April 19th, 2011
Written on the altar of what remains of a Catholic church in Ntamara, rural towns outside of Kigali, Rwanda, are the words: “if you knew me and you knew yourself, you would not have killed me.” These words are a powerful emblem at site where mass murder took place just seventeen years ago. Directly in front of the altar lay belongings and human remains from hundreds of victims who were killed, simply because they were of a different ethnic group.
Such violence is often the result of a systemic dehumanization process resulting in a person or group becoming “the other.” In Rwanda, this dehumanization was communicated through government-sponsored propaganda over several years leading up to the genocide. This campaign was rooted in bitterness and frustration of the unjust economic and social infrastructure established by former colonial powers that favored the Tutsi ethnic group. The years of bitterness and resentment and desire for power manifested itself in 100 days of mass killings of thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutus throughout Rwanda.
The words at Ntmara will remain forever written on my heart. They are a vivid reminder of the need to combat bitterness with healing, fear with understanding and hatred with love. I had the opportunity to participate in the planting of seeds of reconciliation as an intern last fall with Refuge and Hope, which is a Christian ministry that assists those affected by war and conflict in Uganda. I volunteered as an ESL teacher at the Center of Hope, a community center for urban East African refugees in Kampala, Uganda.
Diversity was a very present reality at the center as seven different countries were represented. Within each country group, there were additional language, class and ethnic divisions. Many countries had experienced war with neighboring states (such as Ethiopia and Eritrea) and/or internal civil war (Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan). These conflicts resulted in resentment, prejudices and division within the Centre’s student body.
Recognizing this division, staff and volunteers sought to bridge understanding and reconciliation through classes and activities. I taught a morning ESL class twice a week that had students from five different countries. When I first began teaching this class in September, students had little to no interaction with people from outside of their own ethnic group. Over the next few months, during class breaks, I took my class outside and played interactive games and activities. One activity that became a favorite was the name game. This game consisted of students saying their name and doing a hand motion, while everyone else repeated their name and motion. This game allowed students the opportunity to interact with one another.
Some of my favorite Uganda memories are standing in a circle with my students, laughing together as they attempted to make the right action as they said “Yvette! Jane! Rose!” By the time that I left in December, students in my classes had become family.
The presence of prejudice made it challenging to reach out and connect with all nationalities represented in Kampala. There is strong prejudice amongst Ugandans and other East African refugees against one nationality group in particular. These societal stigmas made bridging a connection with this group particularly difficult. Although this was one of the largest and poorest refugee populations in Kampala, no students from that ethnic group come to the center.
One 
day while visiting with friends I had the opportunity to connect with someone from this nationality. While my friends and I were walking down the stairs from their apartment, a woman in her mid-forties smiled at us. We walked over and introduced ourselves. During the first moments of the conversation, her three children came out and introduced themselves. We told them about English, sports, computer, cooking and sewing classes at a community center less than a kilometer from their home.
This conversation was pivotal to the ministry of the center. As a result, twenty more people from this nationality joined classes at the center during the next month. The other students expressed strong reservations and reluctance when these new students first arrived at the center. Over time, deep relationships were built though teaching English, playing Frisbee during class breaks, visiting their homes, and sharing meals and religious holidays together. These families are now an integral part of the Refuge and Hope community.
Refuge and Hope recognizes that students are survivors and have the potential to be key leaders within their communities as they seek to re-build their country and lives. Refuge and Hope seeks to plant seeds of understanding and reconciliation, rooted in the love. I was so inspired throughout my internship last semester to see an organization take seriously the mandate of Christ to be peacemakers in the world.
Missy Ward is a student at McAfee School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia.
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April 11th, 2011
Her name is Mary. She is an eighteen-year-old Rwandan teenager, whose smile brings sunshine to the cloudiest of days. A friend brought her to the center to register for English classes during my second week in Kampala. The only English word she knew was hello. Even though I taught the Beginner’s English Class, all of my students had at least a basic foundation of grammar and conversational phrases.
I decided to privately tutor Mary twice a week in order to catch her up with the other students. She worked really hard over the next several weeks to learn the alphabet, days of the week, and basic conversational phrases. Whenever we would start class, she was always incredibly excited to practice the words she had learned. She would say with joy and excitement “My name is Mary! I am from Rwanda! Today is Wednesday!” We had profoundly connected, through mutual loving action. Although this connection was established, I knew very little about her.
One day as I was writing our practice exercises on the board, Mary was flipping through her notebook. I noticed that she had what looked like an essay on a few of the pages. I smiled as I told her that I was proud that she had written so much. But as she looked up at me, a sullen look overtook her face.
She handed me a letter that was addressed to me . . . written in English. It said:
Dear Missy,
This is Mary, your student. I asked someone to write to you because I cannot know how to tell it to you in English. The first of all I would like to kindly ask you to bear with me and read my long story. Here I start:
I was born in of the camps in Democratic Republic of Congo (Mary’s parents were amongst the thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees who fled to DRC after the genocide). When the 1996 war started, my parents tried to run. I was about three years old. That is what people who found me in the bush where my mom left me told me. Since then, I have been living in the forest near Walikau with the family who took me in. I have never been lucky in that forest. We used to live in fear and despair because men came anytime they want. They take one of the girls or women, and then raped us. I have seen the worst. It is just four months ago when one of the families sent some money and someone to take us from the forest. When we reached Kampala, they told me that they have to go on with their journey to Europe and can’t take me with them. I sat on the floor near the bus and started crying. But, God sent a woman to ask me why I was crying. I told her my story. She took me home with her till now. She told me that I must find a way of living because she also doesn’t have a job. She depends on her husband.
So dear Missy, help me with prayer or any other means so that I can have a stable life. I need God to help me find shelter, food and all the basics in life. When I can find a chance to study I want to be fruitful to the society that I live in. My story does not end here, but I tried to make it short. Wednesday I will come for the last lesson because the family which are relocating to _____. I don’t know where it is but I think it is far. I can’t make it to school. I will always be grateful for your kindness, tenderness and generosity. May God almighty be with you? I love you.
After reading this letter, with her hand in mine, we sat together and cried. I was actually grateful to God for the language barrier that existed between us. It prevented me form attempting to say something to make her feel better. The truth is there is nothing I could have said that would take the terrible memories or pain away. What she really needed in that moment was a friend by her side to listen, take her hand, wipe her tears and pray for her.
Gregory Smith, a Jesuit priest who assisted Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda, described this loss of words as the following: “to preach to this sea of suffering is like learning how to talk again. Herein lies the sobering truth: I am free when I am out of control and when I get out of the way.” It was in moments of listening to the heartbreaking stories of students like Mary that I learned how to talk again and let go of comforts and preconceived notions. I learned how to let go in order to have a deeper trust and reliance on God—who created Mary, loves her, and has the power to bring healing and transformation in her life.
God has placed a passion on my heart to assist the many Marys in our world, female refugees who have experienced sexual assault, trafficking, and domestic violence. My student is one of millions of women throughout the world for whom political instability, violence and vulnerability are a daily reality. Will you join me in praying for these precious sisters and daughters in Christ?
Missy Ward is a student at McAfee School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia.
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April 5th, 2011
This past fall I interned with Refuge and Hope (RH), a non-profit directed by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel, who assist refugees living in East Africa. During my four-and-a-half months of service, I mainly taught English as a Second Language at their community center in Kampala, Uganda. In addition to meeting basic needs within the community, RH also seeks to empower refugees to be leaders of change within their communities by holding conferences throughout the year.
As an RH intern in Uganda, I had the humble privilege of leading a leadership conference for a group of female Bari Sudanese pastors who live in Kampala. These women are between the ages of 20-55. Some have been life-long refugees; others have lived in Kampala for only a few years. All the women have experienced enormous hardships. Although there is currently a ceasefire, Southern Sudan has experienced war off and on since the mid 1950s. Since independence was achieved from Great Britain, the north has dominated the south, and the south has been subjected to one dictator after the other. Only recently through a referendum have the Southern Sudanese been able to express their democratic voice and demand to be separated from the north.
The direct result of decades of war and oppression has been the destruction of villages, rapes, murders, enlistment of child soldiers, and a flourishing slave trade. As an American, these circumstances are difficult to fathom. I could not comprehend what it is like, simply because of skin color, to be called abed (Arabic for slave) by government officials and fellow citizens. I could not understand what it must feel like to see Muraleen soldiers on horseback storm into villages, burn down houses, and kill my parents. I could not imagine walking for hundreds of miles to Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons camps. I could not fathom what it would be like to go for days without adequate food, water, or shelter, wondering if I could make it through the night.
These are the realities that many of these female pastors face. Some had also experienced sexual assault, domestic violence, and abandonment by their spouse. Although these realities are overwhelming, the pastors take comfort in knowing that they serve a God who is bigger than injustice or oppression. They worship a God who is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1). This dependency on God is evident day in and out of their lives. Members of the church meet several times a week to pray, fast, fellowship, study, and worship together. Their hope is also evident, most significantly in the way in which they worship God. They praise God with their entire body as they jump up and down, clapping their hands. They make a joyful noise at the top of their lungs as they boldly sing praises to God.
On the day of the conference, I had the opportunity to preach a message of transformation and empowerment based on the text of John 4. After the sermon, we had discussions about what it means to be loved and empowered by God. The women spoke of the things that hold them back from experiencing God’s love and transformation. This conversation provided an opportunity to build intimacy and accountability within their community.
We also discussed what it means to love and serve others within their community, specifically persons from different ethnic groups. In Southern Sudan, there are tribal divisions, which are further compounded by differences in appearance, language, and religion. These divisions have been historically re-enforced by political, economic, and social circumstances. The women pastors talked about what these divisions mean as well as the importance of loving those who are different. Although not everyone’s mind was changed by the end of the conference, seeds of reconciliation were planted.
The opportunity to lead this conference was a life changing experience for me. Through discussions and preparation for the day, my heart became more broken for the circumstances that these pastors and millions of other Sudanese face. Through worshipping together, I learned how to jump and sing more boldly than I had before. Through preaching, I gained a deeper understanding of Christ’s love. And through discussions, I was profoundly humbled and inspired as I ministered and was ministered to by this group of strong, bold and faithful pastors.
Missy Ward is a student at McAfee School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia.
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August 14th, 2010
I have arrived in Kampala, Uganda!!! I am so excited to be here. Today (August 9) we began our first day work at the Center. My field supervisors who are co-founders of Refuge and Hope gave me and my teammate our first main orientation. We learned about the history and purpose of the Centre of Hope (the refugee resettlement office in Kampala with which I will be working). I really appreciate how Refuge and Hope as an overall organization seeks to empower individuals within the community to be leaders for change within their respective communities.
We will be working with refugees from a variety of countries including: southern Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. I have never worked with such a diverse population of people in this type of setting before. Attempting to learn about appropriate cultural norms and language phrases for so many groups seems overwhelming. I am going to do my best to learn as much as I can while recognizing my limitations.
After orientation, we had the opportunity to hang out with four teenage girls from Southern Sudan (3) and Uganda (1). They are part of the larger Center of Hope dance club. After we met, they asked my teammate and I to teach them some American dances for the purpose of representing America at the party which will be held at the center on Saturday. One of the girls said she was “concerned that America was not represented at the last party the center had.” Her comment was so funny. After dance practice, we ate lunch together and the girls began to share with us a bit about their lives. One shared about losing her father last year. She was only fourteen at the time. Another girl shared about what it was like to live in southern Sudan and then a refugee camp in Uganda. She was exposed to violence at such a young age. Both of their stories were really tragic. As they shared, I was also really amazed to see how much joy and life they had. Although they had experience so much tragedy in their life, they sought to live, laugh and love to the best of their ability. All four girls are currently in high school and have dreams for the future. They also had so much life and laughter which they displayed beautifully in their dancing. I really appreciated my time with them this afternoon. I look forward to more dance practices in the upcoming months.
Missy Ward is in Kampala, Uganda, to work with refugees and internally displaced persons. She is serving with Student.Go and will be teaching English as a second language and leading an art therapy group for women refugees. Missy is a student at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit her blog at http://missyinuganda2010.blogspot.com/
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Written on the altar of what remains of a Catholic church in Ntamara, rural towns outside of Kigali, Rwanda, are the words: “if you knew me and you knew yourself, you would not have killed me.” These words are a powerful emblem at site where mass murder took place just seventeen years ago. Directly in front of the altar lay belongings and human remains from hundreds of victims who were killed, simply because they were of a different ethnic group.
Recognizing this division, staff and volunteers sought to bridge understanding and reconciliation through classes and activities. I taught a morning ESL class twice a week that had students from five different countries. When I first began teaching this class in September, students had little to no interaction with people from outside of their own ethnic group. Over the next few months, during class breaks, I took my class outside and played interactive games and activities. One activity that became a favorite was the name game. This game consisted of students saying their name and doing a hand motion, while everyone else repeated their name and motion. This game allowed students the opportunity to interact with one another.
day while visiting with friends I had the opportunity to connect with someone from this nationality. While my friends and I were walking down the stairs from their apartment, a woman in her mid-forties smiled at us. We walked over and introduced ourselves. During the first moments of the conversation, her three children came out and introduced themselves. We told them about English, sports, computer, cooking and sewing classes at a community center less than a kilometer from their home.
