Highlights of Africa - Part XIX

At the Swedish Guest House we had watchmen who kept guard at the gate to the compound. At night there are two guards on duty. On our last night there, a young boy came running to the compound to get his father, who was one of our guards. The boy came to get his father to come home because soldiers had beaten the boy’s mother into unconsciousness. The man had to leave his post to get his wife to the hospital.

Now down to one guard, that same night, someone came to the remaining guard with the news that soldiers had come to their home and taken away his father, a pastor. This night watchman was the only guard the compound had left until 7 a.m., when the morning shift came. So he stayed on duty.

I spoke with him about 6:30 a.m., as he anxiously awaited the time when he could leave to begin looking for his father. I was so affected by the grief and fear these people live with every day. This young man sobbed as he told me how his father had made him into the man he was; that he had learned everything he knew about God from his father, and that he did not know who took him, where they had taken him, or why. Since there is no justice and no real law in Congo, that information would be difficult to obtain. He would have to spend his day walking Bukavu, a city of about 420,000 population, looking for his father, and then return to duty that night. He would not get any sleep until the next day.

He was really scared, so I asked if we could just sit and pray together. And we did.

I later learned that he had located his father, but it was not good news. Over there, if you end up “in court” its not like it is here because there is no justice there. His father was to be in “court”. At this point I have not heard anything further, but I hope to get some follow-up news. I asked the young man if he would continue to trust God, or if he would allow this to silence him: he said he would continue to trust and this would not silence him, that his father had taught him everything that was right. If you feel led to pray for this family, please pray for “S” and his father and their family.