In July 2015, I joined a group of business executives, entrepreneurs, educators, pastors, and law enforcement leaders from our church to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help the Congolese church in their ministry of reconciliation to their people who were so torn apart by civil war.
Here’s a photo essay that shows why for the past six years we’ve been helping the Congolese people.
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Between 1998 and 2007, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was devastated by a civil war that involved nine African nations and twenty armed groups that fought over the DRC’s rich mineral resources of tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold within its ground. These minerals were eagerly sought by major international corporations for the manufacturing of electronic products needed in cellphones, computers, and cars.
Over six million men, women, and children died as a direct result of combat or war-related illnesses and diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, and pneumonia. One of the weapons wielded by these armed groups was group rape and sexual mutilation of untold numbers of women, children, and even men.
Children were often given automatic weapons and forced to kill their parents and relatives—or be killed—before being forced to join the marauding armies as soldiers.
Millions of men, women, and children had to flee to neighboring countries or to refugee camps, with nothing more than what they could carry in bundles on their backs and heads.
Life in the DRC, especially in the eastern part of the country, was totally disrupted and in shambles—towns and villages deserted, utilities almost non-existent, education abandoned, and corruption and greed rampant.
A young pastor, Rev. James Byensi, who had been studying abroad, decided to return to the DRC to rebuild his hometown of Bunia despite the lost of his parents and 16 relatives in the war. In the following years he became associate pastor of the Evangelical Church in Bunia, and oversees more than 1,400 churches throughout Central Africa. He is at the forefront of efforts to rebuild communities, resolve conflicts, reconcile enemies, train pastors, teachers and Christian leaders, and to teach good governance to business owners and political leaders, especially fighting corruption, rape, and injustice.
For the past six years, our teams from Southern California have been traveling to Bunia to help Rev. Byensi and the Evangelical Church rebuild the community and bring about reconciliation among former tribal enemies. I am part of the team of educators committed to helping Congolese educators and administrators rebuild their education system.
Grace and peace to you.
Derrick
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Minerals like these ignited a devastating war
Workers digging for minerals in the mines
Child workers digging for minerals in the mines
Rebel soldiers like these, led by war lords, came from within the DRC and neighboring countries
Soldiers passing refugees fleeing the fighting
Children forced to be soldiers against their own people
Refugees fleeing the civil war. Over six million died during the course of the war.
A river of refugees, their lives disrupted, and untold numbers of relatives lost forever.
Education resumes amid the ruins
Eager faces await in a makeshift classroom.
Rev. James Byensi preaching a message of reconciliation to a mass crowd.
Local leaders, some of them former enemies, bow during prayers for reconciliation.
Leaders and pastors from a variety of churches at the reconciliation service
Part of the very large crowd that came from far and wide for the reconciliation celebration and service.
For a more comprehensive look at life in a small village and the work that is being done to help the villagers, especially the women who have been widowed as a result of the war, please visit www.achearts.com. Thank you.
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