
As many of you know I have been blessed over the past two plus years with the opportunity to travel to Central Africa with teams of lawyers from Watermark Community Church here in Dallas. The three trips I’ve made have included time in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern Congo. Each one has involved me and other lawyers from WatermarkJustice (our Watermark lawyers group) leading conferences for lawyers, judges, prosecutors, pastors, and government officials. We’ve covered topics ranging from servant leadership to confronting bribery and corruption as Christians lawyers and judges to biblical conflict resolution. Each trip has been a unique experience and each one has increased my passion for the people of Central Africa more and more.
After returning from my last trip this past October I was asked to lead a very different trip to Goma, Congo in early 2010. Different because for the first time for me the audience will not be men and women in positions of authority or influence in the government, church, or military and because I will not have the responsibility to teach and lead extensively at the main conference. Instead, I and one other guy get the privilege of assisting as (6) incredibly gifted women from Watermark lead a conference for victims of sexual abuse (rape) and the counselors who help them through the healing process physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Eastern Congo is the epicenter of a civil war in Central Africa that has claimed over (5) million lives over the past (15) years. The genesis of the current conflict began with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The perpetrators of the massacre of (800,000) Rwandans over a (6) week period in 1994 fled to the mountains of Eastern Congo once the international community responded to the crises. There in the sanctuary of a jungle the size of Texas those same groups have killed countless innocent local Congolese men, women, and children and caused millions to die from starvation and disease while forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes for sanctuary in refugee (IDP) camps. However, in many respects the worst actions taken by these men is the brutal rape of women, young and old, as an act of war, and act of vengeance, or in some instances an act intended to procreate the next generation of “soldiers” for their militias.
It is against this historical backdrop that these women from my church, Watermark Community Church, whose lives have all been touched in some way directly or indirectly by sexual abuse along with our partner on the ground, ALARM, will be leading a sexual abuse conference focused on healing, recovery, and forgiveness.. They will be using a curriculum developed at WCC and other churches called “Shelter from the Storm.” These materials which are designed to help take a women through the process of healing from sexual abuse have been modified after much prayer and effort to be appropriate for an audience of victims and counselors in Goma,Congo.
They will spend (3) days leading and teaching a conference for counselors who have for years been serving and caring for rape victims to better show those victims the path to true and complete healing through Jesus Christ. In attendance will also be victims of rape in Congo. Women who have been sexually assaulted, typically in the jungles of eastern Congo, and then rescued from the homes or villages by the staff of Heal Africa or other organizations dedicated to this effort. Approximately (100) women have been invited to this conference hosted by the ladies from Watermark. My guess is (1000) could have easily been identified and invited, but space and resources are always at a premium in places like Goma.
It is our hope that this “Shelter” trip is another door God is opening for Watermark to minister to a truly forgotten people in Eastern Congo. Just as we’ve done with the lawyer in Goma we will spend time seeking out other effective and trustworthy partners on the ground to aid in this effort. We already have a great partner in ALARM and are building relationship with Heal Africa as well. The hope is that this is the first trip of many to help folks on the ground there better recover from the devastation of rape and abuse in their lives.
As horrific and devastating as earthquakes in Haiti and Chile have been for the people of those countries there is a difference from Congo. Most of those people can remember a day when there was peace in their land; when the government provided some reasonable security for them, when food was easy to find. They can also look forward to a day when things will look “normal” again as plane loads of people and assistance arrive each day to help. On the other side of the world, however, there are no such memories for the generation raised in and around Goma. They have grown up knowing nothing but war and violence, hunger and disease. It is our hope that by helping train the leaders of eastern Congo, the women who counsel victims, and the lawyers who will one day take on positions of authority in the principles we find in God’s word that cycle will one day end.
Attached is a prayer calendar for this trip. I would ask you to print it out so that you might be prompted each day to remember this effort to be the “hands and feet of Christ” to the least of His people. Please also pray for me and the other lawyer who is joining me on this trip, Russ Brown, as we spend part of the trip discipling a small group of lawyers we’ve developed relationships with since 2007. Below I’ve also attached a link to a well timed Op/Ed piece done by Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times on Congo and the response to the crises in Africa from a number of different groups. Specifically, he uses quotes from Richard Stearns’ book The Hole in Our Gospel. Stearns is the president of World Vision. I recommend you read the article and the book.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28kristof.html
Thanks for all of your prayers and support for me and for Michele over the past two and half years as we have followed this path to Central Africa. Your prayers for my team and our efforts will be appreciated once again. One final note, I am being forced to embrace a higher level of technology than I am comfortable with at this time. Unless I mess it up or the internet crashes in Congo (both are likely propositions btw), you should be able to read updates from our trip by going to http://watermarkblogs.org/justice.
God Bless,
Rick Howard