Uphill Both Ways

One small positive in dating a local (other than having a souvenir) is that he unwittingly shares common cultural practices and colloquialisms for me to dissect.

Like the harvest song that the beneficiaries of his project sang to work late one evening – about striking the ground as though each blow was killing someone from a neighbouring tribe.  Most of my colleagues are from this tribe, and I’d heard stories of how, during one of the many wars that have plagued this nation, they had created artificial borders in order to catch (no release that hunting season) those not from their tribe by checking the pronunciation of a certain greeting.  At that time, I’d decided that this tribe was quite obviously stark, raving mad. 

Now I see that their foray into early immigration policies was possibly justified. 

Bliss – Part II

Thankfully, I had some time away from Congo to reflect on my impending final departure when our team visited Uganda for a week-long peacebuilding conference. 

I cannot adequately explain the magnitude of this gathering – if the leaders present live with a portion of the faith they professed in the time we shared together, the Great Lakes region cannot help but change.  I have, however, been burned in the past by people who say one thing in a spiritual setting, but prefer to speak ‘practically’ at other times.  To me, faith is practice.  Only faith can allow a mother, when lobbying for the return of a group of children from the Lord’s Resistance Army, to refuse the return of her daughter because it meant that other parents like her would have to continue to suffer.  Only faith would encourage a leader in a Kenyan university to return to Congo (with his wife – also now a PhD-holder – and their children) to begin a Christian university in an area wheremass killings are routine. 

The milk of human kindness sours quickly – it offers aid as long as there is no personal cost.

Love suffers, weeps, and dies personally to give life to others. 

Bliss – Part I

I’ll try to make this as concise as I can – partially because I’m weeks behind, but mostly because I’ve forgotten nearly everything.

Christmas break was a wonderful affair, beginning with a ground-shaking concert at our church, led by our incredibly talented band - which includes Joseph.  As usual, we had a late start; as I was silently kicking myself and Timbit for having arrived on time, our worship leader appeared beside my chair to wish me a merry Christmas and smile and not go away.