Saving the man who’s trying to save Congo

This is a remarkable testament to the kind of work that happens behind the scenes of journalism. Good foreign reporting only happens when locals, who never get bylines, help foreigners get access, find their way around, and talk to the people who end up in our stories.

This is also a plea for help.  The irrepressible and phenomenally talented photographer Marcus Bleasdale is raising money for a kidney transplant for his — the world’s — former fixer. Read on, if you can help — and even if you can’t, read on to understand just what goes into the journalism you get.

Here’s a taste:

Pastor Marrion spent the next seven years guiding not only me, but many journalists, photographers, Hollywood film stars and human right activists through the dirty quagmire of eastern Congo. He spent years carefully walking us through displaced camps, dashing out of firefights, and into the heavy silence of homes of people who’d been raped and assaulted. And as a result, the world is more informed about this chronically underreported conflict.

Pastor Marion P’Udongo walks through an internally displaced person’s camp in Eastern Congo, July 29, 2006.
He’s negotiated with rebel leaders so I could spend weeks in their camps. He has sat in the red mud of goldmines while I documented the exploitation of minerals that’s directly fueled this barbaric war. He has driven me down roads where no one else dared drive. And after crossing the frontlines one day outside Goma, he prayed as we huddled together in a sinkhole while drunken government troops fired at our heads.

In a war that’s killed millions in Congo, Pastor Marrion has risked his life not only for journalists and photographers like myself, but also for his own people. In May 2003, the Pastor saved over 70 people from certain death when ethnic Lendu militia entered Bunia and began slaughtering their rival Hema in the streets. Pastor’s wife is a Hema, as are their children. When Lendu militia discovered them after several days hiding in Pastor’s living room, they stripped them naked and marched them to the road to be killed. Miraculously, one of the commanders had seen Marrion preach and begged the others to spare his life. The group was lead to safety in a nearby United Nations compound, just before militia returned and looted everything in his home.

Keep reading.  Or check out the fundraising page.