November is a month for remembering.

Remember, remember the fifth .......

Lest we forget on the 11th ..........

Along with many others of a certain age, I well remember where I was that Friday when John Kennedy was shot.

Along with many others, I well remember where I was the Sunday morning when BBC World Service announced that Lady Di had died - "Diana, Princess of Wales, is dead".

Watershed dates.

But May 12-16 2003 is probably not a date that many note as being significant. I remember where I was. In Nairobi with the members of AIM's International Council when the call came for the AIM AIR planes to be sent into Bunia to evacuate CECA-20 church people to save them from the consequences of tribal fighting.

I'm just learning what it was like for those who weren't evacuated by plane.

Here is Adjuabe's experience:

"It was on 12 May, 2003, that we left Bunia for North Kivu under the sound of gunfire. Bullets were flying everywhere. On that day about 50,000 people were on the road. We left Bunia without eating or taking our belongings.

Along the road, militiamen killed, raped girls and took people's belongings by force. Children were forgotten by their parents; parents were forgotten by their children. There were corpses everywhere - even along the streets in the town. We were living without hope of seeing tomorrow. 'Carpe diem' was our motto; 'Into your hands we put our lives, God' was our prayer. For one week we walked; there was no food except the fruit of the forest. For those who went by way of Tchekele it was two weeks. Many people were killed on the road. Many died in the forest for lack of medicine. Rivers carried children, women, even men. It was a horrifying experience."

Gudusti remembers a more current conflict in his home area of Geti, not far from Bunia:

"It would be good for everyone to read this awful story and understand it, because it's true.

In the period of the war, the people who wanted to save their lives and their families carried things on their heads. Children carried things that were bigger than their own size and the little ones walked themselves to save their lives. It was not easy. It was miserable. Their parents pushed them so that they would walk fast. Some infants died on the road and their parents ran carrying their bodies in their arms. One mother carried her dead child for two days and didn't relinquish it until she could bury it with the help of other people. People took refuge in valleys, on mountains, in caves and in the forest. When they reached safety they slept hungry. Children wept all night. Many people didn't return to their villages because they are adjusted to refugee life. Would you remember to pray for them?"

Lest we forget.

"Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are." Hebrews 13:3 

Blessings,