Jean Luc and William
Refugees from North Kivu, Congo
Since we have been working with Congolese refugees in Uganda, we have been learning more about the activity going on in their home country, the Congo. We were able to do a few personal interviews with the help of Jacques who speaks fluent English, Swahili and several other languages, which we will write about at a later time. We were able to learn from the interviews that most of our Congolese friends ran from their homes, their lives, and their families because militias in North Kivu Provence, eastern Congo, were raping women, killing men, and stealing everything there was to steal.
It is amazing that we have had the chance to live side by side with people that have witnessed the atrocities that have occurred in their homes and in their neighborhoods. It is even more exciting to be able to respond to the need that these people face in their efforts to rebuild their stolen lives. Many factors play into the brutal conflict that plagues this isolated and forgotten part of the world. Attention from the international community is one, attention from leaders of the most powerful nations in the world is another, and a slightly smaller but economically responsible party is the entire electronic industry from supplier to consumer. There is a very cool video spoof of the "I am a Mac/I am a PC" commercial that has just been put on facebook and youtube. It is straight forward and helpful to those that don't already know about what's going on. Check out the link at the top of the post.
We can do something.
