Africa:Sat&Sun--Refugee Camp

February 17 & 18, 2007

Our Blog posts have been somewhat spotty due to intermittent Internet access. It has been good to reconnect with Doug and spend time hearing about their ministry and for them to get caught up on life in Niagara.

Saturday we had the opportunity to visit the Refugee Camp where the families that we have supported live. The families are living in very difficult conditions. The homes consist of single room tarp covered huts. The single room is 5X10 feet with as many as 7 people living in the space. We also became aware of a number of widows and widowers. In addition to this there were cases where families were split up -- with one or the other spouse remaining behind in Tanzania. It is difficult to imagine the emotional stress that this would cause.

The Refugees told stories of being beaten, raped and having their property seized. In some cases they had documents but the soldiers would take them and tear them up. They were placed on busses and sent to Rwanda. They were settled into the extreme southern area of Rwanda -- close to the Burundi border. The government is providing land, with each family receiving about a hectare of land to plant crops. It was encouraging to see that cassava and some banana trees had been planted. We did notice that many of the cassava plants had “mosaic” disease.

The people were very grateful for our visit and were very appreciative of the support that Cornerstone had provided. It was an honour to be associated with Cornerstone and to know that we, together, could make a real difference in these people’s lives.

One man, Gerard, told us how he had been beaten and mistreated. He returned to Rwanda with two of his children while his wife and 7 other children are still in Tanzania. He hopes that someday they will all be re-united. In spite of all he has gone through, his words to us as we parted reflected the positive attitude of the people towards rebuilding their lives. He said: “The past is behind us, the future is ahead of us. With God’s grace, and with our hard work and determination we will make it."