{"id":3270,"date":"2012-12-04T14:16:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T20:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=3270"},"modified":"2012-12-04T14:18:03","modified_gmt":"2012-12-04T20:18:03","slug":"shadrack-mutabazi-maintains-hope-for-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2012\/shadrack-mutabazi-maintains-hope-for-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Shadrack Mutabazi Maintains Hope for Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>December 4, 2012<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Shadrack Mutabazi is a Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student who is doing his best to concentrate on his studies and embrace his family\u2019s new Canadian home. It\u2019s an everyday challenge for him because even oceans can\u2019t separate him from the trauma he\u2019s faced in his lifetime \u2013 and the trauma that continues to plague his family \u00a0and his country.<\/p>\n

Mutabazi was born into the Banyamulenge minority tribe in the Democratic Republic of Congo \u2013 which is to say, he was born into persecution and violence. He lived for ten years in exile in Rwanda and five years as a refugee in Uganda, \u00a0spending his life as the victim of xenophobic persecution and life threatening circumstances, witnessing unspeakable atrocities, and losing many loved ones along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have lost many relatives \u2013 parents, uncles, brothers, cousins, colleagues, and friends \u2013 and I have narrowly escaped life threatening incidents myself. I grew up with no peace, no hope for stability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s been victimized, Mutabazi is anything but a victim. In Africa, he became an ordained pastor and founded the HOPU Organization to bring hope and peace to hurt and suffering people \u2013 both those who have been persecuted and the persecutors themselves. \u201cDeep inside, we all have interest in finding reconciliation and forgiveness. Even the perpetrators don\u2019t live in peace,\u201d said Mutabazi. \u201cHOPU uses music to repair and restore, building bridges between groups of people who have been fighting for their entire lives. We want to see reconciliation. And we will get there someday. But first, we focus on just getting people sitting in the same room together and finding some common ground \u2013 through music, poetry, and other cultural activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This married father of six children has moved his family \u2013 including some of his siblings, for a total of eleven people \u2013 to Winnipeg in search of the peace and stability he\u2019s been looking for his entire life. At CMU, he is studying Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies and he also attended CMU\u2019s Canadian School of Peacebuilding this past summer. He hopes that advanced education will help him continue to lead his people in healing and restitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most important things I\u2019ve learned during my time at CMU so far has been the power of love and forgiveness,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sounds so simple, but I\u2019ve discovered that you must go inward first to find love and healing so that you can help others to do the same. This truth has been profound in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

His work has continued here in Winnipeg, through Shalom Christian Outreach and Heritage Outreach, and Mutabazi plans to use his degree to continue promoting peace, unity, and social justice as both a church and a community leader.<\/p>\n

When asked about his home country and the atrocities that continue there today, Mutabazi \u2013 holding onto his innate strength and optimism \u2013 said, \u201cI see great possibilities for peace and reconciliation in the Congo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe complexity of the real situation has been unrecognized \u2013 or undermined \u2013 by the organizations that have been trying to help there,\u201d Mutabazi explained, \u201cbut God knows what is happening in the Congo. From my experience, I know that with deep spiritual maturity, we can remain positive and learn the process that can support resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am one of many who have experienced this extremely challenging journey,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat has happened in my life \u2013 the killing, the fear \u2013 surpasses all human understanding. But we can still preach the message of peace, love, and justice. God promises us, in John 14:27, a \u2018peace that the world cannot give.\u2019 Peace comes from God, and God has a wonderful plan for the Congo.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past week, increased tensions in the eastern Congo have sent some of the remaining members of Mutabazi\u2019s family fleeing for their lives. Some are safe for now, but have been separated from their families and fears run high. Mutabazi is looking for ways to bring more of his family into Canada.<\/p>\n

Article written by Lindsay Wright for CMU<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 4, 2012\u00a0\u2013 Shadrack Mutabazi is a Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student who is doing his best to concentrate on his studies and embrace his family\u2019s new Canadian home. It\u2019s an everyday challenge for him because even oceans can\u2019t separate him from the trauma he\u2019s faced in his lifetime \u2013 and the trauma that continues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156,25,5,170],"tags":[326],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3270"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3273,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions\/3273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}