Arrived in Goma... A New Beginning

To read more about the Goma Experience, please visit the Goma Team's Blog.'

We've made it!  After 5 days of traveling, we're on the ground in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We're working at HEAL Africa in various capacities: we've got a water engineer on the team, a lawyer for human rights, several pastors, an accountant, a language school director, a teacher and a public health and policy person who specializes in rural areas!  Oh, and then there's me, who will be 'consulting' with the media department about writing stories on the various projects and persons assisted by HEAL Africa.

Being back in Africa is both wonderfully familiar and somehow new and exciting.  Of course I've never been to Rwanda or the DRC, so there's newness there for sure.  But then there's the familiar smells, the dust on the horrifically bumpy roads (although Rwanda's roads rival that of South Africa's and our own!), the African people carrying all sorts of odds and ends, and the beautiful children shouting "Mzungu!" as we drive by (takes a little getting used to, but really is a sign of endearment).

I've been feeling quite tired lately, due of course to the long travel time, but also in trying to catch as many words as possible in Kiswahili and French, and then trying to form my own sentences!  There's also been a flood of memories from my past experience in Kenya as I interpret my surroundings, and at the same time I'm trying hard to let this experience stand on its own - not a difficult thing to do.  For instance, in Kenya I was hosting teams from the US from time to time.  I find myself falling back into this role with the Goma Team, when in fact I'm actually part of the team!  So even as I'm in charge of the money, receipts and water, supporting the team in many ways, I'm also very much a part of it.  I hope that I will continue to fully integrate into the team dynamic, and not build any invisible barriers to other team members or the group as a whole.

More updates to come!  So far my schedule looks like I'll be around today and tomorrow working with the media department, then Thursday and Friday I will be in a rural place a few hours away for a pastoral training of local police (!), then back again on Saturday to go to a futbol/soccer game with some local street youth that are receiving training through CAMME, a partner of HEAL Africa.

Blessings!