Tag Archives: Congo

Susan Broaddus and I worked together for many years on the Congo Network, a project of the worldwide Anglican and Episcopal churches to support the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She passed away on 3 December 2021 after a lifetime of faithful activism, including twelve years as an Episcopalian missionary in the Congo. This is to honor and remember her. May Susan rest in peace and rise in glory.

Susan’s church home was Christ & St. Luke’s Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia which published this memorial resolution in her honor. The resolution was presented to and approved by the diocese’s Annual Council on 26 February 2022 and will be part of the journal for the year.

Update: On 26 July 2022, the Congo Network’s Chair, and Africa Partnership Officer for the Episcopal Office of Global Partnerships, Rev. Daniel N. Karanja, Ph.D., presented the linked Brief to the Congo Network honoring Susan Broaddus and her inspiring life of advocacy and lay leadership. The Rev. Daniel reviewed over 400 pages of Susan’s letters and documents to create the Brief. He spoke of Susan’s outstanding and inspiring contributions developing the role of women leaders and educational programs, especially at the Université Anglicane du Congo.

Susan’s obituary was published by The Virginian-Pilot from 8 December – 10 December 2021. A longer version was published on Facebook by Women to Women for Congo on 8 December 2021:

It is with great sadness that we are sharing the news of the death  of Susan Broaddus, founder of the Women to Women for Congo and primary moderator of this page.

Susan Broaddus

Susan Broaddus succumbed to cancer on December 3, 2021, in Norfolk, Va., where she was born in 1946.

Her life’s greatest passion centered on The Democratic Republic of Congo, where she served as an Episcopalian missionary for over 12 years, dedicated to improving the lives of the people in that lawless and war-torn region.

She was especially concerned for the women and children there, because many militias continually attacked the towns and villages. The militias often kidnapped or killed the men, sexually attacked the women, and left the children orphaned.

About a decade ago, Susan revisited the Congo and was inspired to do more by raising awareness and money in the United States to help her beloved Congolese people. She founded a group called Women-to-Women for Congo, which joined her mission to pray for and financially assist the people there. She also supported the Anglican seminary in the Congo, both through individual scholarships and by supporting the seminary’s capital projects.

She was at the forefront locally of assisting with the immigration of the Sudanese “Lost Boys,” personally assisting many of them with tutoring, housing, bureaucracy, and more. 

Susan was a lifelong Francophile. Before retiring, she taught high school French in several school systems throughout the greater Hampton Roads area.

Her fluency in French enabled her to stay in touch with her friends and contacts in the Congo. When Susan’s health was declining rapidly from her second battle with cancer, the Most Rev. Henri Isingoma, who was the Archbishop of the Congo while she served there and is now retired, e-mailed a letter to Susan, which captured Susan’s spirit. It reads, in part (roughly translated): “I have no other words but to congratulate you for having led a life consecrated to the holy ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am convinced that you do not fear anything because, together, we have worked in the direction of ensuring the continuity of his mission to proclaim the Eternal Kingdom of God. Knowing that our human capacities have time limits, we had trained others among us and for subsequent generations. The mission continues.”

In addition to her work with the Congo, Susan was an avid reader and member of a book club. Shelves and stacks of books on many subjects filled her home. She also was active in her church, Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Susan was preceded in death by her parents, John and Margaret Broaddus, and her sisters, Margaret (Midge) Hutchison, and Ann Broaddus. She is survived by her nephew, Jason Nowell, and extended family and hometown friends….

If you would like to honor Susan by supporting women and theologians in the Congo, please contribute to the Susan Broaddus Memorial Scholarship Fund.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home). Images Copyright by the Rev. Bisoke Balikenga, Bunia, Congo.

Updated 27 September 2023

Last month, I posted a disturbing story and images: Help Needed for Displaced in Congo. The number of internal refugees who have settled in Bunia, Congo, continues to grow.  The camp now holds over 86,000 people, many of whom are women and children who have traveled for weeks under very dangerous circumstances.  The Congo Network of the Episcopal and Anglican churches gets regular updates from the Reverend Bisoke Balikenga who lives and works in Bunia, DRC.  The Congo Network is chaired by the Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki Mukasa (Africa Relations, Episcopal Church).  The US media is reporting very little on this massive humanitarian crisis. I asked the Rev. Bisoke to send the Congo Network photos so that we could help tell the story.

Particularly disturbing were the photos of the girl Rachel and her little sister.  The Rev. Bisoke wrote with the photo below: “Rachel sister just come from the hospital, her left arm was cut by the rebel and Rachel was cut in the head and the mother was killed. Rachel is not in a good condition you can see her head. Please pray for them because the life which they have now it is not the good one.”  The Rev. Bisoke has taken 30 refugees into his own home, in addition to his family of 8.  He is getting some help from friends.  If you would like to help displaced people in the Congo, please donate to Episcopal Relief and Development (designate your donation to DRC). Your money will go toward food, clothing, shelter and assistance with trauma.

 

Recent news stories include:

• “Congo crisis worsening, EU says, as government shuns aid conference” 25 March 2018 in Reuters
  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-eu/congo-crisis-worsening-eu-says-as-government-shuns-aid-conference-idUSKBN1H10PK?il=0
• “UN: $1.7 Billion Needed for DRC Humanitarian Crisis” 19 March 2018 in VOA News 
  https://www.voanews.com/a/un-says-almost-2-billion-dollars-needed-for-drc-humanitarian-crisis/4305877.html
  
• “DRC Violence: This Time It’s Different” 16 March 2018 in Fair Observer
  https://www.fairobserver.com/region/africa/joseph-kabila-democratic-republic-congo-violence-conflict-africa-news-headlines-76540/
• “Ethnic Violence in DRC’s Northeast Displaces at Least 60 000” 18 March 2018 in​ News24
  https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/ethnic-violence-in-drcs-northeast-displaces-at-least-60-000-20180318
• “Uganda Cholera Outbreak Slows, But Violence in DRC Complicates Recovery” 10 March 2018 in​ ​Devex
  https://www.devex.com/news/uganda-cholera-outbreak-slows-but-violence-in-drc-complicates-recovery-92344
• “Militias are Burning Villages in Congo” ​8 March 2018 in New York Times – Visual Investigations​
  ​ https://nyti.ms/2G43nk5​
• “How We Identified Burned Villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo” 8 March 2018 in New York Times
  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/insider/burned-villages-democratic-republic-congo.html
• ​”DRC: Thousands Flee Amid Surge in ‘Horrific Violence” 21 February 2018 in Al Jazeera
  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/thousands-flee-atrocities-south-eastern-drc-180220143919759.html​

Photos copyright 2018 by the Rev. Bisoke Balikenga – used with permission.
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Violence has recently gotten worse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I was on a call a few days ago during which we learned of tens of thousands of displaced people, about two thousand of whom are now seeking help near a hospital in Bunia. The Reverend Bisoke Balikenga sent us the photos you see here of families in Bunia in need of food, water, firewood, bedding, and schools for the children. We are coordinating our aid efforts through Episcopal Relief and Development.

Since 2015, I have been a part of the Congo Network group of the Episcopal Church. The group is chaired by the Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki Mukasa (Africa Relations, Episcopal Church). I was nominated to join the Congo Network group by my Bishop, the Right Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves (of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, California).  We meet by phone and online about quarterly to share information and coordinate support work. I have been taking the Congo Network minutes.

There is small awareness in the United States about the size and severity of the Congo’s humanitarian crisis. Little news is published, mostly by non-US media and organizations:

• • ‘I knew I had to get out’ of DR Congo (BBC, 17 Feb 2018)

• The Elders call for urgent action on political and humanitarian crises in DR Congo (Kofi Annan Foundation, 15 Feb 2018)
• Congo is sliding back to bloodshed (The Economist, 15 Feb 2018)
• DRC violence risks ‘spreading’ as 22,000 flee in a week (Al Jazeera, 14 Feb 2018)
• Congo’s mega-crisis at deadly tipping point (Norwegian Refugee Council, 14 Feb 2018)
• Congolese refugees perish as growing numbers seek safety in Uganda (United Nations Refugee Agency, 13 Feb 2018)
• Congo’s Slide Into Chaos (Foreign Affairs, January/February 2018)
• DR Congo conflict leaves 400,000 children malnourished (Al Jazeera, 23 Jan 2018)
• DR Congo displacement crisis ‘worse than Middle East’ (BBC, 6 Dec 2017)

However, if I did not know about it directly from the Congo Network, I may not have heard about this crisis at all. I have to go searching for news of the Congo – it does not appear in my regular news sources.  I have never been so aware of the limitations of the US media and how news is distributed.

Congo is about 70% Christian and many of the displaced people are seeking help from their churches. Pope Francis has raised awareness by holding a day of prayer and fasting on 23 February for those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

If you would like to help displaced people in the Congo, please donate to Episcopal Relief and Development (designate your donation to DRC).

Photos copyright 2018 by the Rev. Bisoke Balikenga – used with permission.
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