Scottish Catholic Observer

Back in Glasgow after a remarkable trip to Rwanda and the DRC, there is a lot to think about.

I met many people who have suffered massively, in ways that are very hard to comprehend. In Rwanda, the legacy of the genocide has cast a long shadow. Even though the country has made a remarkable recovery almost every person there has a story of violence and grief that is almost beyond comprehension.

The DR Congo has been wracked with violence much more recently and the wounds are fresher and deeper. There is eye-bleeding poverty and stories of sexual violence that would break the hardest heart.

However, in both places I also met remarkably people who are fighting to help their countries recover and rebuild. Many of SCIAF’s partners are heroically courageous man and women who risk their own safety to help those who have suffered most.

This thought is neatly encapsulated in the sculpture above which I was given in the DRC, a bullet reworked into a Cross (above). I was told there’s a saying in the Congo: “There are things that can only be seen by eyes that have cried.” No matter the violence hope rises again.

This trip also underlined the superb professionalism of SCIAF as an organisation. Val Morgan and Percy Patrick from the aid agency did a magnificent job ensuring the things ran smoothly sometimes in exceptionally trying circumstances. It was also a joy to travel with the other journalists on the trip; Paul O’Hare of the Daily Record, Linda Sinclair of Radio Clyde and photographer Simon Murphy who were model professionals and more importantly, great company.

— Full coverage of SCIAF’s work in Africa will appear in the SCO in the New Year.

—SCO deputy editor Ian Dunn (above) was travelling this month in Africa with the Scottish International Aid Fund (SCIAF) ahead of the aid agency’s 50th anniversary next year.

—Visit http://www.sciaf.org.uk/