Communityfor friend Mbusa Thaluliba, from Goma, sent the following update from the Congo, including quotes from Baraka Makari, an 11-year-old boy:

“I am a schoolboy in Standard 5 at Buhumba Primary School. We were at school with my two younger sisters [ages 7 and 9] and other comrades. After break, we heard gunshots. We then moved to Goma. Our parents were in the field and until today we don’t know where they are. Maybe they are still alive, or they have been killed.”

And from Manishimwe Semiera, a 12-year-old girl:

”I am the second girl in a family of four. I have never been at school. I was attending a church service when the shootings approached our village of Rugari. I run to our home, where I found nobody. I do not know where my mother went; she is a widow because my father died in the confrontations of last year. I followed the moving crowd until arriving in Goma. I spent  two nights  in the market commonly called Kisoko in Majengo district. I praise the Lord because a young man saw me begging at the market and  brought me here to this IDP Unaccompanied Children Camp called  Rev. Senzoga’s Camp.”

And from Paluku Lukando, a 13-year-old former schoolboy of Bujari Primary School in the Kilimanyoka area:

“Having heard the gunshots, I fled from home. My parents were not there any more. I went directly to the destination of Goma. When I arrived Pastor Senzoga met me from Virunga Parish and led me to his home where I am still living. I felt comforted by finding other children of my village. We play together and we endeavour to forget the past”

Many more such stories could be told.

Mbusa reminds us that Jesus said, “Let children come to me,” and that the Kingdom of God belongs to them.

I’ve extracted the most pertinent information from Mbusa’s update to share with you, as you continue to pray for the situation in the Congo.

For almost a year, the heavy fighting has been launched by the dissident General Laurent Nkunda has torn apart the North Kivu province.  According to the statistics at hand from OCHA, the number of IDP has gone to 1,200,000 people (September 2008)

The situation is worse in the Masisi and Rutshuru Administrative territories of the North Kivu Province, where Laurent Nkunda and his troops are officially based and where troubles occur frequently. This situation is the root of the establishment of  IDP camps in Masisi, Rutshuru, and Lubero Territories.
In Rutshuru, on the nights of  4 – 5 November more than 200 young people were reported slaughtered by the rebels; many women and girls raped  by both rebels and militia groups and many people are traumatized because they either saw their relatives slaughtered or their daughters, their mothers, their sisters raped in their presence. They are in hosting families or in camps or in church and school buildings and they need emotional treatment.

The Batwa are being misplaced and scattered in camps because the fighting is taking place in the forests where they live. But since they are a unique people with unique lifestyle, life is difficult in the camps.

Three days ago, the fighting has resumed between the Congolese loyal forces and Laurent Nkunda’s troops. This last development affected many other villages and towns that were until then stable. These new IDPs are moving from one place to another and are in desperate  situation. Their lives are in danger for lack of water, food and shelter.

Please continue to pray for peace. Specifically pray for water and food supplies in the displacement camps.