Eruptions and Disruptions (June 2012)

As I write this I am looking out of the office window at a grey cloudy sky with the wind blowing through the trees. The last few weeks the sky has been unusually grey, due it is thought, to the ash from an erupting volcano at the end of the chain of volcanoes which starts here with Muhabura. The erupting volcano is in the Congo and fortunately the lava is flowing through forest so human life has been spared; I doubt that the animals are very happy though!

The closeness of Kisoro to the Congo has also been highlighted by the amount of Congolese refugees we have seen in the town during the last few days. Kisoro has a transit refugee camp on the edge of town and it is becoming steadily busier. Reasons for this vary; rebels in the Congo are known to come out of hiding when a harvest is due to raid the crops of local peasant farmers; many of the local men send their wives and children out of the country for protection whilst they stay to try and protect their homes; there are also rumours of dissatisfaction with the Congolese government and talk of the rebels trying to reform into an army to fight for their rights. Whatever the reason many thousands of lives are being disrupted.

Co-incidentally (we think) we were invited to a meeting held by the British High Commission and amongst other general information we were given notes on their emergency evacuation procedures! However we are not too alarmed as local people here are used to these intermittent “flare ups” and do not feel we are likely to be affected by the trouble.

We are now fully back into work with the normal one step forward two steps back procedure. The missing computers from the Vocational Training School mysteriously returned and Malcolm managed to repair the broken one. A part time computer teacher has been appointed to teach registered computer students, but now Irene has been asked to give basic word processing lessons to all the other students instead! New computers with Internet access which were promised before we even arrived are still “on their way” and dormitory accommodation is still a big problem. On the plus side the centre is going to be able to provide an accredited computer course module from next year and the current students are being allowed to sit for the exam at a nearby centre.

Malcolm has been busily occupied at the Potters Village Home for Vulnerable Children helping with their book-keeping and making a video for the CMS Mission Partner, Jenny Green, to show at her supporting churches when she returns to England in early June. He has also been developing new finance procedures for the Vocational Training Centre

Plans are being made for a large celebration taking place in August as it will be 100 years since the first missionary arrived in Kisoro. He was actually a Ugandan from a evangelism training school set up by the first CMS Missionaries about 150 miles away. Sadly he was killed with a spear by a local tribesman. However, he must have made an impact as the area is now predominately Christian with many growing churches. When you realise that Christianity has only been in the area for 100 years it is easy to see why there is still some confusion in outlying areas about the Christian faith, some still adding it as an “extra“  to pagan beliefs. Others don’t realise it applies to everyday living, its as if it’s a ritual just  for Sunday and is taken off with their Sunday best clothes until next week They are pleased to hail Jesus as Saviour but it has no effect on their normal lives. In England we have 17 centuries of examples of good Christian living, years of teaching and bible exposition but how much does it affect our daily living? (The first martyr in England, St Albans, was  killed about 300AD.)

I was recently very challenged by a sermon given by Jenny Green. She said that many people come to know and love Jesus as Saviour but how many go on to know Him as Lord? Recently I found the definition of Lord as “A name we call God or Jesus when we do what they say”. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Prayer requests:

Thank God that:

- we continue to enjoy good health

- the adoption of Jojo, Jenny Green’s son, has been approved

Please pray:

- that the visa for Jojo will arrive in time for him to travel with her to England in early June

- that problems in the Congo will be settled peacefully and people will be able to return safely to their homes

-  for Irene's mum, that she will settle into a palliative Care Home following  the operation to remove her bowel

- for our friend Bea, who has cancer, and has just returned to Germany for 3 months where she will receive further treatment

 - for guidance about what we do after we leave Kisoro in October

-  for continuity at the Potters Village babies home whilst Jenny Green returns to the UK and when the African administrator Ezra, who has worked there since it opened 5 years ago, leaves in October