Introducing Emily

Welcome Emily Johnson, the newest member of the team! 

(Read Emily's adventures on her blog: http://emilyindrc.blogspot.com/)

An Open Letter to FPM Supporters from Team-member Emily Johnson

Dear friends,

Many of you have been “introduced” to me through the Friendly Planet newsletter and through the website, as we documented my recent (first!) trip through the Katanga-region of the Congo with Mary Kabamba. However, now that I’m back in the United States, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself formally, to thank you all for all of your support, and to write briefly about my unique experience as a female graduate-student-hoping-to-become-a-psychologist as I traveled in Congo.

First of all, it is our great hope and aspiration that more comprehensive “biographies” will be forthcoming on the website for all team members, but for those of you who don’t know me or who have just “met” me, here is a little background on my “journey” that led me to FPM. I am a 26-year-old female graduate student in the doctoral psychology program at the University of Indianapolis, in Indianapolis, Indiana. I recently received my Master’s Degree in May, right before I left for Africa. I live in Indianapolis with my husband and a house full of pets. I love and have always loved working with kids with developmental disabilities and autism, but I also really enjoy counseling individuals (children and women, especially) who have suffered sexual or physical abuse. I am a member of the small but active and socially-justice minded congregation at Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church. Bob has frequented Lockerbie from time to time, speaking, or just attending. Last October, he visited with DS Joseph Mulongo, and they spoke about the work of FPM.

Having always wanted to go to Africa but never having been, I an invisible “pull” on my heart after he spoke. I did not know what I would do, or how I would do it, or how I would afford it, but I approached Bob about going to the Congo over the summer (2011). I felt a little crazy coming up with the idea, given that I had NO specific training in the area, and NO African travel experience. I think that we all felt a little “crazy” about the idea of sending me over with no real history with FPM at all, but it seemed to be a God-driven “crazy” idea (as most of our FPM ideas are) because things naturally unfolded after that. When Bob and I sat down to talk, we were shocked (well, I was shocked) to discover that our liberation-theology based philosophies were remarkably similar. That combined with my experience working with psychologically traumatized women and children and (some) knowledge of French, pretty much sealed the deal.

I don’t think anyone really “knew” what I would “do” while I was there, or whether or not it was a good fit, but it became increasingly apparent both to me and the rest of the team, that God had planned for me to be there, and I fit right in—from my (usually) laid-back and flexible attitude to the harrows of Congolese travel and willingness to try new things to my desire to really know what the women’s issues were. If you read my blog at all, you are familiar with many of my experiences and unfolding revelations about being in the Congo for the first time. If you haven’t, I encourage you to go back and read it, if only to get an understanding of our most recent expeditions. But as the new memories, knowledge, and understandings begin to coalesce in my head, I really wanted to share a little bit about that with all of you, and how the trip has changed me.

The week before I left Congo, I sat down with Mulongo to talk about all that we had done and seen. I will never forget what he said to me— “Many people know that we have had a war here. But you have come and seen the war after the war.” He was referring to the post-war condition of the country, the fact that the “war” itself, which was often ill-defined and brought (and still brings) random explosions of violence and destruction to the cities and villages, had completely decimated the infrastructure and stability of the country. The tangible result is that for a lot of people, life in the Congo now is as “dangerous” and unstable as it ever was during the war, resulting in the same amount of illness, psychological trauma and death as there was during the actual war. This is the “war after the war”. This is the state of being that I found the country in, in which villages with a population of 300 lost 60 children last year due to illnesses related to lack of clean water. In which almost every woman I met who had not fled during the war had either been raped or pressed into military service. In which I often felt that I was in a post-apocolyptic novel due to the surreal lack of men, entire villages made up almost entirely of a population of women and children because many of the men had been killed or had fled. It does, still, feel like a “war-zone”. I struggled with the knowledge that even my experience was “tempered” by the fact that I could not go to the more violent and “active” war-areas, which are still too dangerous for travel. The damage in destruction in those areas is (I have read) often 10-fold that of even what I had seen.

However, amidst the destruction, there is hope. FPM is so unique in the approach we take, giving the “power” for change over to where it rightfully belongs, in the hands of the community. In a country where foreigners can be regarded with skepticism, due to a long history of subjugation and abuse, people trusted me because I was with Mary. They had seen, first hand, FPM is not an organization that swoops in and then leaves, with unfulfilled promises in its wake. I was often not viewed as a stranger at all, and was welcomed into people’s homes and lives with such openness. And really, it was only because of Mary that all of this was possible—I always viewed (and still view) my “job” as just to listen, record what I saw and heard, reflect on it, and distort the truth as little as possible. That is what we do as FPM team-members, and unbelievable as it may seem, there is incredible healing in that. The message that we communicate by doing that is that we really believe that the community has the capacity to change and heal itself. This is, also, very similar to what I view is my role as a therapist—when my client’s come to me, I believe that they innately have the capacity for change, and my job is to support and not get in the way of that innate capacity.

This is my FPM story, but it would not be possible without the support of all of you. I encourage you all to read Bob’s blog and forthcoming book, and all of the “writings” we put out through the website and the newsletter, and find your own meaning in it. Because we believe that you have the capacity for growth and change as well. We believe that you can find and see the hope in FPM without us needing to tell you it, just by viewing what we put out, and that each one of you will find your own meaning in it, just as I found my own meaning in my trip. And that’s how this beautiful machine works. All of us are unique, beautiful creations and tools of God, and just by reading this, you are part of the team—we do this together. And I thank you all for letting me be and become a part of that team.

God Bless,

Emily Johnson