The Angel's Promise

"You will find Him" promises the angel to the shepherds. These words from a Christmas meditation rang in my heart. I will find Him; this I know is true. On this African adventure, I will encounter Christ, but like the shepherds, I must be ready and awake. I must be ready to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Christmas is over for another year. I hardly shopped and I felt quite out of sync with that part of the season. However, I did receive much more than I imagined. People in my life have been exceedingly generous with gifts and prayers and I am grateful to the point of being overwhelmed with emotion at times. Sometimes it is simply the gift of a kind word of encouragement, like today after mass, when one of the women who attends regularly, whose name I do not even know, came to speak a blessing on my journey. I feel so fortunate.

I have discovered a little about my itinerary. I will have January 5 to recover from my jet lag at the guest house near the CAPI office. On January 6, two of the CAPI staff and I will make our way to Goma, DRC, via Kigali, Rwanda. CAPI works with internally displaced people in camps and assists with monitoring and supporting women-specific activities in the Goma Relief and Conflict Transformation program, including bereavement training and counseling. They also have a training program entitled Alternatives to Violence (AVP) for community members there. CAPI works with prisoners, demobilized youth, and ex-combatants. I am so impressed with all the programs that CAPI participates in and cannot wait to see how they run when I am there.

From Goma, we return to Rwanda and then on to Burundi where I will remain to assist in setting up a new CAPI extension office in Bujumbura. I have been communicating with a man named Lucky who is involved in the Deaf Community there and who (lucky for me) speaks English. He will introduce me to the Executive Director of the Deaf Community in Burundi. I also have some connections to the Deaf Community in Nairobi which will also be fabulous. Lucky sent me an email in response to asking him what he loved most about Bujumbura. He says that the area is very flat (so I should feel at home!) and on beautiful Lake Kivu. He does not like the weather which he complains is too hot. Well, even though Winnipeg is no longer -50 with a windchill, I am still thrilled to be going somewhere that has no snow and has more Suzanne-friendly temperatures.

Hope your holiday celebrations went well. For those who looked, I hope that you found Him this Christmas.

Peace to each of you.

Suzanne