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Christ-centred. Creative. Canadian.
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On June 8, a message popped up on my phone. It was someone in Bunia, the Democratic Republic of Congo. I had asked her about trauma care for families who lost people to Ebola.
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Her voice message was an apology for suddenly ghosting me: someone in her household had tested positive for Ebola and between grief and anxiety, she didn't have capacity to answer any more questions.
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We didn't talk again until June 27, when both of us were tracking Congo's match against Uzbekistan on WhatsApp. That exciting game qualified Congo for the knockout stage of the World Cup – for the first time ever. We exchanged celebratory texts: "It is a big party here . . . no one sleeping this night!" she wrote.
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Congo has since been eliminated by England, but what a thrill to celebrate something good, something globally recognized, despite Congo struggling through its seventeenth Ebola epidemic. While sports cannot replace and should not distract from real problems, it does briefly add another dimension to our news: look how beautifully Mayele and Wissa can dribble. See the collective heartbreak when Iran's last-minute goal was disallowed.
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What's your World Cup story? And have you predicted how it will end?
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Did someone forward this newsletter to you?
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PASTORS RACE TO BUILD TRUST IN CONGO'S EBOLA RESPONSE
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After an Ebola epidemic caught the town of Bunia unaware, pastors and doctors are racing to restore trust and stop the chain of transmission.
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Maaike VanderMeer
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The two doctors stayed in the same room for three days before Blaise’s results returned. “To my great surprise, I saw that they were separating us. They didn’t say what his results were, just that he had to go somewhere else,” remembered Doctor Ngatane. The next day, he learned his colleague had tested positive for Ebola.
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“Right then I felt terrible. I was truly traumatized morally."
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CHEERS FOR CANADA'S WORLD CUP RUN
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Is our country’s participation in the world’s favourite sport a taste of heaven?
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J. Cameron Fraser
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On June 28 a local pastor, promoting a forthcoming church activity, announced to his congregation that since the Stanley Cup was over, there was nothing left to cheer for. A few hours later, Canadians had plenty to cheer about when their national soccer team made history by qualifying for the round of 16 in FIFA’s men’s World Cup, defeating South Africa by a score of 1-0 in a packed stadium in Los Angeles. Just under a week later, the cheering was muted, if it didn’t exactly turn to tears, as Canada fell 3-0 to mighty Morocco in the humid heat of Houston, Texas.
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'A CELEBRATION OF HUMANITY'
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Knox College uses World Cup spirit to inspire Soccer Sunday service.
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Sarah Maat
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Over the last few weeks, Toronto and Vancouver have been flooded with international fans, World Cup-specific events and, of course, an overwhelming number of soccer-inspired adverts and marketing campaigns. This is the first time the world’s largest sporting event, the men’s FIFA World Cup, is being played on Canadian soil.
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FROM STAND-UP COMEDIAN TO SISTER SUPERIOR: AN UNLIKELY JOURNEY
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Louisa Bruinsma
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Clare discovered “the power of sisters . . . the advantage of facing certainty and terror as a team.” She desired to find peace, a place to belong, community. “They were free. I thought, That’s who I want to be.”
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LEARNING TO BE A PATIENT
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Loretta Yoder Ostojic
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In September, I got the official diagnosis: stage IV uterine cancer. Even though I felt prepared to die, it was still hard to hear those words coming from the oncologist. Through tears, I asked her: “Will I still be alive in one month?”
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“Oh, yes!” she replied compassionately.
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MORE THAN HALF OUR BONES
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Bob Bruinsma
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Just a few weeks ago, my wife Louisa and I were in a serious car accident in which we each broke a lot of our ribs. Thankfully, our ribs will heal in time, but my broken ribs got me thinking about the rest of my skeleton. There are 206 different bones in a human skeleton.
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There's a lot going on in the world, isn't there? Bring good news home, literally; subscribe to Christian Courier in print and receive one physical copy each month. A perfect way to find shelter in the heat of the news this summer!
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