Retreating Under Volcanoes

Felix, our program assistant, relaxing with a book during our retreat this week.



Today has been a day of rest, more or less.  It is not often that we do not go into work on a Monday.  It is generally a good way to begin the weekly routine, especially when we are finally once again back into routine.

Last week I mentioned that I was writing from Kigali where we began the week before proceeding on Tuesday afternoon to Gisenyi. This town is situated on the North end of Lake Kivu, right at the border where one crosses into Goma in Eastern Congo.  Among the interesting features, besides the Lake in this region, are the numerous volcanoes that rise up majestically above the hilly countryside.  The Goma volcano erupted in the last decade, pretty much destroying that town, and it's still particularly impressive, as one can see the glow of lava from the crater reflecting up on the clouds above at night.

Although the town feels quiet enough, there is something that seems prehistoric about the region, the volcanic soil that produces prolifiic vegetation and the houses and walls constructed out of black porous volcanic rock.  Not far from here is the home of the "Gorillas in the mist" and the dense forest climbing the hills looks like a place where mountain gorillas would hide.

But our visit was neither tourism nor nor science.  We were here as part of a regional MCC spiritual retreat for the Great Lakes region.  So we had our entire Rwanda/Burundi team as well as teams from Uganda and DRC (Congo).

Arriving together was not without its complications.  While most of us did get there on time arriving by both public and prviate transport, the Congo family were delayed several days waiting for exit papers for their adopted daughter.  They were able to join us half way through on Thursday afternoon.

Since Rebecca and I were the primary logistical organizers as well as the ones responsible for the schedule, it was not exactly restful for us, (especially Rebecca) although we were able to have most everyone else share in the responsibility of leading evening devotionals as well as recreational activities.

Generally the format was to have a thematic study and discussions in the morning, with the afternoon off for activities.  The group provided many opportunities, including embroidery, yoga, water color, and origami.  The hotel we stayed at, although modest by western standards, had some interesting perks including a small pool, exercise room, and sauna and steam room.  There were also some nice grounds to sit around and read in.  There was so much to do in the afternoons that we were not even able to do all the acitivities planned on the schedule.

The themes in the morning were focused on parables of the Kingdom, specifically the sower, the parable of the wheat and weeds, and the parable about the woman baker working yeast into the dough.  The challenge in all of them seemed to be to accept the mystery of the growth of the kingdom that does not depend on our efforts, but may require much patient endurance on the part of the workers (especially to allow the wheat and weeds to grow together).

It was generally well received and it was good to have the discussions lead to opportunities to talk about the rewards and frustrations of working within our particular assignments.  I think the SALTers and service workers from the different countries enjoyed getting together to share experiences.  I am struck that overwhelmingly the SALTers are young women.  There just do not seem to be that many young men with the focus to do such a volunteer program out of college.  It is a shame because I think this kind of experience could be very valuable as a part of finding future employment, and even a vocation.

We were also very blessed to have great child care as two young women accompanied us, one was Katherine Deckert who works with MCC in Winnipeg and was out for a visit/vacation.  The other, Mireille, is a teacher at the Ecole Belge in Rwanda and a friend of Ruth and Krystan.  So the kids really had a blast.  (Oren was the oldest of the group with David a close second.)

For me, one of the highlights was Friday when we invited a special guest to share with us on the topic of facing injustice on a personal level.  (What can we do in the face of injustice as individuals?)  The facilitator was a Rwandese pastor named Joseph Nyamutera.  He has a fascinating life history and I am sending a link to his bio here.  (Nyamutera bio)  He led us through a 3 part series of discussions beginning with identity. He asked us what identities we possess and the ways that we might be either victims or oppressors because of them.   He himself is Hutu, and although he was not involved in the genocide directly, he was aware of the killings as they happened. But when the RPF came in he was forced to flee to Congo where he spent several years in a refugee camp and lost many family members.

He has had the experience of being perceived as both oppressor and victim.  He went on to conclude though that as Christians. we profess our primary identity to be in Christ and all others to be secondary, even if they are natural, like gender or race or ethnicity.

The second section was on wounds and trauma healing, and ended with us bringing our pain and wounds to the cross (where we symbolically nailed them) to be released from them.

The 3rd section I found particularly meaningful.  It began with a discussion about repentance which Biblically is both individual, but also corporate.  (Israel repenting as a nation is an example of that.)  Here we looked at ways in which we as Christians might, using Peter's description of us as a royal priesthood, be intercessors, or stand-ins to confess corporate sin of the groups we belong to.  He told us about how he has stood as a Hutu before Tutsis and confessed and asked for forgiveness for the sins of his people.  He has done the same thing as a Rwandan before Congolese.

He has described remarkable transformations in relationships between groups in his experiences of this kind.  Normally we come ready to rationalize or justify rather than to confess. By contrast, to come in with humility and penitence is quite liberating.

I was struck by the possibility that such confession might liberate one from the feeling of acting out of guilt--an emotion that drives much giving and foreign aid, I believe. Perhaps if we begin with confession as development workers and a request for pardon, we might be able to act more in the interest of others rather than out of guilt.

Pastor Joseph also warned about the trap of reparation that is motivated by guilt.  He observed that often reparation is usually not possible.  He gave an illustration of a priest in South Africa who had his hands blown off by a letter bomb during apartheid.  He said that if someone had come and apologized for committing this injury, he would ask him how that person would want to offer reparation? Wash his clothes? Help him dress? and for how long? Today? Until next month? Forever?  His point was that it is not possible to return the loss.  When the perpetrator asks for forgiveness, it is in recognition that reparation may not be possible.  It is up to the victim to decide to forgive.

What a heady idea to imagine confession, by individual Christians, standing in their priestly role as intercessors, to Native Americans, Jews, Palestinians, Illegal Immigrants, Colonized Countries.  I would be interested in seeing a forum for public confession for Christian leaders. (Although in our country our Christian leaders seem more fixated on righteous moral outrage and judgment and not on public confession and repentance.)

Saturday, our last day, we took the morning off to go to a beach on the lake.  It is nice that there are no hippos or crocs in this lake.  But it is a bit unnerving that there is methane gas in the bottom of the very deep lake and once every 10,000 years or so the Lake 'inverts' killing everything within hundreds of miles of it.  (Right now there is a pipe down to the methane and it is being harvested for fuel.)

But the lake is nice, and we played on a 'beach' made of volcanic rock.  The kids swam and even caught a crab.  We had a nice lunch at a hotel on the beach and the day would have been perfect if someone had not stolen a couple hunded dollars in Rwandese Francs from Rebecca's purse in a brief moment when she was not looking.

On Sunday we all headed home.  I took the Burundi crew home in the jeep which left about 7am for the 10 hour drive.  It was rough with the kids who pretty much took turns having melt downs most of the way back.

We arrived back exhausted Sunday evening and took it easy.  On Monday Rebecca woke up feeling sick so I took the kids to school and swam before coming home to do some emails.

There is a feeling of accomplishment to completing this retreat and it was clearly appreciated by all who came.  We will probably do it again in the future as this is the first Great Lakes Regional retreat MCC has had to my knowledge.