A personal privilege...

I was speaking about DRC at the Queen's University International Prayer Meeting yesterday; presenting stories from our trip along with some prayer points. It was great to get to pray with these students about the trip in general, but the prayer of one of the girls really stood out:

"Lord, I thank you that we can pray not only for the Congo as a whole, but also for these individual people: their lives, their hopes and fears."

This just made me realise that, although it is a privilege to have even been to the Congo and seen a glimpse of the country and its culture, the real privilege is that we got to meet such amazing people and talk to them about things that mattered to them. These people aren't just "people from the Congo" or even "people from 'Partner X' in Kinshasa". They are Nana from Project Photo, who told us about the stigma surrounding HIV in her family; Santa from the university in Kinshasa who confided in us that she can't trust her male lecturers; Neil who is part of the VORSI Congo choir and spoke to us about their work. They are real people. And I think its important for us to remember this as well, as we go out and tell their stories - to remember that they aren't just a name in our notebook or a face in a photograph.

How privileged we are to have met them! Though we can speak of the Congo as one whole, massive country, its these individual lives that make it, and that made our trip. I hope I never forget them.