Watermark in Africa

[The following post-trip email is posted on behalf of Rick Howard]

Well,  I’ve made it back from another trip to Congo.  This makes three in a row without significant illness or weight loss.  I am thankful for the former, but probably could use some of the latter.  Thanks to all of you who prayed for and encouraged the team over the past couple of weeks.  I know those prayers sustained us all, but especially the ladies on the trip as they taught 99 Congolese women (out of 100 invited..wow!!) how God and His word can help them heal from the pain and suffering caused by rape both in the recent past and many years ago.

On this trip, the heavy lifting and teaching of the Shelter from the Storm materials was performed the 6 amazing ladies from Watermark Church who spent the past year readying the materials for an African audience, the past three months praying and planning it, and then three days executing the plan as well as can be done in Africa.  It was exciting to see Congolese women break down in tears and for the first time tell the stories of sexual violence against them (some more than 15 years ago) on Monday and Tuesday.  Even more moving was on Wednesday to see many of those same women express forgiveness for the men who raped them in response to teaching from God’s word about forgiveness and an understanding of forgiveness in the process of healing their own hearts.

This transformation of the hearts in Goma happened because 4 of the women on this trip were willing to tell their own stories of past abuse at the outset of the conference.  Immediately barriers were broken down among the women from Congo as they realized they were not “terminally unique” and that other women, even in America, suffered as victims of sexual violence just as they have without any reason.  But, they also saw how Christ suffered horribly through no fault of His own, just like them, and because of the pain He endured, greater good was done.  For many of them an understanding of how the acts against them might be something God could redeem for His greater use flew in the face a lifetime of shame, guilt, and internal bondage.

I was blessed to have Russ Brown join me to carry bags for the gals on the team and spend some time with a group of Christian lawyers in Goma diving deep into scripture for the first time in many of their lives.  We examined parables and passages and had some “lively” discussions on the meaning and application of scripture.  In the end they were left with a practical model for examining, interpreting, and applying scripture.  It was another step in the process of equipping them to use scripture as the basis for how they confront the temptations of life in central Africa.  We are hopeful that the next step before we return in the fall is a weekly bible study for the lawyers led by a pastor in Goma who helped establish our relationship with the lawyers there.

We were also blessed to spend an extended time at the girls orphanage in Goma we visited last fall that specializes in taking in child sexual violence victims.  We gave the girls gifts of blankets and teddy bears (and even a kangaroo from one of the Howard boys) as small tokens to encourage and comfort them a little.  The director of the orphanage told us they have now 143 girls of which 67 have been raped and rescued.  They are between the ages of 5 and 19, so you can imagine the emotional state many are in.  But we found that many are joyful because they are safer in the city than out in the bush (areas outside the city of Goma) where most were raped by soldiers or militiamen while retrieving water or firewood for their family.  This orphanage has a network of churches in the bush that alerts them to girls who have been shunned from their village and they go and rescue groups of girls each month.

Unfortunately there is little money for clothes, shoes, beds, and food for that many little girls.  Most have one outfit and no shoes and the food they receive comes from NGO’s or churches in the area.  We are hopeful that we can develop a plan to send shoes and clothes from Dallas to this orphanage in Goma.  As we put plan together I will email out information for anyone interested in helping.

Finally, we once again spent time at Heal Africa hospital.  A great facility that ministers to the needs of children who are sick or have been injured in the ongoing war as well as adult victims of rape rescued from the bush.  The website is www.healafrica.org if you are interested in what they do.  Part of our time there was spent with founder Jo Lusi talking about the serious need for western doctors to come and perform medical mission trips including doing medical procedures and training for African doctors.  The needs in Goma are every bit as serious as those in places like Haiti.  Unfortunately, long before there was an earthquake in Haiti or a tsunami in Indonesia there was war, disease, and poverty in central Africa.  Lots of help is needed, it is just a little more inconvenient to get there.

Thank you to all who prayed for us as we prepared the trip and carried out the mission.  If you are interested in hearing more about what we did or about Watermark’s overall efforts in Africa, please email me or check out the website www.watermark.org or the blogs at http://watermarkblogs.org/Africa or http://watermarkblogs.org/Justice.

Also, I will note ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry) has been the essential partner in all of Watermark’s efforts in Goma and throughout Central Africa.  In particular, the men and women of ALARM who live and work in Goma are an amazing group of believers who persevere in extremely difficult conditions.  On this trip in particular the presence of 99 women of the 100 invited to a conference on such an emotionally charged and personal topic as rape is a testament to the relationships that Marie Jean, Pastor Kivy, Theo, and Didi have developed and cultivated in Goma.

On a personal level, the staff in Goma and in Kigali, Rwanda go above and beyond the call in taking care of us and making sure we are secure and cared for while in Africa and that anything we need to deliver an excellent conference is provided if it can be found in the area. In many ways it is because of them that I keep going back and hope to again.

I pray that God will continue to lead and bless their efforts to love and serve the people of eastern Congo.