Prayer is needed

Way back in 2003, I spent a summer in Cape Town, South Africa teaching English to refugees from DR Congo and Sudan. I went there as a very clueless child, fresh out of my freshman year in college knowing almost nothing about the struggles of those two countries. While I was there my students broke my heart with their stories and struggles about how war had slaughtered their families. I remember after teaching adjectives one day, I asked the students to write three sentences describing someone in their family. One of the students (pictured below) signaled for me to come over and whispered, "I have no family - each person in my family was shot in front of my eyes." I was stunned.

Not only did those students have horrible stories - they also had a glorious joy and a bright hope in their eyes! They had made it out of such terrible situations - even if they were the only one in their families. They were in my class to learn English so they could get a good job in South Africa and hopefully save enough money to bring more people out of such dispair. They did not complain or feel sorry for themselves. I honestly can say I have never been around such a joyful bunch of people since then! I loved everyday I was with them.

Anyway, since then I have learned about the wars in each country and followed them in the news. Lately the news out of Congo has been getting worse!

Click here to read the article titled "DR Congo refugee camps burned"

I don't know what I can do besides pray for the innocent people in this country being tortured and displaced. I wish I could do much and I want to do more - but right now I can only pray - and get you to as well!

Here are some pictures of my friends from Congo :

This is Vito - he is from Congo - Brazzaville, different than the DRC, but still a rough place

This is Henry, from DRC (I love the contrast of our hands in this pic) Me teaching - playing a review game called Hot Seat. The students had to describe the word I wrote on the board to the guy with his back towards the board, all in English.All the students and teachers