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Africa Report 2008 |
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I find it very difficult
to distil into a report all that I have to say about our Africa
Great Lakes Region & Cameroon – 2008 adventure. I do not know how to
share the great blessings and overwhelming hardships, the love and
distrust, the corruption and dedication. I only know that our days
were crammed with teaching, sharing, listening, learning and looking
with wide eyes at all that passed by. RWANDA The first team consisted of Eileen Henderson (MCC Toronto, Philippe Landenne, sj (chaplain, Belgium), Jeff Denault (videographer, photographer and cook, Ottawa), Emanuel and Marylène Krebs Têtu (photographer, journalist, Vancouver), and Pierre and myself. We set up headquarters at the Iris Guest House in downtown Kigali and immediately began to welcome old and new friends in for Fanta, cheese and bread. Traffic was constant, discussions were fascinating and we nailed down the schedule for the next 10 weeks. Our first Sunday was spent in the little Gatsata church and the Kigali Central Prison. We had convinced Philippe to put a tie on for the first time in 20 or more years. About fifeen mi-nutes later, as we were waiting for our ride out start the day, there was an earthquake (5.4) and a huge crack streaked across the front wall of the clay-brick church. No one in our area was hurt, but Philippe could not help but remind us that he had known that no good would come from making him dress up.
The next full week was
Restorative Justice and Pastoral Care with 17 students, a follow-up
to the basic week. After a brief overview of RJ and practical
pastoral theology, Pierre, Philippe and Eileen looked at the
ministries of Presence, Listening, Preaching, and our
We were involved in several very important community initiatives in Rwanda. We spent time at the University of Butare Legal Aid Clinic under the invitation of Appolinaire Kayitavu Mpumuro. We listened to cases being heard by law students involving genocide after-effects such as land disputes (les parcelles!), body recovery, revenge crimes and health issues. They shared their program with us and their needs and we encouraged them to look for means to give basic training in law and human rights to chaplains so that they can be more effective in their prophetic role.
We also got to know INEZA,
another sewing workshop for women who contracted AIDS due to
genocidal rape. They receive AIDS medicines through a UN initiative,
but they were taking their pills on an empty stomach and getting
sicker. They simply could not find food to eat every day. Frank,
their organizer, was instrumental in helping to organize a
cooperative mini-business with them so that they would have
sufficient food to be able to absorb the medicines. He tries to
market their impressive product but it is an uphill battle. They
are a fantastic bunch! Our help was small, but we tried to encourage
and promote their business, and offered cookies and some money for
seeds to plant vegetables. We visited and spoke in various prisons and were able to return to some more than once. Eileen presented a quilt made by the inmates at Grand Valley Institution to the women in the 1930 Prison Centrale de Kigali. The inmates are a varied and needy group, most waiting years before being officially charged. It is hard and expensive to get a lawyer, so most do not have one. Then, since the political power brokers often change, the line between victim and offender in jail is often blurred. Many of the genocide-related offenders were clergy or church related, and so the church inside is often strong and very well orchestrated. The physical conditions in the prisons are usually abysmal, with frequent overcrowding, fellows living and sleeping outdoors on makeshift soccer fields with no protection from the elements, on cement floors, or stacked side by side on narrow shelves. There is widespread hunger. Very often, those who can find a bit of money can buy food cooked up by fellow inmates in their corner of the prison. Those who cannot, often go hungry. In either case, what there is to eat would not sustain you or me. If you are going to be in prison in Africa, do not get sick. There is little or no health care capacity.
In Gysenyi, we brought bread, fruit, baby blankets, clothes and educational materials to the mothers and babies in Central Prison. In return, they sang and danced for us and we left feeling doubly blessed. The month of March was a
traveling month. Eileen returned home, leg cast and all. Emanuel and
Marylène went back to real life in Vancouver. David (chaplain,
Correctional Service Canada, Montreal) and Susannah Shantz arrived
having lost nothing along the way except Da Burundi Pierre, Philippe and David offered the Restorative Justice Basic Training to 18 students in Bujumbura, Burundi. They expressed pain over constant battles with violence, corruption, poverty and hunger. And yet, simultaneously, they told stories of faith and miracles that strengthened everyone. One chaplain told of being kidnapped by rebels and forced to dig his own grave. At the last minute, they allowed him to go for a ransom – his house and property. He and his family were left penniless and refugees. Once again, the idea that RJ involved respect towards community, offender and victim, and requires work toward listening, truth-telling and restitution seemed to fill an enormous need in moving forward in their difficult lives. On Friday afternoon, we were proud to present them with certificates from Queen’s Theological College, our partner in RJ teaching. Again, after the course, a luncheon and day seminar was organized for government and prison authorities. It is always a privilege and a challenge to meet these people and present to them while being very aware that we are not living in their shoes or carrying their responsibilities.
We visited the Prison Centrale Mpimba with
465Kg of rice and sugar and 700 bars of soap, and had a wonderful
service together with 400 people from the ‘church inside’. Of
course, all those being held in the prison were not at chapel. We
tried to connect with them, however briefly, through the barred
windows and interior rooms where they were warehoused, but the
guards
RD Congo
Cameroon In April, Philippe, Jeff, John Ngabo, Pierre and I flew across the continent to Douala, where we were met at the airport by Sister Jackie Atabong and Sister MaryBen. We were very thankful for their welcome, as getting through and out of the airport is a study in heat, crowding, confusion, bribery and dishonesty.
During our time in
Cameroon, I made several trips to a local clinic with various
participants and team members who were sick and who could not
otherwise have afforded a visit to a doctor. Malaria, of course, is
the ever present phantom. To determine if you have malaria, you take
a blood test. Hopefully the clinic has a malaria kit available.
Then, depending on the result and the type of malaria contracted,
you receive an oral medication, or a heavyduty series of injections
or hospitalization. After paying the doctor, you take your
prescription to a pharmacy, buy the medication and return to the
clinic for treatment. This, of course, requires long walks in the
heat while you run a fever, or finding money for a taxi of some
sort. If a vial is accidentally dropped by the medical personnel (as
happened to one of us), you start over. If, as on another occasion,
surgical intervention is required, be prepared for many
One of the great reliefs towards the end of our adventure was that the baggage we were hauling around was shrinking in size.
Eye glasses are in demand, whether they be used or non-prescription. Our chaplains gobble them up – there are never enough to go around. A bottle of Aspirin or Advil is a coveted commodity. There are never enough malaria pills to go around either. Every chaplain struggles to find the money to travel to and from prison visits. Many of their children are not in school because they cannot afford the school fees. Food is always an issue. School uniforms, sneakers and clean T-shirts are a constant worry for mothers.
And yet, and yet... this is far from the whole story. We spent many
happy hours singing, trying to dance, sharing and praying with our
beloved brothers and sisters. We had wonderful worship experiences with prisoners and victims. We
enjoyed every morsel of local food prepared for us. The rainbow
birds and lizards were enchanting. The children were hauntingly
beautiful. The women were towers of strength, and the men models in
the face of adversity. The young people are startlingly
enthusiastic. The rolling hills and tropical forests were close to
Eden. The sun, a reflection of the Son as he gathers all in his
arms.
Once a year, we continue to bring a small
number of students to Queen’s Theological College, Kingston,
Ontario, for the RJ Intensive spring session each May. We are
grateful for QTC’s support and partnering with us in so many ways. |
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JUST.EQUIPPING
Our official teaching
sessions in the Great Lakes Region were organized in partnership
with F.E.P. (Fraternité évangélique des prisons) under the able
leadership of Reverend John Ngabo and his committee from Rwanda,
Burundi and RDCongo (Kivu). The first full Rwanda week was
Restorative Justice Basic Training with 21 chaplains, both clergy
and volunteers. It was held at the Anglican Guest House in Kigali,
and Pierre, Philippe and Eileen gave sessions on RJ Values and
Principles, Wall of History, Models of Chaplaincy, Biblical Justice
and RJ, RJ and the Offender, RJ and the Victim, Steps to Healing, RJ
and the Community, Working with Women, and Mission and Vision.
Participants shared, did role plays, built
their Wall of History,
prayed, reflected, sang and danced. I tried to create a series of
tangible materials for daily prayer and reflection to custom fit the
group, so we built a colourful paper house with bricks, each
representing the values and techniques learned. (These prayer and
reflection props varied with each week and cultural setting.) Eileen
was a bit late that week as she had walked into a drainage ditch and
broken her leg! She finally made
it to class after surgery and
several harrowing days in hospital. Jeff talked about mountain
climbing and demonstrated his equipment. There were huge eyes (and
many giggles at the crazy Canadians) as he donned his rock climbing
gear in front of the class. Emanuel explained some fascinating photo
facts and his work and hobby of snowboarding. Each new piece of
information helped to illustrate the necessity of keeping our minds
open, ready to see the world in a different way, willing to try new
ways to react to injustice and practice justice. 
Prophetic
ministry. The students were sent out each day to conduct structured
interviews. They then shared verbatim reports the following day, and
their strengths and weaknesses were analyzed. We had a good time in
this course, enjoyed each other, laughed at the odd and interesting
things we try to do in the name of ministry (i.e. arriving at
someone’s home at 7:00 AM, chatting about inappropriate inanities),
and hopefully became more skilful in our ministries. Again, the
week ended with a cake and certificates! 
We traveled several times
to Bugesera province where there was a widespread massacre of Tutsi
over several years. As a result of initiatives taken by F.E.P. and
John Ngabo, community collectives are growing. In these, widows and
genocide victims work side by side with perpetrators and
ex-offenders to rebuild houses, develop sustainable agribusinesses
(honey, cassava, pineapple) and provide school fees for children of
both victims and perpetrators. We have rarely
seen such an inspiring
and moving project as Twungubumwe (Let us make unity) under the
leadership of Pascal Niyomugabo, himself a survivor. We
are anxious
to do a DVD on this moving and important initiative and to look at
possible creative applications here in Canada. We were able to offer
a one day seminar and dinner to 30 Twungubumwe collective leaders.
The participants were amazingly forthcoming in their sharing,
reliving raw, genocidal experiences and their attempts to find
justice and reconciliation. Dinner – rice, potatoes, chicken, isombe,
stewed beef, cabbage salad, fried plantain – all cooked outside
over a fire, was great too, and very moving, as actual survivors and
perpetrators sat beside each other on the grass and shared a meal.
We presented this group with clothing, baby blankets handmade by
dear friends here in Canada, and some tarpaulin sheeting to protect
the clay bricks they make for housing. If rain comes before the
bricks are dry, they are ruined! 
We spent time with the
Mamans Naomi, a women and children neighbourhood group initiative
with Sophie and Louise. Eileen and I went downtown with Sophie to
buy a sewing machine. We got one at a good price, thanks to Sophie
who bargains like the true pro that she is. We then watched in
horror and fascination as she was loaded onto the back of a taxi
motorbike with the machine and rode off into the pot-holed sunset.
Several donors from Canada had given money for sewing machines and a
knitting machine for this group as they work towards sustainability.
They were very grateful, and appreciative of any contributions of
thread, wool, material, sewing lessons, etc. Both Eileen and later
Susannah Shantz spent time with them.
One Saturday afternoon there
was a super neighbourhood party with Jeff taking over 200 pictures
of the kids and parents, Philippe drawing cartoons, and lots of
singing, dancing and praying. Wonderful! 
The plight of incarcerated
women is particularly bleak. They are often housed on the floor in
small, damp, windowless concrete blocks or in dormitories where they
are stacked like sardines on narrow, airless shelf-like beds, 3 or 4
high and dozens in a row. They use any bit of old cloth or cardboard
to create a bit of privacy for themselves. They have no hygienic
products and would love blankets or sheets.
vid’s briefcase with all
his course notes, tickets and Bible. The fact that they had left a
severe snowstorm to land in a balmy, beautifully soft tropical
evening helped to mitigate the loss. 
hurried
us on and out of sight. Many did not look well. The facilities were
inadequate and oppressive. Poverty and need glared at us.
We
then spent 10 days on the RD Congo border in Goma and Gisenyi where
we were joined by Jean Didier Mboyo, IPCA Africa. Seeing the city of
Goma for the first time was shattering. In 2003, two thirds of the
city was covered with up to 4 metres of lava after the eruption of
Mount Nyiragongo. It is impossible to describe how the inhabitants
have managed to carve out shelters for themselves and their families
on top of this dusty grey-black rock. How do you keep your children
clean? Will you find enough wood to-day to start a fire? How do you
find money for food? Where do you seek medical help for malaria,
fever and dysentery? What do you do about school fees due several
times a year? Will there be violence or a rebel incursion today? Who
has time or energy to think about prisoners? Nevertheless, a
stalwart group of chaplaincy volunteers accompanied us to the Prison
Central de Munzenze where we were allowed to visit all the sections,
adult, female and juvenile, to chat, and to see first-hand the needs
and realities of that filthy, tattered corner of God’s kingdom.
Everywhere, the prisoners call out: Look at me Mama, help me Mama, I
am hungry, Mama, I am sick, I am your child….Once again, we brought
basic food staples, soap, and medicines. We accompanied the
nurse-chaplain volunteer to a small, dirty corner consecrated to
health care where he reverently took the bag of meager medical
supplies and thanked us with emotion. I had the feeling that I was
on holy ground which I could not properly appreciate. When we prayed
with these sinners and saints, we needed words from the Spirit – we
had none of our own that would do. 
The RD Congo Restorative
Justice Basic Training was held at the Presbyterian Guest House in Gisenyi, across the border in Rwanda. Sixteen chaplains had their
first taste of the principles of nonviolent justice practices. They
shared deeply from their own painful experiences. All were victims,
some offenders, and yet they were committed to prison and justice
work, largely in thankless conditions. When the Wall of History was
constructed, with its three parts – personal, political and prison,
the participants prayed and lamented over it at length, stirring up
images of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. On the final day of
courses, the students presented a play in which RJ principles were
looked at in light of the theft of a goat by a woman who wanted to
prepare an impressive dinner for her mother-in-law. When brought
before a magistrate by her wronged neighbour, her defense was that
it could not possibly be her neighbour’s goat because: Everyone
knows her goat’s feet turned inward, whereas the one I killed and
cooked for supper had legs that splayed outward! Laughter IS good
medicine.
In Goma, we were
privileged to be able to offer a one day seminar on RJ to the North
Kivu government officials. Philippe gave an overview of RJ and RJ
principles. Pierre addressed correctional values and best practices.
David spoke to the role of chaplains in justice and prison
realities. Repeatedly, we were confronted with issues and questions
around poverty and corruption. How do judges who receive a salary of
less than a dollar a day provide for their families? How do
communities deeply fragmented by tribal and rebel factions work
together for their own mutual benefit? Why should efforts be made to
supply medicines and food to prisoners when staff and outsiders –
including victims – are suffering? Who will pay transportation for
chaplains to travel to prisons for services? How can they offer
spiritual care when the men and women to whom they minister are
barely holding on to life? How can anything get organized when money
for telephone cards is so hard to find? How were the authorities
going to get home from our one day training? Who had bus fare? Taxi
fare? Would we please come back? 
We had the privilege of
visiting the Central Prison in Douala where Sister Jackie works. I
use the word ‘privilege’, because it is absolutely necessary that
places like the inside of this institution be shown to the community
and the world at large. Violence, aggression and tension were
throbbing in the air. The prison was overcrowded, and as we tried to
make our way through, inmates beat other inmates with whips to keep
them from coming close enough to try to talk to us, or ask us for
help. Guns had been found inside the prison and the offenders deemed
responsible had been shackled to a wall by their ankles, their backs
left dangling on a damp and dirty cement floor. They looked haggard
and sick and yelled at us as we passed by to act upon this terrible
infraction of human rights. Hundreds of bodies milled around with
nothing meaningful to do. Sister Jackie took us to a cramped craft
and sewing workshop she had managed to set up where she and her
volunteers trained inmates to make school uniforms and carry-all
bags. A ray of light and hope! The staff accompanying us were
clearly overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation, and my heart
understood how they could so easily become numbed to the despair.
Only a divine calling could enable chaplains to return week after
week to this place. 
Sister Jackie had arranged
for 50 participants to take the RJ Basic Training week in the town
of Limbe on the coast. Most of the participants were from the
ICCPPC (International Commission for Catholic Prison Pastoral
Care). They came from Cameroon, Nigeria, Congo, South Africa, Ivory
Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania. We added one new element to the
course. John Ngabo presented the situation in Rwanda prison work and
several DVDs were shown. For many, this was their first training in
any aspect of prison work and they were anxious for material, books
and sharing. Again, at the end of the course, it was a joy to
present them with a Queen’s Certificate of Participation and to ask
God to encourage and protect them. 
A visit to an aftercare
facility and a prison nearby again brought us face to face with
reality. The main issue to confront us in the prison was the lack of
adequate health care. As Sister Jackie is a nurse, she sets up
dispensaries wherever she can. We brought our small contribution, as
usual, but it did nothing to ease the pain of seeing rampant skin
infections, malaria, hunger, injured bare feet and even an untreated
broken arm. We left pairs of rubber sandals with the chaplain and
wondered how we could convey to our friends and family at home what
it would mean if they all gave one or two pairs of summer
flipflops. This simple, easy gift on our part would ease the lives
of innumerable people. 
steps to the
cure: trips to town to the pharmacy for sterile gauze, disinfectant,
a bandage, a vial of pain medication for injection, an antibiotic.
On another of my trips to the clinic, a baby had undergone emergency surgery during the night. He needed a blood transfusion, but there
was no money and the parents who lived further up the hills were
desperate. The doctor asked if I would buy blood for the baby.
Again, there were the trips on unbelievable roads to get what was
needed. In the end, the baby received the transfusion, but it was
too late and he died shortly after. We sent a care package to the
grieving parents, and wondered how to reconcile our lifestyle with
the lifestyle of this lovely little family, or that of the doctor
and nurses in this clinic. They were devastated as they realized
their limitations, and yet, they carry on! 
(Let me add as an aside
here that Bethany Baptist Church in Ottawa is a twin with Gatsata
Evangelical Episcopal Church and school in Kigali. Bethany had
collected and filled 75 bags with school supplies, craft supplies,
letters and many other items. Pierrette, from our office, had
created a large number of sustainable school teaching aids. We
agreed to bring these items with us). We provided pens, pencils,
notebooks and binders for all participants in the RJ courses. We
also gave a symbolic gift to each person at the end of each course
to underline our solidarity with them in their work. This consisted
of small gifts of money, tea, sugar, books on RJ and prison
ministry, markers and, thanks to Michel from Montreal,
Just.Equipping pens and mini-flashlights! One of my personal goals
for ‘next time’ is to be able to provide pens and paper to the
juveniles in prisons who are trying to do some schooling. School
consists of an outdoor class led by another, usually older, inmate,
often a former teacher. Materials are a board painted black and a
few pieces of chalk. There are no books, notebooks, pencils, desks
or other resources. You need to be quick to retain information –
there are no second chances! 
Chaplains and prison workers need times for renewal. Their task is
gargantuan, depressing, heartbreaking. They crave training. They feel helpless
faced with the material, emotional and spiritual needs of those
both rightfully and wrongfully imprisoned. They are asked to support
families on the outside, and wonder how to do it. They look at the
issues of reparation and restoration and pray for creativity. They
work as agents of hope despite often feeling the hopelessness in
their own situations. In Gisenyi, Rwanda, at the present time, there
is a backlog of over 400 genocide perpetrators waiting for a
chaplain to begin a process of facilitation between them and their
victims. (This was largely a result of God blessing the work of FEP
and Just.Equipping). There is not a Rwandan franc with which to begin
the work. 
Thank-you.