beauty

Greetings from the DR Congo! We are currently in the middle of semester exams... The students are working so hard in order to pass all of their tests. Many have six exams, some have up to ten! The amount of work that these students are doing is incredible... We are hoping it'll pay off with successful test scores!

Tomorrow is 8^th of March – Women’s Day, in Congo! I love that they have a national holiday here, for the women of the country. We got clothes made and literally almost all of the women will gather tomorrow in town… Marching, running, walking, dancing to the mayor’s house… Where I think we’ll dance some more! This day is observed by husbands and fathers buying clothes and giving gifts, boys and men cooking food for their families. I’m told that since “every day is the man’s day,” the women get one a year where we are pampered!

So to all of the women I know and love… HAPPY WOMAN’S DAY! I hope that you know you are being celebrated, all the way in Congo, by women throughout the country! Especially to the Congolese women outside of Congo, you are loved and remembered today. AND.... I know a remarkable woman who's birthday is on March 8th - Leah, Happy Birthday!!!! :) A day early!

Here are some of my thoughts about Congo... These feelings and words just flowed out of my fingertips this morning - before spending several hours at the market! :) I had to decide what to buy, then go to the market, to buy the food, that the men will use to cook tomorrow - for us women. Hilarious! Thanks guys! ;)

I feel like I have a responsibility to speak. But how do I speak? And what exactly do I say? And who will listen? I think this feeling of responsibility that I feel is good – it’s a present feeling and one that I can’t easily forget.

I’m just so touched by where I am and the people that I am encountering. Really, this is a gorgeous country! I am daily amazed at the natural beauty of it – it’s always green here, the grass is never brown or dying, there are so many bright flowers and plants, there are so many birds and the sky sometimes just fills with thunderstorms. Apart from the natural beauty of this place is the extreme beauty of the people.

In my mind, if people ever had a right to become ugly, to become mean, untrusting, or even hateful – those people would be the majority of Africans. And out of Africa, you take people from this region, the Great Lakes – and there is Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and Sudan, even – not to minimize any other countries, but these have seen a lot a cruelty from people. And let me narrow it down even more, to Congo, specifically. Here is a country that was exploited and raped, just like the majority of other African countries during the colonization of the continent. But the exploitation has continued for a century. The raping of the country by other countries still continues. And it still flows down onto her people – the people are allowing their country to be destroyed – with the hope that it will bring them something positive in the future. Just hoping that by signing contracts with China or allowing Uganda to have a presence in the northeast – things will improve for the people. But Congo continues to be taken advantage of, even in 2009.

I’m not even talking about the harm that is being done to the Congolese people. Men and women who have witnessed things most would only be able to see in the worst of nightmares… Children who have done things because their only other choice was death… Old women who instead of receiving respect, are disrespected in the worst degree…And babies who will never know their parents, or why they have an incurable disease… Each day the Congolese watch as someone takes advantage in one shape or form – stealing resources or squashing the future of a bright-eyed young girl.

And yet. That isn’t the end, even though the people here would have every right to be bitter, suspicious and even just flat-out mean – they aren’t.

This country amazes me. Especially what I’ve seen in the eastern part of Congo. In spite of all of the hurt, the damage and even the fears – there is joy. There is happiness. There is still love.

Love for the family. Love for community. Joy at young marriages and happiness at the birth of a new baby boy. There is still hospitality – the welcoming of complete strangers into a close-knit community. The white faces who, over 100 years ago started so much of the pain that this country still must deal with, are welcomed here. Where it would be totally acceptable to have rejection and distrust, there are open arms and praises to God, for bringing someone new into the lives of the souls who are here.

These are just some of the reasons why I love this country. I did not ever expect to see people who have faced so much, still have so much love and peace in their hearts. Even enough to welcome a young woman from the USA.

I cannot walk away from this country.

Love from Congo,

Bethany