Hi Everybody,

I'm sure you heard about the heavy fighting that went on in the past few days in Kinshasa. I just wanted to let you know that things are calm and we're all fine here. I hear that there are still some of Bemba's troops in the Kingabwa, Ndolo, and Njili areas of town and that government troops are continuing to round them up (meaning that there are little gun battles going on in those areas occasionally). Today, downtown was clear of all road blocks as everyone went to church. There were a lot of government troops stationed along the roads, but otherwise it looked like a normal Sunday in Kinshasa. There had been rumors flying for the last few days that all of the major businesses downtown had been looted. That turns out not to be true. Rumors are that businesses were surrounded and bribes were paid to soldiers, both Bemba's and Government, to keep from being looted (that's hearsay, though). I know there was some looting of private residences, mostly along the boulevard. Sadly, the looting was done by both sides. I've heard that other government troops made a sincere effort to stop the looting and that many soldiers/looters were arrested.

Throughout the conflict, our side of town remained calm. We even had power and water, which was an incredible blessing since there were about 70 students (and several drivers and house workers- over 120 people total) stuck at TASOK. You know, you really get to know people during times like this, and I must say that the community here at TASOK is amazing. Every single home on campus was part of the effort to keep everyone housed and well-fed for the three days. The TASOK staff organized a schedule of activities to keep the students busy and entertained. They did such a good job that several of the little kids actually cried when their parents were finally able to pick them up. Evidently, they were having too much fun.

I spoke with a few of the parents who had been stuck downtown in their offices during the fighting. Several of them were highly traumatized. It reminded me of a couple things that we've gone through in the past. I am very aware of how blessed we are to have been in a safe place that was far enough away from the fighting that we could only hear the faint booming of canon fire and grenade launchers. Praise God.

The forecast for now is a bit unclear: There is some discussion as to how long it will take to round up the rest of Bemba's militia. There are also rumors that Bemba has a few hundred troops outside of Brazzaville who are waiting to team up with the remnants of the militia, and that there will be renewed fighting. This seems far fetched, but some pretty credible people are talking about it. In any case, unless there's a major upset, it doesn't look like the fighting would spread to our area of town. So, until we know how things are going, our plan is to stick close to home. We'll let you know if there are any changes.

Love in Christ,
Jill