Hard places

Afghanistan, Burundi, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Moldova, Philippines, Republic of Congo - Brazzaville, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Ukraine.

One of my favorite things about HOPE is its commitment to the hard places. Have you been following the violence in Goma or eastern DR Congo? Perhaps you're familiar with the perils of Afghanistan? Sometimes, "hard places" also means there is no microfinance there; how would your life be different if you could never open a bank account of any kind? Those are some of the places HOPE looks to expand.

DR Congo and Rwanda are surrounded by a hard region. We realize it every day when a bishop from South Sudan visits and prays for Darfur, when we visit the Kigali Memorial to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when a church member returns from Goma because someone from his NGO was killed, when people share stories of poverty and displacement in Central African Republic, Uganda, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi. The Rwandan genocide and the Sudanese conflicts of the last 30 years ripple throughout the region and place even more constraints on the poor.

The bishop from Sudan came to St. Etienne to ask for prayers and advice because the violence in Sudan will not relent, and he sees people in Rwanda moving past their troubles – while not forgetting – and moving forward. Rwandans may have some advice that we can never give, but we can join the church in prayer.