Teaching English in the DR Congo?
As I opened Radical Reconciliation, a book by Allan Boesak and Curtiss Paul DeYoung, it became apparent to me that I owe you fellow travelers more than a casual explanation of how I came to be called to spend three months in DR Congo. So here is a short reflection on the experiences that have led me down this path.
As I opened Radical Reconciliation, a book by Allan Boesak and Curtiss Paul DeYoung, it became apparent to me that I owe you fellow travelers more than a casual explanation of how I came to be called to spend three months in DR Congo. So here is a short reflection on the experiences that have led me down this path.
The starting point is the extreme frustration I feel when I listen to the nightly news and reflect on recent traumatic events. Let’s start with the Bosnia war. I was in Yugoslavia twice before the breakup and fell in love with the country. Approximately 200,000 people died in that war, and it was widely reported because American troops were involved. A second example is the Rwanda “genocide”, where 500,000 to 1 million people died. Now we have Syria, where something slightly less than 100,000 people have died. Each of these are major tragedies, about which all humans should be deeply concerned. There have been a series of “wars” in Congo since 1996. Do you have any guess as to how many people have died (not counting rapes, mutilations, and torture)? Over FIVE MILLION. And yet, there is practically no news coverage of the massacres and starvation, which are on-going today. If you’d like to know more, I refer you to this excellent summary from the BBC, which, unlike US media, seems to know that the Democratic Republic of Congo does exist: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24396390.
The second reason I am going is that the Global Ministries of the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ has done an excellent job of drilling the concept of “critical presence” into my head, beginning from a trip to the Soviet Union in 1974 and continuing through work and study trips to places like Nepal, Thailand, Honduras, and El Salvador, where the presence of a seeker can mean many things – a caring heart to a people for whom hope is scarce; a protector against oppression simply because the oppressors fear publicity from the press in affluent countries that directly or indirectly support them; or most simply, the face of Christ to the poor and outcast. Just “showing up” is a very important first step.
A third reason is quite simple: our partners asked for a way for them to improve their English, because it is an important tool for communicating with the world outside of DR Congo. I speak English, and have the means to get myself to where they are. I have done some teaching with people for whom English is not their first language, albeit it did not involve teaching a language. It’s cheaper to send one person there than to send 20 of them to a place where they can learn English. This seems the most practical solution.
Summing all of these reasons up, what has become the compelling story for this journey is this: I want to become the lens through which others can learn to love the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo as much as I do, and who will become compelled to do something – ANYTHING – to relieve the suffering there. You, my followers, are the ultimate reason I am making this trip. Stay with me. Discover a new world. Connect with these wonderful children of God.
Susan McNeely, a member of Southport Christian Church in Indianiapolis, will be serving as a Short Term Volunteer with the Community of Disciples of Christ in the Congo from February to March 2014. Follow her journey on her blog English in DR Congo?