Searching for Bertine's Family - Congolese Refugees

HI again,

Leigh and I just spent the last 4 days travelling to Masaka and then to Mbarara which is in the southwest of Uganda. We had an overnight at a refreshing Lake Nagubagu) where I was also able to see Jenny Moore's parents...Robin and Jim Fruehan of Jireh Ministries for a little while. It was so good to see them! It was not planned to go that direction. As usual...not in my plans, however...One day prior to leaving Billings, I received a call from a Senator's office in Wyoming asking if I might be able to help one of their constituents locate his family who were found to be in Uganda as refugees from the Congo.
A little correspondence ensued and I relayed I would need as much as information as possible and I would try to look into it. Well, in the airport in MN, on our way over to Uganda, I happened to recieve a phone call from Bertine...a congolose refugee himself who was granted assylum in the US over 10 years ago. The story he told was amazing and touched my heart so much. Bertine was living in southern Congo near the Rwanda border and attending secondary school. The Hutu tribe from Rwanda was also living in Southern Congo( you may recall the genocide in Rwanda...or saw the movie Hotel Rwanda..well the Hutu's fled to Congo and were gaining an army to fight back).
As is the case in many of these countries...in order to build an army of forces...children are abducted and forced to become child soldiers. Bertine was abducted 14 years ago from his secondary school and forced to become a child soldier for the Hutu army. Eventually he heard of a way to escape, through a wood boat that was leaving to go down the river...where he did not know. In the night he escaped and hid in the bottom of the boat which winded around and eventually ended up in Zambia. He was told in the night to jump out at the beach and hide in the bushes. Somehow he made it to Mozambique and a refugee camp. An Aide worker interviewed him and through the processes he was granted assylum and relocation to America 10 years ago. He re-located in Maryland and went through the schooling etc for refugees to learn the language. He started cross country running and eventually recieved a scholarship to the University of Wyoming for cross country. He has since graduated as a math teacher and teaches math at a high school in Gilette Wyoming. He is married and expecting his first child. As you can imagine..the trauma and pain he went through. And now always praying and wondering where his family is, if they were alive even? Recently he had word from another congolese who was re-located to Denver Colo and let him know his brother and sister were in Uganda in a refugee camp. So he located Lutheren Services which led to a search through the UNHCR and found them registered in Kampala in 2008.
He was advised to contact the senator's office for help...who then contacted me once they found out have and do go over to Uganda.
After recieving the phone call...He told me they were in Nakavali refugee camp and were congolese (the senator office thought Sudanese...I immediately called Leigh (in Seattle on her way to Uganda)..and asked her to call Colleen, a ST. V ICU nurse who volunteered in a congolese refugee camp in Uganda last year. Amazingly, Colleen worked in the same refugee camp! The path was written..and I felt led to follow it. Colleens contacts with Medical Teams International led to contacts with the UNHCR and a visit to Nakavale refugee camp near the border of Tanzania..southwest Uganda. Search as we all may..the family was nowhere to be found. They were not registered in the camp of 50,000 and there was no record of them since 2008 in Kampala. So, I tried to contact Inter Aid which led to Red Cross Uganda...meanwhile an e-mail came through from Bertine..with a name and number of a person who may know where his family is. This turned out to be crucial..as I was sitting in Mbarara thinking of what to do next...this man was in Kampala and was helping Bertine's brother Arsene and sister Giselle as the time they came the conditions in the camp were terrible (much better now as we saw first hand). This morning I am back in Entebbe after a very long bus ride yesterday..yes, it was the public bus..but I felt in my element...love to travel with the locals! (Except when they keep stepping on me, elbowing me and sleeping on me!..kidding sort of).
I an off to Kampala to finally meet the family...I hope and pray! I'm not sure where the meeting will be yet..so I have learned not to get my hopes up too high...yet I will not give up. I feel so attached to this family already..
I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the prayers..I sure need them as does this family!
Leigh was a trooper to travel this with me and is now staying with a friend in Kampala and will fly out tomorrow.

Love, Nadine