Introduction

In May 2001, three days training on Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Confronting Bribery and Corruption was held at the Elila Hotel in Bukavu, South Kivu Province.  A team from Watermark Community Church in Texas facilitated the conference in collaboration with ALARM-DR Congo.  The objective of the training was to equip Christian lawyers with tools they will be using in their professions when trying to restore justice where injustice has taken the high level.  These tools will help them to lead, resolve conflict and reduce corruption and bribery according to the will of God and for his glory.

Participants’ information:

A total of 47 participants attended the conference, including 15 women and 32 men.  The participant’s occupations included lawyers, civil and military court judges, students and jurists from organizations such as Avocats Sans Fronteires and Droit et Justice pour les Desherités.

The Training Program

Leadership

• The hardest person to lead is our self.  Someone who cannot lead himself cannot lead others.  If we want to be a good leader we must be able to lead our self according to the glory of God.
• The good leader must be able to lead his family. When leading our family we do not need to treat our wives as slaves but we must love them like Jesus loved the church and he gave his life for us. Jesus must be our reference.
• Everything we do must be done to glorify God.
• When leading others we need to be humble like Jesus, he left the throne of his father, accepted to be despised, he didn’t consider his statue of God but he humbled himself so that the name of God may be glorified.

Conflict Resolution

• As Christian  lawyers,  when we are in our office we must be sure we have our bible near so that each time we are needed to resolve a conflict we have reference in our Bibles.
• We use to badly resolve the conflict because we didn’t refer to the Bible, the Bible gives us orientation, corrects us, and gives us instruction when resolving conflict.
• If we don’t resolve conflict normally, we can bring parties in separation.
• Conflict model: The Bible invites us to become a Peacemaker, the conflict could become an opportunity to glorify God.
• The conflict is an opportunity to love others. Christ asks us to love God and others.
• When we resolve a conflict we are sharpening others and ourselves.
• We need to be humble so that we may be able to approach people and resolve their conflicts as God is doing. 1Peter 5:5; Philippians 2:1-4.
• We need to live in peace with others Roman 12:18.

How to respond to the bribery and corruption.

• God and the Bible prohibit corruption because it violates the base of Christian faith.
• Each Christian, as God’s son, has a part of responsibility.
• Christians know that the government must protect poor people but where there is corruption it means no protection for poor people.
• A corrupted country is not an instrument of protection for innocent but an instrument of oppression for innocent.
• As Christians if we want to be trusty or loyal servants and honor God in every thing we are doing, we mustn’t participate in the corruption; we mustn’t give corruption or receive it. But we don’t need to keep silence when criminals are not punished and poor innocents are oppressed. We need to be the way of transformation, as Christians we must work for justice, we must work to stop corruption and improve the judicial system in our country.

Testimonies

• Participant Eskens Mwanga, a lawyer declared that this is the first conference of lawyers where God’s word is talked about; as Christian lawyers it is a special opportunity to know one another as Christians and start bringing our efforts together so that we may not only apply what we have learned but give a new orientation to what we had been doing badly. Since we have bibles and syllabus’ let us build a new way of working.
• A student, Mbula Kaseluka Moise, explained, “we’ve spent years searching for International Laws that would help change the culture and future of Congo….only to find that the Bible contains the answers we were looking for all this time. Praise the Lord and thanks to the teachers and those who organize this conference.”
• Vicky Tshibola, a High Court Judge, stood up before the closing of the conference and said, “this conference is a recalling for each lawyer, especially for us as Christian lawyers; lessons have reminded us of our responsibility; keeping quiet we will pay one day, doing something is our responsibility.  We promise our teachers that we will not keep quite but are going to do better.  We would like them to come back again because the time was too short for teachings.” 
• Pierre Mbumba, a Judge of the Military Court, said, “why can’t ALARM organize such kinds of teachings to militaries of our services; they are leading many soldiers and teams of soldiers and have different conflicts among them and theirs leaders mostly when they are coming from fighting. We need more teachings in this way, for me those teachings change my life”.
• After receiving his certificate of achievement from Didi and Rick, When Didi is calling participant to receive their certificate of achievement from Rick, Busilingi Sajeef, a participant from the military court said, “now I can have authorization by my leader to teach what I have learn because of  This certificate.”

General information

Some gifts were given to the participants.  The candies seemed to be special because of the meaning Rick gave to them; to test the participants’ honesty, integrity and discipline.

Bibles, flash drives and syllabi were given to the participants and demonstrated the love and affection that Watermark has towards the Congolese lawyers and for the DRC in general.  Their involvement in the restoration of justice in the DRC was shown as well.

Before taking a group photo, Didi asked the participants to join hands with one another for a closing prayer. The meaning of joining hands is unity, working together for the glory of the Lord.

On Thursday morning, the team of Watermark (men) with Didi went to visit the High Court. The team has been welcomed by Judge Vicky Tshibola who introduced the group to the President of the Court. The President was excited to hear what took place in the three days of the conference and he declared “Nothing can change this country without the presence of God, so using God’s reference in our profession is a great thing to help change our country”. He said that his colleague Vicky has been a good servant since they have been together at the University and every where they were working.

After this, we met the Prosecutor who said the same thing and promised to send his colleagues to be part of our next conference in Bukavu.  We also had an opportunity to be part of the audience in the Court for one case on land matter.

As a result of the conference, on Friday afternoon, Didi invited some Christian Lawyers and shared with them how to build a Synergy of Christian Lawyers team.  The participants of this special session decided to begin the Synergy of Christian Lawyers team with 7 people and Vicky Tshibola has accepted to lead.  Since we left Bukavu, they met for planning on how they will be working.

Suggestions

Most of the time, conferences are held from Monday to Friday when many of the lawyers are in Court and they cannot leave their clients so they are not able to attend the conference.  The suggestion is that for next conferences, the session may begin on Thursday or Friday so that more lawyers will be able to attend.

Conclusion

Thanks to God for the opportunity he gave us to share with brethren from Watermark and the Bukavu lawyers. The wish of every body is to see change through the teachings and to see the team from Watermark come again and teach more.  Our gratitude turns to the Watermark team which did their best to train Congolese leaders, the teachings, gifts, and love will not be forgotten.  We look forward meeting again very soon for another conference.

May God bless all of you,

Didi Kavano, Justice and Peace Coordinator, ALARM-Congo

Thanks to each of you for your support of my latest trip to Africa leading a group of Watermark lawyers.  It was an amazing trip that was made possible by your generosity and the generosity of the other members of my team and their families and friends.  This year’s trip was to Bukavu, Congo a city of 500,000 people most of who live in poverty in minimum housing in the hills surrounding the city.  The city also sits on the southern shore of Lake Kivu which explains the attached picture showing a view that looks more like Hawaii than central Africa.

Our lawyers conference was a tremendous success.  The staff of ALARM (Africa Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry) did a great job developing a relationships with lawyers and judges in Bukavu through local churches in advance of the conference.  As a result we had 45 lawyers/judges/law students spend most of three days with us learning what God’s word teaches about servant leadership, conflict resolution, and how Christian lawyers should respond to corruption and be God’s agents of protection for widows/orphans and other vulnerable people in Congo.   The response can be summed up in the words of one young lawyer who said “we’ve spent years searching for international laws that would help change the culture and future of Congo….only to find that the bible contains the answers we were looking for all this time.”

We were especially encouraged that the conference was attended by a High Court Judge (think federal appeals court judge).  It was clear from the moment he walked in the room at the conference that he was held in high regard by the other lawyers.  He proved to be a man with a deep knowledge of the bible and at the end it was he who stepped up and volunteered to lead the new Christian lawyers group organized by Didi, ALARM’s justice director in Congo.  The Christian lawyers actually met for the first time the morning after we left town to begin planning how they can be light for justice in Bukavu under Didi’s able direction.

We were also joined this year, as we were in 2010, by an incredible group of women from Watermark’s Shelter from the Storm ministry for sexual abuse victims.  The women from Watermark did an incredible job of leading the 120 women in attendance (almost all of whom have been rape victims) through a curriculum designed to begin the healing process for victims of abuse by helping those victims understand God’s love for them, His plan for redemption for them, and the importance of forgiveness in that healing process.  The ALARM staff dedicated to women’s ministry did a great job of getting the right mix of women from many different backgrounds and churches to attend in order to maximize the long term impact of this effort.

Each of the groups at the conference was provided nature language bibles, notepads, cloth for wraps for the women, and 2G flash drives for the lawyers.  All of those are blessings that we able to give them only because of the generosity of the (65) or so folks who supported this trip financially.

Thank you again for how you supported the latest trip and also for many of you how you have supported trips in the past.   I look forward to partnering with you again in 2012.

Home sweet home…We returned safely to Dallas Sunday afternoon about 30 hours of travel. We are all so grateful for your prayers for us, the ALARM staff in Congo, and the 170 Congolese men and women we were able to teach God’s principles to in Bukavu, Congo. We are also thankful for the financial support we were given by so many folks inside Watermark and outside as well. …..It is our prayer that each of you would answer Christ’s challenge to be “on mission” everyday in the community that God had placed you in right here in the US. “

We spent the night at the border of Congo and Rwanda, so we could catch our flight to Kigali. Our ALARM hosts arranged for us to go into the countryside and visit 2 genocide memorials. Both were churches that Tutsis thought would be safehavens from the slaughter in April 1994. Instead, they were trapped inside by Hutu militia and military personnel, and killed initially with grenades to breech the outer doors of the churches. Once inside, men, women and children were killed with machetes and hatchets and shots to the head for those who survived the initial grenade blasts. The memorials included skulls of THOUSANDS of dead, showing the location of the blows to the head that killed them. A total of 15,000 innocent Rwandans were murdered between April 12th and April 15th, 1994. Our prayer is that ALARM’s efforts in Rwanda and all Central Africa will raise up leaders who will stand in the gap as men of courage to follow Christ. (Ezekiel 22:30).

See you in 24 hours! Thank you for all your prayers!

Rick Howard

As we wrap up both the lawyers conference and the shelter conference we are struck by how quickly a week passes and how much God can accomplish in such a short time.  Ie t has been a great blessing to be in Bukavu, Congo and see how God’s word is the first step in the healing process for lawyers and victims of rape alike.  In Congo, most everyone is a victim of something so when you give bibles to them, teach them how to read, understand, and apply basic scripture to their livesthe results are powerful.  We pray the lessons they’ve learned will penetrate their hearts and transorm their lives and passed on from generation to generation.  2 Tim.2:2.

As they have done each tim we’ve traveled to Congo in the past, the ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry) has done an amazing job organizing and executing both conferences.  We cannot thank them enough for making our role in this efforts so easy to accomplish once we get to Africa.

We’re headed across the border into Rwanda to begin the journey home.  Tomorrow we’ll spend the day in Kigali, Rwanda where we’ll tour the Rwandan Genocide Museum, treat the ALARM staff and some lawyers with International Justice Mission to lunch, and then strart flying home just in time for Mother’s day.

Day Three Update

Today, our team taught the women of Congo that God will never leave them or forsake them even though man has rejected them.  In Congo, when a woman is raped, her husband often completely abandons her and kicks her out of the home.  Children born of rape are also often rejected by their communities and families.  They are left to survive on their own without a home, job skills, or resources.  To teach them that God’s Word says they are to offer forgiveness to their abuser, it is hard for them to understand how they can possibly forgive when they have endured and still endure such pain and harm.  As we shared our stories of how we have learned to be obedient to God’s Word and offer forgiveness to our own abusers, they were comforted that God can also release them from the shame of their lives as they are faithful to have a forgiving heart.

The lawyers and Shelter team visited Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, which was founded by missionaries.   It is the place where rape victims are taken for medical and emotional treatment of the damage caused by rape.  It operates several clinics throughout the bush of eastern Congo to provide triage treatment for victims until they can be transported to the main hospital.  The drive there and back was over some of the roughest roads we’ve seen in Africa through the middle of a huge impoverished population that lives in the hills above the city.

We were able to share our testimonies of overcoming the pain of sexual abuse by seeking the love of Jesus with about 200 female patients, half of whom are victims of rape.  Every day TEN women are brought to Panzi who have been raped somewhere  eastern Congo.  Every month, TEN children are at Panzi who were born of rape.  When the mothers are discharged from the hospital, they beg Panzi to find someone to care for their babies born of rape.  If the women return to their community with a baby born of rape most will be rejected by it and not allowed to live there.  We encouraged them with the Word of God that they can find hope and healing in Christ.  The women mourned for us as we shared our pain and rejoiced with us as we shared our freedom in Christ.  They asked us to pray for the people of Congo that peace would return to their land and that rape would stop.  They exhorted us to make the churches and body of Christ in America aware of the rape crisis so that we can pray for them and be motivated to act on their behalf, especially for the children born of rape.  They are grateful to have Biblical teaching that will help them find healing through Christ.   The Shelter Team

Hello from the Congo! Before I go further, I want to say thank you for all the prayers for our team and the Congolese women.

Our first day was fantastic. We were blessed with 119 women out of 100 invited. Some are counselors, but the majority are rape victims. The women were jumping and shouting for joy when they received their own copy of the Bible in Swahili. They were thrilled!

We started the day with a brief overview of how to read and study the Bible. We then shared our stories of sexual abuse and/or rape. I was especially moved when two women realized they had been sexually abused after hearing Niki’s story of abuse. Here in Congo, the women have had a difficult time recognizing what abuse is and that they have a choice to say no to sex. They are taught that they consented to rape because they were not killed during the rape.  We had been praying that just one woman would have the courage to share her story of abuse. Praise God, fourteen women were willing to share their stories.

One survivor’s story, Jean, is written below. It is horrific. Out of the 14 women that shared her story, only one had spoken of it in public before today. We have an American missionary who has been in Congo for 28 years- her name is Sue. Sue said she also had never heard the women in Bukavu speak of their rapes. You may not know that about 60% of the world’s rapes happen in Congo. I suspect that the actual percent is higher due to confusion about the definition of sexual abuse and the number of unreported rapes.

Jean’s story: Jean is the only girl in her house. She lives with her uncle. She was asleep in her house in 2002. The Interhamwe (Rwandan rebels) came, took her and her uncle and another man out into the jungle. They tied up her hands, arms, and legs to a tree. Same with the uncle- they cut his hands and feet. They punched out his eyes and cut off his penis. They raped her every day. When they urinated, they would give her the urine to wash up. They made her clean up their bowel movements with her hands.  Some time later, she realized she was pregnant. Congolese soldiers freed her and took her into town. She was taken a 2^nd time by different soldiers into the jungle. Her uncle was still tied to the tree. They cut off his head in front of her. They would throw water on her, rape her, throw water on her, and rape her again. This cycle was repeated over and over again as she was tied to the tree. She gave birth, they delivered the baby. She went crazy. Her fiancé rejected her. Her friends abandoned her. She is still alive, thanks to God. When no one else would get near her, a neighbor would let her stay with her. Her neighbors carried her on their backs to get her medical help. Some doctors from Doctors Without Borders took her to the Panzi hospital. She had a good experience at Panzi, due to the counselors and God. There is bitterness in her heart as the rapes continue in Congo. Her heart wound is really deep. She begs us to help get the Interhamwe out of Congo. They have taken over our lives. “They made me suffer in a way I could not have imagined was possible.”

After Jean shared her story, we were able to comfort her with the comfort we have ourselves received from Christ (2 Corinthians 1:4). We prayed for healing and peace in Congo. God is at work to restore these precious women’s lives. Please continue to pray for our teaching to be effective and to minister to their needs.   author….The Shelter Team

“Beauty from Ashes”…..what a great privilege to partner with ALARM in its efforts in Central Africa.  Our 1st day in Congo was great success in no small part because of the tireless efforts of the Congo ALARM staff.  We thank God for Marie Jeanne, Esperanz, Theo, and our lawyer friend Didi.  Today was a day of stories of loss and suffering, but also a day of reminders of the hope we find in Christ.   Rape, civil war, corruption, and impunity are all evil from the hands of man, but God can take the tragedy of that evil and use it for His glory and our (or Congolese) good.

From Chad Pinson:

For those of you reading this without an understanding of why we are here, the six women in our team are here to help initiate the healing process for sexual abuse victims in the Congo.  That is a tall task in the accurately named “rape capital of the world.” The four men on our team are all lawyers.  We will be meeting with lawyers, judges, and other leaders in the legal profession to address injustice, leadership, and conflict resolution.  Together, we aim for healing of past wounds and reform that prevents future wounds.

If you’re still reading, you’re probably wanting to know “what happened on the first day?” God was glorified.

100 women received invitations to the abuse conference.  Some invitations were extended to women who live “a day’s journey” from Bukavu.  119 women arrived at the conference.  Again, 100 invited, 119 showed up.  Our team reports an amazing first day.  Unfortunately, one reason the conference was so amazing is the need demonstrated by the stories of brutal sexual violence that made their way to our women-led team’s ears.  These are women without access to medical care or counselors.  These are women who will face the same threat of brutality and abuse when they return home.  God loves these women and hates what has happened to them.

The video of the cheering and celebration when our team passed out Bibles to the women is akin to the celebrations I have witnessed at the end of Super Bowls, Stanley Cups, and World Series.  These new Bibles are precious.  These are “first” Bibles.  There is no Internet.  There is no library.  God wants people to know Him and He has revealed Himself through his Word.  The women cheer when they learn the rest of our team is meeting with their country’s leaders for reform.

50 lawyers received invitations to our conference.  Our conference runs on Africa time.  At 8, starting time, one man is there.  He is wearing a full military uniform.  At 820 our translator arrives, dripping in sweat.  He could not find us.  He is wearing a bright yellow shirt with Bible verses written on it.  One verse is Matthew 5:14, “you are the light of the world . . . “. By 850, we have a critical mass.  Then a man walks in, and the room falls silent.  This man is dressed like a Western lawyer in an expensive suit.  He is tall.  He carries Himself like one with authority.  And all of the other Congolese lawyers defer to him immediately.  We later learn he is a judge for Congo’s High Court.  When this man rules, there is no further appeal.  We start.  Our crowd is a solid mix of judges, lawyers, a few law students, one law professor, and one stenographer.  It is worth noting that in our crowd is also one mother/lawyer with her infant son. (at lunch, one of our team will coax the little fellow to sleep while holding him).

20 minutes in, it is clear that our translator is in over his head.  25 minutes in, a new translator is selected from the ALARM team.  35 minutes later, Mr. Yellow shirt is gone, never to return.

God gets his greatest glory when he can redeem or use something that seems unredeemable or unusable.  Early on, our train seems off the tracks.  Then God shows up and gets to work.  In the midst of a crying baby, a pinch hitting translator, 40 Congolese lawyers arriving on Africa time (critical mass of 40 at about 945, including an encouraging 12 or so women lawyers, and another judge from the High Court), one power blackout (which Africans charmingly ignore and take in stride as if sitting in a dark room having tea was the most normal thing in the world), and fallible teachers (us), the first day of the lawyer’s conference is a home run.  Even among these educated men and women, the French Bibles we give them are cheered (just had a blackout as I type this sentence).  We cover leadership, we cover mercy, we cover the presence of evil and pain and suffering. We cover forgiveness. From the conversation and reaction, these are hard, relevant topics in the Congo.  The lawyers are engaged and interested.  At some point, the first High Court judge actually interrupts and starts teaching on leadership, reading from the Bible.  Every lawyer is taking notes.  When we ask questions, our new friends are eagerly responding. God is answering prayers in Congo today.  Strong leaders can change this mess.  These are Congolese leaders.  God hates evil and is ready to use these men and women to tackle the problems of the Congo.

God has solved and addressed evil for all time by sending his son, Jesus, so that none would perish, but instead have everlasting life.  But evil is still present because of the free will and fallen nature of men and women, the presence of an active enemy seeking to kill and destroy, and the choices we make that are counter to God’s wisdom.  God is both just and merciful. He will ultimately address all of this pain and suffering with perfect judgment and a perfect afterlife for those who accept his grace through faith.  But he is also merciful, and slow to judgment (at least as we understand slowness) so that all would come to repent and know him, and no one would experience an eternal separation from God.

The Congolese people seem to understand this intuitively in a way that Westerners distracted by American Idol, car pools, select league sports, and fine dining (not to mention prevalent and consistent electricity) often seem unable to grasp.  They do not need help with faith so much as they need to be equipped to dig themselves out if the very deep hole they find themselves in.

Our team is challenged.  God’s followers acting in His will are his appeal and ambassadors to this Earth.  When the Congolese cry out to God, perhaps we are supposed to be used by Him to answer their prayers by equipping them in this way.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

What a great day we had today.  We crossed the border and checked into the hotel on Lake Kivu, spent the day preparing for the converence.  Now, Chad Pinson and I are having a great conversation sharing the gospel and debating faith versus works with a Catholic Canadien Muzinga engineer.  Only God can make these things happen.  More to come…

Rick Howard