DR Congo or my long lost love

I recently had the opportunity to go to DR Congo with Samaritan’s Purse. The first few days we spent in Bunia, meeting with WFP (World Food Programme) about potentially starting distributions in NE Congo. From there we went to a village called Nyankunde where SP is helping to rebuild a hospital destroyed by the Ituri conflict sometime around 2002.

Here are some things I learned:

- 1. Congo is gold plated.

- 2. Taxing is a national sport –I was taxed for One Pass (a tax to improve the airport), Health ( a tax on your health ?!?) and road tax (enforced by local guys who take their own initiative to improve the roads)

- 3. The roads in Karamoja are good - After one week on Congolese roads, I will never again complain about the roads in Karamoja. The roads were terrible and I cannot imagine how it would be during the rainy season.

Below are some pictures from the trip. Most were taken at small river where men were panning for gold.

Uganda Revisited: Congolese Refugees

As many of you might remember, during our stay in Uganda the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) flared up. I had the opportunity to join a Samaritan's Purse team on a needs assessment trip to Kisoro District where large numbers of refugees were coming across the border. The area was honestly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen; a place of other-worldly ageless beauty where rolling green hills stretch as far as the eye can seen, lakes line the valley crevices and primeval trees reach far into the oceanic skies. We found a group of about 500 villagers living in temporary shacks just inside the Ugandan border. They told us that every day they would cross over the border to work in their gardens and then return at night. Their greatest needs were access to clean water and finding health care for their sick.
The majority of refugees were younger boys (ages 12-18) and many of them stated that the reason they left was because the rebel troops were recruiting child soldiers.
We also visited the UNHCR Refugee Camp called Nakivale. At the time of our visit approximately 13,000 refugees(primarily Congolese) were living here. One little girl about 8 years old that I met during our visit will forever stand out in my mind. The entire time we were there, she followed me around and kept telling me her story. She said she was living in the refugee camp by herself and the only living person left in her family was her grandmother. She had gotten separated from her during the trip to Uganda and desperately wanted us to help her find her.