Last week (July 22-26), I
(Darrell) travelled with Terry Smith (CBM Exec. Director) and Andre Sibomana
(Deputy Africa Team Leader) to Goma, DRCongo to spend time with our partner,
the CBCA. However, it was not a normal
visit.
Since August 2018, the area north
of Goma has been battling against a terrible outbreak of the deadly Ebola
virus. It is the second worst outbreak
of Ebola in history, the worst ever in DRC.
In 11 months, it has killed over 1700 people.
The CBCA had invited us to take
part in a conference for all their pastors, held every five years. There was concern that after 11 months, the
situation with the Ebola virus had not improved. However, things got even more complicated
when, just a couple of days before we were to go to Goma, the first case of the
virus was diagnosed in the city. This
resulted in government warnings from both Rwanda and Canada. When we reached the border, three questions
were occupying our thoughts: 1) Could we
get across into Goma? 2) Should we be trying to cross into Goma? And 3) If we
do get in, what will happen when we try to cross back over into Rwanda?
We prayed that God would open and
close doors to make it clear to us what we should do. After we talked to some people in Goma as
well as officials at the border, we decided to go for it. And we made it through with no problems at
all! There were medical people present to
take everyone’s temperature and direct them to a hand-washing station, but that
was all.
For the next two-and-a-half days,
we were able to worship and learn together with the 800 CBCA pastors. Terry was the speaker for one of the main sessions and I was
asked to lead the Thursday morning devotion time. There were also guests from Switzerland,
Tanzania and Norway. It was a rich time
of fellowship.
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| Terry speaking on Discipleship in Canada |
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| Andre helping translate my Thursday morning devotion |
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| A rich worship time together |
It was challenging to hear of the
different ways that the CBCA are seeking to serve God faithfully in the face of
this epidemic. One of the greatest
challenges in the affected areas has been the amount of misinformation about
the virus and the mistrust toward government officials and medical
workers. In a few cases, medical centres
set up to help those with Ebola have even been attacked and destroyed! To counter these challenges, CBCA has been working hard to spread accurate
information about the virus. Their pastors
have all been trained and mobilized in community health practices. And in Butembo, they even turned over a hotel and large vocational training school in
hotel management to the World Health Organization (WHO) where they
have set up their regional Ebola crisis headquarters.
Leading up to the conference, they
required that every person who was going to attend receive a vaccine and carry
proof at all times. And at the
conference, instead of the usual enthusiastic hugs and handshakes, everyone
chose to greet one another by touching elbows, in order to reduce physical
contact. There was also a hand washing
station set up and the government had medical personnel on-site as a
precaution.
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| Andre and Terry using one of the washing stations |
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| Medical personnel ready in case they are needed |
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| The "anti-virus" greeting |
In
the midst of an atmosphere of uncertainty, misinformation and great fear, our
sisters and brothers in the CBCA are doing their best to help people understand
the truth: truth about Ebola, truth about the medical workers, and truth about
their Saviour who offers hope, peace and love in the middle of the “valley of
the shadow of death”. They are truly
shining brightly in these dark times, “like a city on a hilltop that cannot be
hidden.” (Matt 5:14) For that reason, it
was a privilege to also witness the signing of a new three-year agreement
between CBM and CBCA. May God continue
to bless this partnership which is transforming a broken world through word and
deed.
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| Dr. Samuel and Dr. Terry sign a new agreement |
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| A celebration dinner with CBCA leadership |