We had the first ever Regional CC meeting in Rwanda with CC members from Rwanda, DRC, South Sudan and Burundi for three days, learning and sharing the great work that they are doing. Unlike in other parts, the bridge building issues in these countries are mostly ethnic and political in nature. Emphasis was more on how we could build the capacity of CCs and their work to support regional and global connections and information sharing.
Unlike the Kampala meeting that used English, French was a dominant language in this meeting. I thank the volunteers that did a great job in translating. Only three of the participants had ever been to a URI event. This meant a lot of sharing about URI, from the basic information to the current organizational strides being made within the region and globally.
As always and typical of Africa, we had our high moments that included music, dancing and a lot of laughter. Thank you Sulemani for the guitar. We also had our low moments, especially during the tour inside the genocide memorial. Isabella from Rwanda and Jane from South Sudan broke down, each remembering the gruesome incidents that occurred in their countries and which continue to happen in the case of South Sudan.
URI African Continental Coordinator Mussie Hailu's message, which had a call for prayers and commitment to peaceful mechanisms for resolving conflicts in the region during the meeting, was timely because as I write this, lives are being lost in Burundi due to the political unrest there. I have so far received messages of friends who are entering Uganda this week while others are crossing over to Rwanda. Our prayers go out to everybody in Burundi for a peaceful resolution of the political issues there.
In all we had a great face-to-face meeting and shared in the challenges and opportunities, and made resolutions. But we also shared the great work that the groups are doing, especially in as far as peace building is concerned in such war protracted countries.
Thank you for your prayers and may peace prevail on Earth.
