This month I was in Rwanda for two big events related to the Healing Hearts, Transforming Nations (HHTN) workshop that we have been doing in South Sudan. First, I served on the facilitation team of the International School of Reconciliation (ISOR), training new facilitators for this workshop who came from nine different countries. It was an intense time of learning and sharing together as we faced the wounds within us and within our countries. Nearly 10 delegates came from Ethiopia, where war is devastating the country and the social fabric. Four South Sudanese pastors came from northern Uganda, where they live in refugee camps after fleeing their homes in South Sudan during the crisis of 2016.
At the end of the training, the new facilitators conduct HHTN workshops in groups in the community. I helped to coach one group as they prepared to teach, including learning dramas and figuring out how to make the teaching interactive and personal. Teaching in a workshop in a way that touches the heart and not just the head is not easy! Add to that the language challenge – most of our new facilitators were not Rwandan, so they spoke in English which was translated into Kinyarwanda. But they also do not speak English as their first language, so they are having to teach in a language that is not their most comfortable language. For some, this meant laboriously writing out what they wanted to say to make sure they would be clear. I was humbled and blessed by the hard work and caring hearts that each person in my group demonstrated. A few of them even incorporated testimonies of their own pain into their teaching which I know is difficult, but it served to open up the hearts of participants and give them hope for healing in they heard how God can bring healing.
The second big event was a forum for practitioners who are using this workshop in healing and reconciliation ministries in this region of East Africa. It was a rich and meaningful time together, and I got to meet some faithful heroes that I have heard about for years. One group serves in Eastern Congo, visiting remote villages and promoting healing in places that have been repeatedly terrorized by militia. Four of us from South Sudan attended the forum, and it was inspiring to learn from others and see that ours is not the only country with challenges of instability and conflict!
One of the central parts of the HHTN workshop is the session on the cross, where we take our pain to Jesus as the pain-bearer (Isaiah 53:4). During the forum, there was a chance for all of us who regularly conduct the cross workshop for others to participate in it ourselves, sharing our pain and giving it over to Jesus. As we stood together around the cross, several people shared of deep pain that weighed them down and we prayed together for freedom and healing. I was grateful for this safe space where all of us who are pour out for lives for others could share our own pain and find love and support.
a missionary who serves the people of Ukraine
