September 26th 2011 we arrived in Kinshasa, bright eyed and bushy tailed. It feels like I have been here forever and yet also like I just arrived. Next week I will be heading back to Canada to have our first baby!
I am returning home because in the DR Congo, even in the capital city, there is no real way to take care of a mother and baby if anything were to go wrong. So, I am lucky that I have the ability to travel to a country that has safe medical practices; however, my heart hurts for the millions of mothers here that do not have that choice.
Women here are expected to do almost everything. They’re expected to have lots of children, take care of their families, and also go out and make a living. I cannot imagine having that pressure put on me and also having to give birth multiple times in unsafe conditions.
It is a very difficult situation here in the Congo, being a country where the culture and country have been destroyed by many wars and much corruption. DR Congo has only truly been out of war for five years, and it still needs so much healing.
MAF has been here in the DRC for the last 50 years, serving many amazing churches and organizations that are working to heal this country. And MAF has stayed true to the calling that God has for us here. It is a very difficult task and we need all the prayer we can get, as the enemy against our souls would love to see us gone from this place. But we have something in us that is much stronger than him. We stand firm on the words of Jesus:
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
So, as I head home next week and get to speak to my friends and family about the difficulty of life here and how there is so much need sometimes you can feel like you are drowning in it, I will also get to tell them how MAF is a light in a dark place. How we’re committed to staying, because even when things are hard, we know that He has overcome the world. I am so glad that He did and I don’t have to.
