Cabintom... Is he well and safe?

[trehopr1]

Just wondering if anyone has heard of the whereabouts of member Cabintom or if he is safe in the DRC. The world news reported 2 days ago that at least 70,000 people+ have left the DRC since January -- getting out any way they can to wind up as refugees in several border countries.
This is now a flood of humanity aborting any thoughts of living there due to the ethnic violence and anarchy present and growing. My thoughts are with him that he and his wife are safe someplace else. I have always enjoyed his posts and articles and his photography was fantastic. Wishing him well in his endeavors but, a safe return to his family.

[Paul K]

He checked in on ICF Feb 20, so it’s been only less then two months but anything can happen during such time if the country is unstable.
Hope he’s well.

[africaone]

If something happened to a such person in Kivu, it is to much probable I will know it quite quickly. and I heard nothing bad (concerning him).
The situation is very vey bad there and rebels (mostly muslims) are very agressive for the moment in North East Congo.

[cabintom]

Hey sorry guys! Wow, hadn't even thought I should check in with you all and give an update.
Mid December to beginning of July were spent in Canada, travelling around and fundraising for the work we do here in Congo. I guess I kind of took a break from butterflies during that time... didn't have any new material to look at and no outstanding question to look into. It was sort of good to focus on some other things for a bit.

We got out of Bunia a month before militia activity grew truly dangerous in the area. It wasn't a traditional militia group acting out this time, but rather it's seems to have been "politically motivated" violence... mercenaries paid to stir up old tribal tensions. Fortunately, the larger population within those tribes refused to be drawn into the situation and things have calmed down to the usual level of "danger".
As Thierry said, in Nord Kivu (about 100km south of here), things have been pretty bad, with one particular Islamist group frequently carrying out attacks on Christians and the general population. Fortunately, that situation does not pose a threat to the Bunia area in anyway.

The bigger news on the personal front is that Mid-September coming my wife and I are expecting our first child. Planning how exactly that's going to work given our context has also taken up some of my time... I expect "Baby" will be monopolizing much more of my time in the coming months, so I don't know that I'll be all that more active on the forums in the near future.

At any rate, again, my apologies for not communicating sooner.

Tom

[nomad]

Congratulations on your good news and for letting us know that you are safe and well. 

[cabintom]

To actually give you all an update this time around:
The family and I evacuated Congo yesterday. It's a precautionary evacuation, but things have been trending poorly recently and rumours are that the election is going to be postponed yet again... I fear that if that's the case, it will go poorly for a lot of innocent people. Ebola was also on the doorstep, which had my leadership nervous.
We're back in Kampala for now.

[steve]

Keep safe.

[cabintom]

Hey all. We've been back in Congo since Jan. 28th. The political situation is calm, although the election yielded surprising results.
Tomorrow we're leaving Bunia again though. Ebola has just claimed it's first victim here, and the circumstances surrounding it are less than ideal. We'll be heading to a town further north, but still in Congo, to stay with friends and where we can do some need language study.