wfn.org | Woman adopts Rwandan child

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3195 notes).

Note 3194 modified by UMNS on Sept. 27, 1996 at 16:59 Eastern (5025
characters).

SEARCH: Johnson, Rwanda refugee, United Methodist, Zaire, Africa
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                          480(10-21-71B){3194}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470            Sept. 30, 1996

Photo available

Dallas woman adopts Rwandan
refugee who asked to be her son

                    by Denise Johnson Stovall*
             Courtesy of the United Methodist Reporter

     When Mil Dred Johnson of Dallas agreed to go to Zaire,
Central Africa, a year ago as a short-term missionary, she
expected to assist hundreds of sick and hungry refugee children
living in tent camps.
     "But nothing could have prepared me for losing my heart to a
12-year-old Rwandan orphan with an infectious smile," said
Johnson, a member of Camp Wisdom United Methodist Church in
Dallas.
     "It took only a few weeks after meeting him that I knew I had
to bring him to America."
     And she did.
     Her determination to give the African boy a real home is
unprecedented, say officials of the church's international mission
board.
     It all began when Johnson was selected as a member of Team 14
for the General Board of Global Ministries Volunteers for Africa
Program.
     An educator and counselor in non-traditional programs for the
Dallas Independent School System, the laywoman had learned of
United Methodist special ministries for Rwanda and Burundi
children from articles and photographs in the United Methodist
Reporter.
     Following orientation in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, Johnson
was assigned to teach children English in Bukavu, Zaire.
     "Most children could not understand anything I said and just
saw me as another American trying to relate to African children,"
Johnson said.
     "But one boy came to me and said, 'Hello, how are you?' I
could not believe it!"
     The boy was introduced to her by Zaire United Methodists as
Selemania Rubanguru, or "Stedman"--his Christian name.
     His parents and brother had been killed during Rwanda's 1994
tribal civil war.
     "After learning from workers in the refugee camp that
children like Stedman escaped the killings and walked for days
from Rwanda to safety in Zaire, you would think they would not
want to talk to any adult, Johnson continued. "Stedman, however,
was different."
     Johnson said that instead of her taking care of Stedman, he
took care of her, guarding her books and supplies and helping her
through the unpaved camp.
     Considered by Johnson as one of her brightest students,
Stedman spoke his Rwandan dialect, Swahili, fluent French and
limited but obviously winning English.
     One day Stedman said, "I want to be your little boy. . .I
want to attend school, to learn English."
     "When he asked me again," Johnson said, "I looked into those
little eyes and said, "Okay, let's see what we can do."
     After returning to the United States, Johnson began the
complicated process of adding what she calls her "little starfish"
to her family. She and her husband, A.J., have three adult
daughters and two teenage grandchildren.
     After many letters and trans-Atlantic phone calls, "Someone
called and said if I could get an official person in Zaire to
verify that Stedman had no family and was a ward of the United
Methodist Church, customs authorities would grant him asylum."
     As it happened, United Methodist Bishop Onema Fama of
Kinshasha, Zaire, was in Denver attending the church's General
Conference. Johnson sent the immigration papers there for his
signature.
     Stedman was taken out of the Bukavu refugee camp to a city
500 miles away to await a U.S. entry visa. He was placed in the
custody of a United Methodist clergywoman who lived in the Zaire
capital of Kinshasa while his American mother-to-be scrambled to
get his airfare and all his travel documents in order.
     And on a bright September afternoon at the Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport, all her work came to fruition.
     Global Ministries mission personnel executive Richard
Williams said, "Mil Dred Johnson's reaching out to this child is
symbolic of the kind of commitment and perseverance that has
become a miraculous byproduct of this mission.
     "The adopting of this child is another example of how
participation in the Volunteers for Africa Program has transformed
the lives of our volunteers.
     "Many volunteers have been so emotionally touched by the
overwhelming need for humanitarian assistance in the Zairian
corridor that they have been moved to extend a helping hand in
some extraordinary and creative ways. But Mil Dred's is one of a
kind."
     The Board of Global Ministries continues to accept
applications for the Volunteers for Africa program. Call (212)
870-3661 for more information.
                               # # #
     Stovall is associate editor of the Dallas-based United
Methodist Reporter newspaper.

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