liadanslyre

where do i begin?
well i saw hotel rwanda.
it was awful-
but you should see it.

it should be seen b/c it's good to know history.
it should be seen b/c it is not simply an account of history pass-
it is a reflection of similar things happening around our world today.

it was so terrible to watch the terror unfold.
it was terrible to know that it really happened.
it was embarrassing to know that we were complicit
in the genocide by not intervening on behalf of the helpless.
it was even more embarrassing to realize
that for all the progress we've made;
we are a severely impaired society.
fears and out and out dislike for people who are not white
has poisoned out foreign policy and allowed for us to rationalize
standing by and watching thousands and in this case hundreds of thousands of people die.

"i prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs."

this is a quote i posted as a chewable in late febraury. it's from a man who knew what it meant. a leader in the movement to abolish slavery in america. it really resonates w/ me in a new way after watching this movie. i mean- don't get me wrong- i believe in prayer! but i think it is an insufficient response for me to walk out this new knowledge and understanding through prayer (solely).

so i'm posting some things on here for your consideration. my knowledge base is so limited. and honestly, this seems like a lame response. but i'm hoping that some of you- can share your knowledge base here as well. and if you're doing something about an injustice in the world that is largely under-reported, forgotten or ignored- please share that too.

zimbabwe
(east africa)
nicholas kristof a conservative editorialist for the times recently snuck into zimbabwe. he is writing about his experience here. there are important "elections" happening today. the average life expectancy in this country is 33. the only bright spot is that there dictator (who is one of the worst in modern history- in part for his keen hand to destroy the economy and in part b/c of the inequities in dealing w/ AIDS drugs) is now eighty years old and will die soon.

hrw
amnesty

aids in india
have you seen born into brothels? if you haven?t- i vote you see it. it's really good in an awful kinda way. while it did not deal w/ aids in india specifically; it got me thinking about the aids pandemic in india. india and south africa pull back and forth for the highest aids population. i can?t help but think that the pandemic is quite different than what is going on in africa. for one- the economics are different (india has one of the fastest growing economies in the world). but i am scared to see how the caste system influences how the pandemic is managed?.

the democratic republic of congo
(central africa)
i have good friends who spent a month in the congo three summers ago. i knew that there are atrocities that happen there- but i am only now realizing that they are largely a hold over of what happened in rwanda.

bbc cliff notes
bbc country history
hrw
amnesty


darfur sudan
(western sudan which borders chad)
our church just completed a letter writing campaign over one weekend where 4600 letters were submitted to federal legislatures. the hope is that our government would force more involvement and intervention in the region. if you don't know about what?s going on in the sudan here are a couple of good sites.

activism
info/overview
hrw
amnesty
amnesty 2
christian relief work

there are so many others- the battle over diamonds throughout africa, the slaughter over oil in different parts of nigeria, or child trafficking to fuel the sex industry in east asia and around the world.

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lobby senate
lobby congress

what can else can we do?

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i've heard a lot of good sermons. i can only remember what a handful of them were about. one that seems relevant is a re-frame of the parable of the 'persistent widow'. the preacher outlined one of the missing keys of the text was not simply that the widow kept praying but rather the content of her prayer.

today's chewable vitamin
1 then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: 'in a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 and there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'grant me justice against my adversary.'

4 for some time he refused. but finally he said to himself, 'even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, i will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'
6 and the Lord said, 'listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? will he keep putting them off? 8 i tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. however, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? ~lk. 18.1-8