Window on the World

By Randal Dick,
superintendent of missions

Refugee Update

Thank you for the tremendous outpouring of concern for our Rwandan refugee brethren whom James Henderson wrote about in the January WN. Calls, cards and e-mails have poured in from individuals and pastors representing the concerns of entire congregations.

When the Rwandans first appeared on our radar screen, almost immediately those who could help began to do so. The initial aid came from members in Kenya, as they brought food and clothing to the refugees.

Permit me to share the extraordinary circumstances of how these Rwandan members became the Kenyan church refugees. Before the Rwandan holocaust that erupted in 1994, there was a small but dynamic WCG congregation in Rwanda. I visited them in December 1993, along with Olivier Carion, now a pastor in London, and Bernard Andrist, then the minister responsible for the Francophone African churches.

The beauty and prosperity in this nation, perched in the highlands of East Africa, amazed me. We had a lovely church social on that weekend at a member’s home high in the hills. We had a Bible study that lasted for hours—their thirst for the Word was insatiable. As I surveyed this peaceful scene, I would never have imagined that millions of people would be brutally murdered just a few months later.

However, there were indications of a storm about to break. We stayed in one of the few European hotels in Kigali, the capital. It just happened that the Belgian contingent of the United Nations forces stationed in Rwanda was billeted at that hotel. The soldiers told us that they had been placed on alert. We noticed they had come into the dining room armed, and armored personnel carriers and small tanks were parked behind the hotel.

But no one anticipated the genocide that would explode a few months after our visit.

On April 6, 1994, an airplane carrying Rwandan Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down by a missile. This triggered mass killings. The Hutu majority turned on the Tutsi minority with vengeance. The infrastructure that allowed us to communicate, send money and be aware of the state of our brethren collapsed. We could only pray fervently for their protection and wait for them to resurface.

The original Rwandan refugees made their way from Kigali across the border into Zaire, near Goma, with what they could carry in their hands. We were so relieved to hear that most of the Rwandan brethren were alive and accounted for—yet saddened that a member’s adult son had been overcome by fumes while bathing in a volcanic lake and drowned.

But the relief gave way to new concerns as more than a million desperate people jammed into the makeshift refugee camp near Goma. Goma became a death trap. Disease was rampant and conditions were desperate. It was the rainy season and people were wet and cold, without shelter, having to sleep directly on the ground. World relief agencies and even some units of the military began to try to bring relief, but their efforts were overwhelmed by the tide of humanity that poured into the area.

But what could be done? There was no way to ship goods to them. We would be limited to what people could physically bring with them, and whoever managed to get to Goma would do so at the risk of being killed. We first provided them with a few tents, but the new tents raised their visibility. Former Hutu soldiers who were now hiding among the civilian refugees began to form into gangs and extort and kill anyone who tried to stop them from taking whatever they wanted.

We dropped the tent plan in favor of plastic tarpaulins. These were more versatile and just as helpful.

Next, we decided to buy several top-of-the-line, backpack-type water filters, almost indestructible and field repairable. They were small enough to pack easily and go unnoticed in one’s luggage. We also included bottles of iodine tablets to kill viruses in the water. This was an excellent help to the refugee brethren. They used the pumps to get enough pure water to barter for other necessities. The shelter and water filters began to make life much more bearable.

A relative of one of the members who lived in Goma took pity on our group, and let them live in a house that he had on the outskirts of town (see picture). Twenty-one people lived in and around the one-room house.

But food was scarce, and our members were suffering from malnutrition. They needed money for additional food. The most creative solution (I couldn’t report it then for security reasons)—and the one that did the most good—was hatched by one of our European congregations.

The members in Europe, after consultations with headquarters, wrote picture postcards to the refugee brethren. The brethren carefully steamed the postcards so the photos separated from the paper backing. They then inserted a large denomination banknote like meat in a sandwich and then re-glued the postcard so you could not tell it had been altered.

One person would then take the postcards and, at great peril, journey to Goma to deliver them to the brethren.

Meanwhile, back in Rwanda, a Tutsi army made up of Rwandan Tutsis and Tutsi allies from across the border in Uganda, attacked Kigali and overthrew the Hutu government. Then, the liberated Tutsi survivors, with the help of well-armed and trained Tutsi soldiers, took revenge on their Hutu tormentors.

Those holding power took whatever they wanted. The home pictured in this article belonged to a Hutu member. When he returned to Kigali, he found that a Tutsi official had confiscated it. The member was warned not to return to his home or the new owners would falsely accuse him of atrocities against Tutsis. He would be tried by a military tribunal and probably executed. We, in this blessed nation, have no real concept of what these people have been through.

The Rwandan refugees who arrived in Kenya last year (January WN) are coming to a far better situation than what they previously faced. Sometimes, we can’t do anything for brethren in these plights until the situation stabilizes. Then, even when it is possible to help, one must be circumspect. It is easy to make a person’s situation worse instead of better. We could have gotten our brethren killed by sending them too much, or the wrong things.

Read 2 Corinthians 9, where the apostle Paul describes a cycle of blessing and glorification that God perpetuates when brethren respond in love to the needs of others.

We have a powerful example of this cycle in action. When I was in the breadbasket of Kenya, it was being devastated by El Nino. There were horrendous floods, and crops were washed out. The brethren not only had no food to eat, but also had no seed to plant the next year.

So we used funds that many of you sent for such purposes and bought them sacks of corn to sustain them until they could bring a new crop to harvest. As soon as those Kenyan members in the farming region heard of the plight of their Rwandan brethren, they sent bags of corn to feed the refugee brethren. Second Corinthians 9 in action!

The refugees’ experience can teach us a lesson as God takes a dire situation and uses it to his glory.

Mr. Henderson reported: "James Omuhaka, who assists Kimani Ndungu in pastoring the refugee church in Kenya, informs us that the (refugee) church has had to move to another hall because of increased numbers. Now the average attendance is around 100, with six baptisms in the past three months and a number counseling. In addition to worship services, Wednesday Bible studies have begun along with prayer services on Fridays and additional worship services."

James concluded by saying that "the Kenyan church is able to help supply food to around 15 families and 20 single men who would otherwise go hungry, and it seems likely that we will able to sustain such assistance to the beginning of June by which time we should be able to review the situation."

It is comforting to remember that God is the God of refugees. He works his will even in the most impossible situations. Who would have thought that people who have been through so much would be so effective in evangelism? They leave behind a thriving church in Goma, and already in Nairobi they are leading others to Christ.

The WCG is a close-knit worldwide family. It means the world to these brethren that you know of them, value them and pray for them. That is ultimately more important to them than any physical or financial assistance that may be rendered. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, we in the United States discovered how much it means to have brethren concerned about us in times of trial.

As we go to press, we are jolted by news of a volcano eruption in the Goma area (where we have several congregations). Jacques Muzalia, our contact in the Eastern Congo and Rwanda, reported: "Thanks be to God all the members are alive. Although no human loss has been sustained, much material damage has taken place. Four families saw their homes overcome by the lava flow. As for my own home, it was ruined by the seismic shocks. Now, six days later, the ONG (a charity organization) is trying to organize the distribution of food and water. However, the big fear is disease epidemics. Please pray for us."

HAPPIER TIMES—Church social in Rwanda in 1993.

GOMA—Former home to 21 members.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2002