For decades, DR Congo has suffered from chronic political instability, corruption and underdevelopment, worsened in recent years by the growth of Islamist insurgency. One of the dioceses worst impacted is Boga in Uturi province on the border with Uganda. In August 2019, the Anglican hospital in Boga was destroyed by Islamist insurgents and 200 people were abducted.
The diocese also has a Bible training school which focuses on the essential work of training catechists and evangelists who are on the front line of mission. It functions as a training community of 86 people, 13 married students with their families, and 17 single students. This too was in Boga, but recently the security situation deteriorated to the extent that it became too dangerous to continue.
It would have been easy just to melt away and give up, but instead the whole community risked a hazardous journey to make a new start in Bunia, some 60 miles north, where the Anglican University was able to accommodate them on its East Campus. Days before they travelled a bus had been ambushed on the same road and all its passengers killed, but they arrived safely on 24 June and immediately began work on adapting the buildings so that the life of this brave learning community could continue.
