Community Service

These are the four orphans: Muhindo, Kambale, Kambale, and Manda.

The students of UCBC are required to do community service as part of their education here in Beni. One group of students went to visit orphans of the war here in the Congo. While they were there they discovered that the students didn't have anyone to ask for money to take their tests. Here for you to attend final exams you have to pay a fee for each test. Since the students were orphans, they couldn't ask their parents or family members for the money. So my students decided to take up a collection to help the students be able to take their finals. I was super excited to contribute and to see how my students saw a need and worked hard to meet it!

A Message from my Boss

This is an e-mail my boss Honore' sent me - it touched me a lot so I thought I'd share it with you:

Hi Sister Furaha,Thank you for the BT topics 4 and 5. Beyond all, thank you for the greatwork that you are doing for the Kingdom of God: transforming young people to become transformers. The seeds that you have sawn and are still sawing willyield great fruits someday. The Bible says, 'Things that eyes have not seen,things that people have never imagined, things that the heart has neverthought of, He has prepared for those who trust in Him.' Out of what youhave sawn and are sawing, will come things that you cannot imagine.I just wanted to say thank you for all you are doing. God bless you!

Honoré

Letter from my students!

My three students decided to write a letter to my agency that got me here - United World Mission - and also to you, my friends who support me in my endeavor here. They are praying hard that I will be able to stay the full two years here to teach them - but right now with the current economic situation in America it might not be possible, because some of the people who intended to give to the cause of the Congo Initiative have not been able to. They asked me to send their plea out to you to see if you would be able to help via prayers or financial support. I promised them that I would send it out to you. Here are their words that brought me to tears:









John MUSAVULI. Student at UCBC in Theology Department.






I sincerely thank the UWM for sending April to us. She had been more than a good theology Professor for my class. She has been both a teacher and a friend to us. Moreover, she is serving the University by arranging books in our library. In addition, she joined us in chaplaincy ministry at the school.
April is one of the people that God has made and prepared so that they can build into my life. Her Biblical theology class has supported both me and my ministry. I am patiently waiting for her Hebrew and Church History classes. More than every other thing, her personality has been a great blessing in my life. So, I thank first of all God who prepared her, secondly, the team that sent her and then herself for her sacrifices.









Michel N’SINGOMA, student at UCBC in Theology Department


As God has good plan for who believes to him, so Miss April is the one that God made to contribute in my life through her own life, her education and her experience by sharing with us from the USA to Congo, especially at UCBC in the theology faculty.







Joel ASIIMWE, student at UCBC in Theology Department.

Hi, I am Joel, one of three students of Theology Department at UCBC.
I’m personally blessed and motivated by April’s who is more than a Professor for me. She’s such an inspiring person in my life. Her class is usually friendly and enjoyable.
Her teaching methodology is strategic because it let us interact with her and discussions among ourselves. Since I commenced studying, I’ve never got such a teacher or professor. Most than that, she’s member of the chaplaincy Comity and member of the Ebenezer Worship Team, which is the worship team of our University.
I thank God for her presence here at UCBC for she’s so much useful to the school. I also thank the UWM for sending April here for the mission that she has here among us.
As the DRC needs a hand for lifting it up and people who have desire to put even one stone on the reconstruction of Congo. Surely, what you’re doing for contributing to the construction of the DRC is great. What you’re doing is not in vain. You’re not sawing in the air. God is faithful to what you’re doing; he’ll repay you back in his right time and his right way.
Thank you.

Dancing Dancing Dancing!!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to dance!!! Even the first time Bora (one of the teacher's here at UCBC) met me - he told me that he could tell that I love to dance! I said, "how do you know." He said, "because you can't stand still!" How right he was!!!

Luckily, I've had lots of opportunities lately! First of all, we had a going away party for Luke and I taught my three students and my boss the electric slide and the kid & play that night! Then, I taught the ladies at the women's center the chicken dance. This past weekend at English club, I taught the guys the electric slide! They begged me to make it a regular feature at English club - learn a different American dance every week! It's hilarious!

I've learned a few Congolese moves through being in the school choir - so maybe when I get home to the states - I'll teach you all some new dances!

UCBC Library!

After months of hard work, the UCBC Library is open and ready for business! Thank yous go out to Luke and Angie for raising money to buy the materials to build the bookshelves! Super shout-outs go to Angie & Becca for helping me with entering all of the books into the cataloguing system! Lastly, thanks goes to Justin for his manly strength for helping to carry in the shelves and for taking this awesome picture! We are super excited to have probably the most extensive library of English books in the Democratic Republic of the Congo!

Women's Center

Every Wednesday, I go to the Women's Center. This is a place where women who are lonely housewives or widows or former prostitutes or tired mothers come to get a way to earn money for themselves. The women meet Tuesday-Thursday mornings at the UCBC Language Institute - a house that is owned by the school downtown. Some women attend classes and some just come for the fellowship. They all come together and make craft projects which we transport to the US to sell to help build them their own place and to give them a little money of their own. The women make cloth bracelets, pot holders, and paper bead necklaces to name a few. They sing as they work and it usually brings tears to my eyes.

I come on Wednesday mornings to give them a devotional and teach them some English. I teach them in Swahili and it has been great practice for me to become conversational quickly. I prepare my lessons on Tuesday and my Swahili teacher looks over it to make sure that I am grammatically correct. Then, on Wednesday I teach the ladies the lesson and then usually a song in English. I use a lot of little kid songs, because it is easier for me to explain to them in Swahili what the words mean. This last week, I taught them the chicken dance and they were laughing uncontrollably. I tried to explain that we do this dance at weddings or parties and they thought it was hilarious!

I've uploaded a video of the women at the center that my friend Angie made when she was here working with the women: http://www.flickr.com/photos/belgiumpostmods

My Students

These are the three reasons I needed to come to the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Joel, Michael & John! My "Holy Trinity." My three students who make my day every time we have class! I was recently asked if I would go through all the hard work to get here again - I would say without hesitation - "YES - they are worth it!"

Theological Conferences

We have had a lot of Theological Conferences here in Beni lately.


The first took place April 15-17 and was coordinated by the Bible Institute of Beni. The Conference was Wednesday through Friday and the theme for the week was "How can the church help with transformation and rebuilding here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." I was actually pretty proud of myself since the whole conference was in French and I didn't need a translator. I did have a headache from concentrating so hard - but it was good practice! I was really proud when my boss, Honore', the Academic Dean at UCBC, gave the best presentation of the day.


On the second day, I was asked to be the moderator for the day. What that means is that I introduce each speaker, add witty comments at the end of each speech, and then coordinate the question and answer session at the end. For that day, I did have a translator, my student John, translated what I said to them in English into French. However, I was still on my own for listening to the speakers. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that as moderator I had to sit on the stage during all of the presentations. There were times when I felt like a Christmas Ornament - that I was just up there for show. "Oh, look at the mzungu on the stage - how funny that a girl is here!" However, the chairman was very gracious and honoring to me. It was meant to be a compliment - it was just that I became distracting from the speakers - so I felt bad. Anyway, they decided to take us all out to lunch that day and treat us to what here in the Congo would be a gourmet feast - french fries, cole slaw, a coke, and a whole half of a chicken for ourselves. I literaly couldn't finish mine, since my stomach as shrunk considerably here with loosing so much weight. So I felt bad that I had to send food away, but I didn't want to hold everyone back up.


One of the interesting things about lunch was that I was not the only mzungu there - there was a french catholic professor of Congolese history and a Quaker missionary with SIL bible translators. They both grilled me on how I got here to the Congo and how I came to study theology, since I was a woman. I knew what they were getting at - so I tried to answer the questions honestly but tactfully. It was hard - the Congolese don't put that much pressure on me in a sexist way - so it was actually hard to take from fellow mzungus!


The next day, I got to be back in the audience. I was still invited to lunch the next day, but I wasn't given the same treatment of questions. In fact, I was asked by the chairman to share my testimony of being a single woman in theology. He said that they are trying to raise the view of women here in the Congo and he feels that everyone would benefit from my story. You couldn't have wiped the smile off my face. How amazing that these people would honor me this way and recognize what they were trying to do to me the day before.


The funniest thing was when I did get up to give my testimony, when I mentioned that I was still single - there was an audible gasp from the crowd! Then, when said that I already had a master's degree and was working on a PhD - there was another gasp! It was hilarious!


It truly was great to represent UCBC and women in theology. I know that my students said that they were extremely proud of me for speaking in front of the conference and for representing a woman teacher! I didn't want to embarrass them and they said no - that they are very proud of me!

The next theological conference was our first one here at UCBC on Friday, May 1st. This is labor day here in the Congo - so we were out of school and we could hold the conference on campus. We met with our counterpart theology department from the other university here in Beni. We talked about a partnership in the future to hold seminars for all of the pastors here in the area and how we can support and encourage one another.

I splurged and treated them all to pop for the conference and they were very grateful! Also, the students from the other school were excited to grill me with questions and ask me when I would come teach them. I told them that they would need to enroll here at UCBC and perfect their English. I think some of the me are seriously considering it. However, I encouraged them to attend our seminars here this summer which will be translated into french!

I am very encouraged that we are building these networks for the pastors and theologians to support and rely on one another. It is a key step in helping the Congo to become self-sufficient! I was glad to be a part of it!!!

33rd B-day

I honestly can say that I can't believe I've made it here!!! I remember thinking about how in the year 2000, I would be 23 and that would be OLD! Now, a decade has passed and I would never have guessed that I would be living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo!!!

I truly am blissfully happy here! Each day I am living to the fullest! I not only get to sing and dance on a regular basis, but I finally get enough sleep. I've lost 20 pounds without doing a thing and I feel great! I have three great students who love our class as much as I do! I'm having fun learning two new languages and I am challenged in who I am daily! This has been a great beginning to the year 2009 and I know that it will get even better!

33 is turning out to be the best birthday ever!

New Video

Make Sure that you totally check out the latest UCBC video on YouTube by my teammate Grant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP__DYiuFOs&feature=channel_page

I make a special appearance in the video - tell me if you notice my cameo!

Congolese Concerts

We were invited to a CD release party for the choir from the francophone church. They recorded a VCD - video compact disc. There is footage of them singing and dancing in several languages. We were treated to a concert at the party - they promptly escorted us to the front row and gave us cokes and peanuts and mendazi. Even when the generator ran out of electricity they kept singing and dancing. It was awesome! The picture above is Kazaa - he is the PR guy at UCBC - we were really proud of him!

Ode to Luke

Luke, my best bud here in the Congo, has headed home for the states! Luke was the Director for the Language Institute and taught Conversational English here at UCBC! He was totally cool and let me tag along to Kigali! He goes home to his beloved, Angie, and his family and friends in Arizona!

The gang here already misses him dearly - so this is our ode to Luke! Today, we ate a mendazi in your honor Luke from your favorite lady!

All our best wishes are with you and we're glad that you made it home safe and sound!