We will be hosting an evening event to share some of the experiences we had and take you on a journey of Rwanda and DR Congo. Please come invite someone, especially if they haven’t heard of Bridges Of Hope before.

Date:

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Time:

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:

1303 13th st North

City/Town:

Lethbridge, AB

Yesterday we visited the refugee camp just outside of Goma. No photo, no words, no film can describe the level of dispair we experinced. It has to be smelt, seen, felt and heard to begin to understand the concentration of hopelessness in this place. It is enough to bring the hardest of hearts to its knees in tears. We all stood speachless as children began to gather are stare through us. No words were exchanged just blank looks. Our guide eventually walked us through the area. Large speakers echoed the voice of a political leader telling the people it was now safe to return to their homes. After the arrest of the rebel leader it seems people are trying to get back to life.

In the distance of the camp there is a volcano with smoke pouring out the top of it. When we toured the schools in the city we had to drive over cooled lava rocks from an eruption that happened in 2001. The city was destroyed and they are now rebuilding onto of the lava rocks. Even the floors of the schools are these hardball sized rocks.

Today we gave out the food to families. Again this expeince is very difficult to place into words. It was extremly joyful yet had an overshadowing amount of dispair. We had to select familuies who were in the most need and mee them in a church 15km away to give them the dry food. If we would have drove into the camp and begun distributing food we would have been trampled and killed. The good news is that it went well.

We will leave monday moring back to Rwanda to give the Bridges of Hope seminar. Other than that and my lack of clean underwear and new liking to goat meat there is not allot else new.

-Shawn ard

The situation has gotten out of hand in Congo. Urgent times requires urgent measures. Five years after Congo’s catastrophic war officially ended, the rate at which people are dying in the country remains virtually unchanged. The survey, released last tuesday, estimated that 45,000 people continue to die every month, about the same pace as in 2004, when the international push to rebuild the country had scarcely begun. Almost all the deaths come from hunger and disease, signs that the country is still grappling with the aftermath of a war that gutted its infrastructure, forced millions to flee and flattened its economy.

We are planning to take supplies for 800 families at the cost of $30,000. We hope to gather and distribute the supplies february 10 2009. Please come and hear more about what you can do.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7702099.stm