and back in Toronto again

I left Goma mid morning Saturday and took a bus to Ruhengeri, Rwanda to visit an Ugandan friend now living and working there and after a lovely visit with him, caught a bus to Kigali Sunday morning in time for the first of four flights back to Toronto. I hardly slept at all on the flights (or on Saturday night for that matter) so was absolutely beat when I arrived in Toronto yesterday. I managed to stay awake until 8 pm and that was the end of that. 8:30/9 having become my regular bedtime in Goma anyway since we woke up at 5:00 a.m. daily.


It feels a bit surreal to be back in my own home, though of course it's nice to be home. I wasn't ready to leave, and am sad and missing the new friends I made. It'll take me some time to readjust to the chaos of life in Toronto and having a blank calendar for the next two weeks is a rare treat - though I hope to be sociable and reconnecting with everyone as your schedules allow.

I want to thank you all so very much for your support of me over the past few months both before and during the journey, as well as for the incredible financial support without which CPT isn't possible! There have been some difficult moments and knowing I could share them with you here kept me from feeling isolated and again, I thank you.

Looking forward to reconnecting in person with some of you soon!

So for now, signing out until the next time.

peace,
a.

what the future holds?

This week has been difficult as far as internet access and Wednesday, a block from the internet, met my teammate, C, who had left ahead of me, on the street. All the shops were closing (many had just opened) including the internet as the government wanted to encourage people to attend a large military pomp ceremony sending the invited Rwandan troups back home. There was much fanfare (I didn't attend but watched part of it on TV as we had grid power for part of the day) and the troops paraded back over the border. The joint mission is officially over and the agreed upon timeline was respected - this is very important for president Kabila to regain popularity in the war ravaged Kivu provinces. What's next remains to be seen.

The mission was successful, according to the diplomats, as the FDLR have been forced out of many areas they held, however they are still here and a joint effort between the UN forces MONUC and the DRC military (FARDC) is expected to continue - however, MONUCs mandate is to protect civilians and we had a final off the record meeting with MONUC political affairs yesterday which clarified a bit their position, mandate and resources, as well as the fact that the public announcement was the first they'd heard of this new joint iniative. They had been clearly disinvited from this most recent offensive.

However, what's next? Monday, our team visited a hospital to meet with and get the stories of, several survivors of an FDLR retaliatory attack. This is one of just a handful (presumably not reported abroad) and more are expexted now that the Rwandans have left. This war is not over.

I've posted some photos below but warn that they are graphic and not easy to view.

The first photo below is of a 36 year old woman and her 3 year old who both suffered gunshot wounds, and the next two are of a 32 year old woman and her 14 year old daughter who were severly burned when the FDLR set fire to their home and village last week, before opening fire. This was a village that had been under FDLR control and is about 100 km from Goma. The husband of this family escaped with a toddler without injury, but a two month old baby and 3 year old died in the fire. They were two of the 10 casualties in this village. In another ward, we met two men from another village that had been attacked - here it was unclear who the attacker was as they were dressed in military uniform so could have been Congolese military, CNDP or bandits. The old man's house had been attacked and he was asked for money - not having any, he refused and was shot and beaten, his arm broken by the butt of the gun - but survived. The other man was a younger man, who's infant son had been shot by a stray bullet.

I hesitate to post the photos but the survivors asked that their stories be shared and welcomed photos. They want people to know that this isn't over. These survivors were carried by neighbours to the closest MONUC base who then transported them to hospital in Goma. Our meetings this week, at which we continuously raised these attacks were clear that this is just the beginning of the retaliation and there is potential for great suffering of the civilians living in these former rebel areas, particularly if MONUC and the FARDC (which is corrupt, ill trained and lacking discipline) are not able to hold the ground they have recently won.

That is a bit of what the future might hold here. This will be last blog from Goma as I travel tomorrow morning but I will write again from Toronto. If you would like updates on any of the stories I've mentioned please email me directly and I am happy to provide more information that I wasn't able to put on the blog - in particular, the student killings I mentioned, there is more info available and a possibility to support the student body in the coming months.

My own future here is unclear, whether I'll be back remains to be seen. I have been deeply touched by the people I've met who've been willing to share their stories, both of pain and of hope and of courage to work for peace. It is difficult to leave at this time of particular vulnerability. There is much I'd like to do but alas I am only one person.

So, travel commences tomorrow and I will write again on my return to Toronto next week.

in peace,

a.

follow up to walikale

so, spend the better part of thursday in the MONUC (UN mission to DRC) air terminal along with some MONUC troops, civilian UN staff and ngo and other passengers, waiting for the flight that never took off. it was a lovely morning and i was looking forward to the helicopter ride over the mountains. it started to rain and it was unlikely we'd take off in rain, then it started to thunder....after the rain stopped, still nothing...after 3pm they finally let us know there was bad weather in walikale and the flight was cancelled, possibly to be rescheduled for the next day.

the following day spent most of yesterday morning waiting and communicating with MONUC finally to learn that the flight was not going then either. as our return flight was booked for today, my teammate went to get a refund and the trip is off. i'm actually not too disappointed as i was going mostly so the trip could happen but in the end had started to get excited about the possibility after meeting with an excellent research group here that gave me some very good ideas about the issues and what to look for. perhaps if i return to the region...

so, this is my last week. a week from today i will be on a bus in rwanda where i plan to spend a night in ruhengeri with a friend from uganda, before heading on to kigali for the first leg of my return flight to toronto. this is a week of wrapping up the work, a few final meetings and farewell. there are some people here it will be very difficult to take leave of and a part of me is not ready to go. the other part of me is looking forward to being home amongst friends again and processing what i've learned, sharing photos and continuing on my own journey of this incredible life.

this morning, i woke at 5am as usual but just after i got out from under my mosquito net, i heard the most beautiful piano music....i went out to find that under the window of T's bedroom was an overturned bucket with a speaker on it facing into T's window, the long cable leading into the door of one of the other brothers (a Spaniard who has been teaching here for 27 years!). Today is T's 30th birthday and one of the brothers chose to wake him with music. It was beautiful, what a lovely way to wake up. Tonight we will join the Salesians in their birthday celebration.

happy weekend everyone! will be back online early next week...

xoxo