Online Meetings in East Africa
More people are expressing interest in joining our East African online meetings. Participants are appreciating the opportunity to discharge as well as learn how to use Zoom. People are taking turns initiating Zoom meetings in different parts of the Region, which shows and encourages good leadership. We are still increasing our ability to use the technology. We are better able to control background noises and are ready ahead of time to move to where there is a network or to improve our system.
The number of infected people keeps going up, but people are willing to sacrifice their lives to provide for their families. Poverty is increasing. The crime rate is going up. Young people are going into the streets and robbing people. Underage girls are becoming pregnant in large numbers. There are also protests. There is so much chaos in the world. We appreciate the opportunity to discharge—it is all the peace we can get at this time.
Below are comments from some of the participants in the online meetings:
- Greetings to everyone. I hope you’re keeping yourself well and getting more and more chances to discharge. I would like to encourage everyone to discharge and take extra precautions because the number of infected people is increasing rapidly. Do everything possible to take care of yourself and the people around you. (Kenya)
- What a moment it was to have so much to say to those who’d never before had a chance to attend. (Rwanda)
- I am so glad I had the chance to discharge as a family with people that I know appreciate me, regard me as their own, and are able to listen to me and understand my distress. Seeing your delighted faces encouraged me. (Kenya)
- Thank you for the efforts you made to be there listening to me. As I spoke all alone in the darkness, I felt we were in the same room. (Tanzania)
- As participants from different countries were sharing, I felt I was there with them in their country. I felt I was in Tanzania, then Rwanda, then Congo, as participants shared. (Kenya)
- You have cleared all my worry. Knowing that I have a family to hear me out is very encouraging at this point when everything is difficult. I always look forward to, and keep asking the organizers when we will have, the next meeting. This is my new home. (Somalia)
- I was so happy to see you. It was difficult leaving the meeting at the end. At the beginning, I felt sick. I discharged about it and felt relieved after a lot of sweating. Now I know that medicine for a human being is another human being. All I needed for healing was a caring human face. (Kenya)
- For me, the takeaway was hearing about the upcoming culture share on Zoom that G— said he would organize. I loved how we connected after the meeting. (Rwanda)
Nairobi, Kenya
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of wide world change
(Present Time 201, October 2020)