“I was hungry…” (Mathew 25: 31-36”

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Dear readers and friends of AMI, I am so happy to be able to communicate with you again, inspite of my illness. It is true that it is bothering me so much, but I also see the goodness of the Lord. In this Lenten season, as we focus so much on the action of God through Jesus, action that ultimately leads to Calvary and our Salvation. In the Gospel according to Mathew, as a clergy person, I wish those people on the right side of Jesus he mentioned were those pastors who have mega churches, those evangelists who draw many to faith in Jesus Christ, those who spend many hours fasting, etc. To the contrary, Jesus speaks about those who feed the hungry, who provide shelter to the stranger, visit the imprisoned, and those who visit the sick.

While I am here in North Carolina for medical attention, my spirit was very much uplifted by a member of AMI-Burundi coming to see me, as I am grounded here by this vicious sickness. The visit made me further understand why God called those who wish to enter his kingdom to visit the infirm. I also had a brief telephone conversation with my childhood friend with whom I hade not communicated for years and he happens to be a minister. These two communications (the visit, and the phone call) have helped me to understand what Jesus meant about those who are welcome in His kingdom.

As I write these lines, let me share with you that we are facing a man-made crisis in Burundi! Thousands and thousands of Congolese refugees have poured into Burundi, a country facing its own challenges economically. I am so happy to report that in spite of their own hardship, Burundian government and people have responded extremely well, trying to do what they can to “the least of these”, in this case, the refugees from Congo.

AMI-Burundi, in spite of their economic challenges, decide to do something for our brothers and sisters from Congo. A team was sent to a refugee camp and this is what they share with you: When we arrived, we saw that this place houses many people, numbering forty-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-six (44,926) people as provisional figures according to the staff of this center. We found different age categories of children, women, men and the elderly who are crowded together. The major problems encountered by these refugees are lack of accommodation where (12) twelve households share a single two by three meter (2m×3m) tent, children and adults sleeping together, lack of blankets and clothes, lack of food where young children are most vulnerable and risk diseases and malnutrition, and lack of general supplies. Lack of clean water significantly raises the risk of contagious diseases.

In the exchanges between the refugees and the representatives sent by the AMI, many of the refugees asked for the assistance of organizations to give them food (cassava flour, small dry fish “Ndagala”, oil), firewood (charcoal), soaps for washing, buckets, blankets, milk for young children, and fortified biscuits.

With this note, I want to urge you to give and help these brothers and sisters in need. Please go to our website. If you are in Burundi, please donate at our BANCOBU account. Outside Burundi, please use our bank account at Wells Fargo Bank. All the details are on the website.