Living in a Red Zone

Area map

Yes, we’re living in a red zone here in Beni, as declared by powers that be. Yes, the Congolese army is fighting ADF-NALU. Yes, Beni is the headquarters for military activity. Yes, one sees more soldiers and army vehicles around town. 

The history of this conflict, like most conflicts, is complicated and many-layered. It’s easy to fall into the “good guy/bad guy” trap to simplify the story and get one’s hands around it. But simple explanations demean the story. I won’t even try to explain the issues, describe the actors, or outline the history. There are plenty of resources for that (thank you, Kyle Hamilton, for your diligence in keeping information and resources on the CI website current).

Home from market

I simply want to make clear that red zone, like any other label, is just that: a label. It’s an attempt to sweep all the puzzles pieces into a pile so they fit into one box. But each of those pieces is just one part of an entire story with complexities, nuances, vignettes, joys, and fears. The sky piece and the flower blossom piece echo nothing of each other. The grey cloud in the right hand corner reveals nothing about the piece of red dress on the child in the lower left hand corner. Yes, we live in an area labeled red zone. But that label ignores the joys, friendships, and daily life challenges that breathe because life moves forward.

UCBC women students

Shops, schools, and churches carry on. The motos run. People go to the market, sweep the street in front of their kiosks, wash laundry, prepare meals, have weddings, deliver babies. UCBC women students discuss how to encourage each other and create opportunities for their voices and their gifts. Reflection days and chapel and classes proceed. 

The fighting is outside of town. Depending on whom you ask, it’s anywhere from 20 to 50 or more km from here. Last week some students reported hearing occasional sounds of artillery in the distance. But there are no such claims this week. Sure, when two or more folks get together, the discussion includes the latest about the conflict. But people also talk about family, work, school, and church.

I love the fact that life goes on.

Cooking for all-campus meal

Regardless of what one thinks about the conflict—its sources, antagonists and perpetrators—that life goes is a statement about resilience, courage, and the gift of being able to “live in the moment.” And that is something most of us (self included) relearn daily, regardless of where we live. In fact, that's one of the gifts of Congo—joy in the moment. We are instructed to pray, "Give us this day, our daily bread."

Sure, there are precautions. I don’t go out at night. But then, I don’t go out any night. When I walk from UCBC to home, I don’t traverse the quiet paths through “the bush,” but the main road. I keep my phone loaded with airtime units, extra cash on hand, and my passport with me. But I do this regardless of what color we are or aren’t. 

Leadership and key staff at CI-UCBC keep ears and eyes on the situation. Through a variety of networks and contacts, they obtain and verify information. They also laugh, whistle in the hallway, rejoice in the day, attend to the needs of others, and “do the work God has given us to do.”

And so I follow their lead.