A strong faith has seen them through atrocities most Western United Methodists cannot imagine. Bishop Forrest Stith, who heads the Global Ministries' Africa Project, has spent time in the refugee camps that served Rwandans who fled to the Congo beginning in 1994 to escape civil war. Stith's stories tell of deprivation and desolation and families torn asunder. Many found their homes and property destroyed, schools and churches stripped, family members murdered. And still, they begin again to rebuild, rejuvenate and re-imagine a better future for themselves and their children.
Makeshift schools operate as classrooms are being rebuilt.
Faith communities worship in the open air. The horrors of war cannot destroy the power of hope, Stith says. Children sing a hymn during chapel services at United Methodist-run Hartzell Primary School in Zimbabwe. Funds from the bishops' appeal will provide more facilities for education, health care and spiritual development. Photo by Mike DuBose.