African Women's Initiative Trip to Congo

by Ann Jacobson

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support for my trip to Africa June 11-27. It was a very successful trip. I spent a little over a week in Goma, Congo with a group of other women from the U.S. supporting the work of ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries). Goma, Congo, on the eastern border near Rwanda, is a difficult place to live. The area has experienced war off and on for the last 15 years. There are five refugee camps surrounding the city, where villagers have fled attacks from various armed militias. We visited all five camps on our first full day in Congo, hugging the women and singing and dancing with the children. We found the camps generally clean and organized, but the people were very hungry. Their food rations have been cut in half over the last two months as a result of soaring world food prices.

Goma is located at the base of an active volcano (left) which buried large portions of the city in 2002. Lava rock is everywhere. There are virtually no paved roads, only roads covered in lava. There is also a lack of infrastructure and basic economic activity, as Goma has been isolated by war and instability.

One of the main purposes of our trip was to bring hope and healing to the women there, many of whom have been traumatized by violence, loss of loved ones and loss of their homes. We held three one-day conferences where we taught on the hope of Christ, as well as healing from emotional trauma. The first conference was for 200 women from the refugee camps. The camp administrators chose the women who would be invited to attend, and they specified that 20% of those invited be Muslim and 20% be of tribal religions so that we were not seen as discriminating against non-Christians.

All of the women attending seemed receptive to the messages of hope and healing that we shared, and a number of them accepted our invitation to receive Christ, including some of the Muslim women. Everyone was grateful for the hearty lunch we provided, and the women were overjoyed to learn that people in America had contributed funds to provide them with new clothing.

The conference on the second day was for widows from the various churches in Goma. The message was similar to what we taught the refugee women, but we had the women share their stories of loss in groups of three.

We then had a few volunteers share their stories with the entire group. It was amazing to see how God had helped each woman through incredibly difficult circumstances and how they trusted Him to meet their needs.

The third conference was for pastor’s wives. These women have a difficult life—they are always expected to offer hospitality and help others, yet they are often quite poor themselves. I hear that conference went quite well—I missed the whole day with a stomach ailment. (luckily I was better by the next day!)

After the three conferences, we spent the next morning meeting with about 50 women that ALARM supports by funding their microfinance projects. The rest of the day we spent with orphans—visiting two orphanages and then meeting with a group of orphans who live with families. We provided gifts of food and toys, and we had fun playing with and loving on the children. Below are some of the children we met at the girls’ orphanage.

The following day most of the team began the journey back to the U.S., but I was one of three who stayed another week to attend the ALARM staff retreat in Kigali, Rwanda. The three of us had the chance to visit the prison in Goma along with ALARM’s Congo staff.

The prison visit just crystallized for me what a desperate place eastern Congo is. There were 700 prisoners (of whom 10 were women) in a space built for 150. Most sleep on the concrete floor of the courtyard with no bedding at all. Everything I had read and seen about Congo indicated that it is a pretty lawless place, with most crimes (especially rape) going unpunished. However, when I saw the faces of the men who were there, I was moved with tremendous compassion for them. All the prisoners were quite curious to hear what these three American women might have to say, and they listened intently as Sherry in our group gave a wonderfully simple and powerful message of the saving power of Christ.

I really enjoyed the time I spent in Rwanda with staff from ALARM’s offices throughout east and central Africa as well as the U.S. They are an amazing group of people who serve the Lord with gladness in some difficult places and often at great personal cost. I was privileged to spend time with them and learn from them.