1 November 2008

As some of you may have read on the blog already, I was in Goma, Congo two weeks ago. Since that time, events in the city have changed dramatically. A few of you have asked for updates of what I may know from Kigali about what is going on in Goma.

I will start off by saying: please pray for Goma and the Congo in this time of crisis. I hope the following testimony will aid you in interceding on behalf of the people of Goma before the Father.

As I talked with staff members at ALARM/Rwanda, almost everyone has relatives or knows of someone living in Goma, so the crisis is very near to the hearts of many people in the surrounding region of the Eastern Congo. I am currently living with the country director, Andre and his wife Alivera in Kagugu, which is located in the northern sector of Kigali. When the violence in Goma started, Alivera told me she was very concerned about relatives of hers living there. Throughout the day, I could tell that everyone’s mind in the household was focused on the crisis and the safety of family members as well as staff members of ALARM/Congo—Pastor Kivi, Jean Pierre and Esperanza who I met two weeks earlier. The radio was on the news station all day long keeping everyone updated on the progression of events in Goma. I could not understand most of the reports, because they were in Ki-Rwandan. In the evening, the family and I gathered together to pray for Goma. After singing hymns and reading from Habakkuk and Lamentations, we began intercessory prayer asking that our perspective be adjusted to the Lord’s will for the situation at hand.

The Lord has answered our prayers. A niece of Alivera and her family were able to cross the boarder from Goma into Rwanda and arrived in Kigali in the evening. They are living with us at Andre and Alivera’s house currently. It is a joy to have them with us.

Pastor Kivi, Jean Pierre and Esperanza also made it out of Goma and are currently staying at the ALARM Leadership and Reconciliation compound in Kigali. I had a chance tonight to sit down with them and hear about their escape from the city and the progression of events leading up to the violence in Goma. From what Pastor Kivi told me, the Congolese government forces retreated from the front lines about 30-40 km outside of Goma after being shelled by rebel forces attacking them. The cross-fire of battle quickly moved from the outlying areas into the city. For weeks, ALARM/Congo staff were praying for peace in the North Kivu district of Congo, but it seemed the Lord was not answering their prayers in the affirmative. Before the violence started, Pastor Kivi was praying looking for a sign: should he leave or stay in the city. After three attempts to petition the Lord, Kivi felt the Lord telling him leave and cross the boarder. After attempting to collect belongings to pack his bags, he simply left everything behind to head for the border with Rwanda at the city limits. Kivi told me the shooting in Goma started no later than thirty minutes after he crossed the boarder into Gisenyi, Rwanda.

According to Esperanza, she stocked the food in the house and gathered her children and grandchildren leaving the men behind in Goma to head for the boarder. She remembers entering a street and catching one of the last motor bike taxis out of town, while shooting erupted behind her. It was almost as if the Lord were holding back the violence until she had left the country to safety. When she arrived at the boarder crossing, the queue was filled with refugees waiting to get out of the North Kivu district. She is safely with us by God’s grace.

I asked Pastor Kivi about what the situation was in the prison and IDP camps before he left Goma. The situation at the prison was desperate. Riots in the prison broke out and files on prisoners located in the warden’s office and in the small hearing courtroom in the prison were all burnt by fire. Security guards killed four convicts who were trying to escape from the prison.

In the IDP camps, interns moved behind rebel lines back to their land on promises by the rebel army they would be secure under their jurisdiction. The tragedy of the IDP camp is the people do not have much choice, but to move because there is nothing for them at the camp anyway and the sheer necessity of avoiding the crossfire of the battles between the government and rebel armies.

The latest I have heard on the news is a tentative ceasefire agreement by one side of the conflict. It is possible the UN may be able to get the two sides to sit down and dialogue to achieve a peace agreement, but that has yet to happen.
Pastor Kivi, Jean Pierre and Esperanza would ask you to please intercede in prayer for Goma, Congo. Whatever the outcome, whether slow or quick, may we pray for the Lord’s will to be done.