My name is Lewie Briggs and I am a senior studying economics at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Last year I studied abroad in Uganda and Rwanda studying the genocide and other wars in those areas. Before I went, I got the chance to go to the DRC as a volunteer for the American Bible Society and see for myself the devastation and actual evil that is there. This past winter I went back to do more research on the trauma in the area and spent a few days in a Congolese refugee camp. There I heard many stories of unfathomable suffering. I know God has not forgotten about these women in the Congo, and I told them that, but its time for us as their brothers and sisters in Christ to show them that we have not forgotten them either.
In 2009, a family friend named Bagudekia Alobeyo, a Congolese native, shared that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) had just launched a vicious attack in Dungu, a village in DRC—the town in which his parents and immediate family lived. My family helped send a missionary plane to rescue Bagudekia’s family and relocate them to a safer area. In 2010, I had the privilege of visiting the DRC and meeting them. I was deeply moved and humbled by their thankfulness for the way in which we allowed God to use us. However, I also witnessed the devastation taking place. Rape, torture, and murder are rampant. The people are living in constant fear, and hope seems all but lost. Coming back to the United States, I felt a calling to advocate for those I met and others suffering from similar injustice, especially for the women and children who are facing these atrocities every day. The bike tour has formed out of my desire to do whatever I can to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, to stand up for those who are harassed and helpless, and to inspire others to do the same
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