It is a measure of the special relationship with Sydney that Bishop Muhindo Ise-somo donned a woolen beanie and headed to Australia in the depths of winter, leaving behind balmy 30 degree days in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Brought to Australia by Springwood and Gymea Anglican churches, this is Bishop Ise-somo’s third visit.
“I came to thank our brothers and sisters here in Australia for what they have been doing, especially praying for our people in the Congo and also they have been giving some assistance” the Bishop told Southern Cross during a brief break in speaking engagements in schools and churches across Sydney. “I have also come to encourage them to continue to assist and pray for the people in the Congo, the people who have been suffering, especially those in the eastern part of the country.”
The DRC, with 68 million inhabitants, is one of the largest and most populous countries in Africa.
Links were forged between the man his friends call ‘Ise’ and CMS missionaries Graham and Wendy Toulmin when they went to Zaire (as the DRC was then known) in the late 1980’s. Ise was then the evangelist pastor of the Anglican Church of Butembo. That link turned into a life’s work for the Toulmins who established Brass for Africa, a fund-raising ministry based in the Anglican Churches of Springwood.
During six months in Australia in 1999, strong links were forged across the diocese which led to a return visit in 2003. Many Sydney people supported his work as the National Coordinator for Evangelism, Mission, Peace and Reconciliation of the Anglican Church in the DRC and Congo-Brazzaville. The role took him across a country which has been wracked by civil war, preaching to civilians and the military.
“I think it is one of the ways we can bring peace back in the country” Bishop Ise-somo says “because if people repent and come to the Lord they will not be fighting and killing one another. There will not be people raping, looting and kidnapping others so this is one of the medicines, I may say, for bringing peace back in the country.”
This is his first visit since being consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of North Kivu in the eastern part of the DRC, in 2010. Graham Toulmin was there for the consecration and has been back twice since.
“Ise calls the north Kevu diocese an Australian diocese - because of CMS sending the Zaire team of the Fagans, Newells,Toulmins and Maggie Crewes back in the late eighties and nineties. A lot of improvements in medical, dental and pastoral care have happened and we’ve been in contact ever since, even through the civil war.” Dr Toulmin says. According to the Blue Mountains dentist “Ise has always had an enormous impact on people who meet him. Everywhere he goes people are transfixed by what he says and impressed by his humility.” Bishop Ise-somo is especially encouraged by the reaction of students he has spoken to during his month long stay.
“I’ve been visiting different schools, sharing with them the situation in the Congo and Africa in general because some of them have never been outside Australia and they are very happy to see how life is in other countries and especially in the Congo” the bishop says.
His final message to all who hear him is “Don’t forget the Congo!”
Above: Bishop Ise-Somo speaks to sunday school kids at ‘The Factory’, Anglican Ministry Centre, Springwood. photo: Graham Toulmin
