Where's the Church?
AN ARTICLE FROM ECONOMIST.COM
____________
ATROCITIES BEYOND WORDS
May 1st 2008
A barbarous campaign of rape
EVERYTHING in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country almost the size of western Europe, is on a scarcely imaginable scale--including the violence. Among the beautiful mountain vistas, terraced hillsides and lush tropical greens of eastern Congo, a bitter, decade-long civil war that officially ended in the rest of the country in 2003, and that has claimed several million lives as a result of fighting and disease, burns on in the eastern border provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. A ceasefire signed in the town of Goma in January between the government and more than a score of militias has so far done little to ease the plight of civilians in the east. All sides--government troops, says the United Nations, as well as the militias--continue to use rape as a weapon of war on a barbarous scale.
Most victims, as ever, are women and girls, some no more than toddlers, though men and boys have sometimes been targeted too. Local aid workers and UN reports tell of gang rapes, leaving victims with appalling physical and psychological injuries; rapes committed in front of families or whole communities; male relatives forced at gunpoint to rape their own daughters, mothers or sisters; women used as sex slaves forced to eat excrement or the flesh of murdered relatives. Some women victims have themselves been murdered by bullets fired from a gun barrel shoved into their vagina. Some men, says a worker for the UN's Children's Fund (Unicef), have been forced to simulate having sex in holes dug in the ground, with razor blades stuck inside.
Sometimes the motive is revenge for attacks by rival militias, sometimes it is ethnic cleansing and on other occasions an effort to undermine the morale of the enemy by spreading shame, injury and disease. The trauma and appalling injury suffered by women and men who survive such assaults cripple families and whole villages. In eastern Congo up to 80% of reported fistula cases in women are thought to result from rape attacks. The epidemic of violence also spreads HIV/AIDS.
According to a report published in October by the UN secretary-general in an effort to get governments to do more to protect civilians caught up in this and other conflicts, in the first six months of 2007 there were 4,500 cases of sexual violence reported in South Kivu alone. As a rule of thumb in such situations, says the UN, for every rape that is reported, as many as ten or 20 cases may go unreported.
Rape in warfare is nothing new. Congo has long had a culture of violence and an almost non-existent judicial system. Though rape is supposedly illegal, often it is the victim who is shunned. Neither army nor militia commanders seem to see rape as a serious offence and so take no action against their marauding soldiers. Some fighters are said to believe that the rape of a virgin bestows invincibility in combat.
But these are not random acts by misguided or crazed individuals, says the UN; they are a "deliberate attempt to dehumanise and destroy entire communities."
That process is proceeding apace. Since early last year an upsurge in violence has displaced some 550,000 people from their homes and villages in eastern Congo. The sprawling, hellish camps for displaced people that dot the road from Goma north to Rutshuru, their shelters made from branches lashed together, leaves and plastic sheeting, offer little protection. Not even the UN's more than 17,000 blue helmets and military observers, and close to 1,000 police (together its largest peacekeeping operation in the world), can hope to put an end to violence in so vast a region that is barely accessible by road or air.
And the Goma ceasefire? Pressure to observe it would be a start, even though not all armed groups signed up. Among those that did not are Hutu rebels from over the border in Rwanda who helped perpetrate the genocide there in 1994 and caused it to spill over the border into Congo. On April 23rd, 63 international and Congolese NGOs signed an appeal urging the UN to appoint a high-level special adviser on human rights for eastern Congo.
The idea is to help draw world attention to the plight of civilians, whose suffering is at least as extreme as anything witnessed in the better-publicised conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur. The hope is that outside governments, the African Union, the European Union and the United States may offer political and financial support. Since all UN members have promised to observe a fundamental "responsibility to protect" their citizens from war crimes and crimes against humanity, focusing world attention on such crimes in eastern Congo is perhaps the least outsiders can do.
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Friday, May 16, 2008
Internet in the Congo
Satellite Dish
The Lord has much better timing than us - the satellite equipment was found last
We started praying of course! Then we took action - Osee (sounds like José), our chief engineer, immediately rushed to a near town, Butembo, in hopes of finding the pipe. Justin Hubbard immediately called our contacts at the UN and OXFAM (a large NGO in the area). The pipes that the UN and OXFAM had would not work...our only hope is Osee...unfortunately, due to the plane crash in Goma, all of North Kivu shutdown...nothing can be bought in Butembo or our town, Beni! We have to wait but Souleyman has to leave in 4 days...he cannot wait long - our basketball pipes may have to be sacrificed! Since we need to pour concrete for the pipe soon, he gives us tomorrow at 6pm as a deadline - if we do not find a pipe by then, he cuts it...!
Day 3 - Waiting for a pipe & prep time
As we wait we also prepare parts for a tower we will use to share the connection with other ministries in Beni. We also lay the conduit, grounding wire and dig a deep hole for the dish's mounting pipe. And we wait...and wait..and wait...Souleyman is getting antsy and sick...we take him home and give him some cold medicine. Our BBall pipes are saved for one more day :)
Laying the conduit and grounding wire
Day 4 - Pipe!
We continue prepping pieces for the tower, prepping the cement and waiting for the pipe - by now we heard from Osee that he has a pipe but we need it by the end of the day or we have to cut the Basketball pipe. As the day is coming to a close, Osee arrives just in time! Praise God!
Justin was VERY happy to see the pipe!
We quickly put the pipe in the hole and Honore, our humble, beloved academic dean, lays the first stone for the pipe's foundation. We heap stone layers upon cement layers until the pipe is in place and level.
Day 5 - Is the pipe OK?
It stormed that night - Souleymane and I rushed to the school first thing to check on the pipe - it was OK - Praise God!
Day 6 - mounting & pointing the satellite
Now that the concrete had dried enough, we were ready to mount the dish.
UCBC students helping Souleymane and Avuta mount the dish
Souleymane and Avuta quickly called the Internet Service Provider and started pointing the dish towards the satellite. The process can take an entire day...
After one day spent pointing the dish, we still had no internet connection...everything looked good on our end but the Internet Service Provider could not see us...we left that project and continued making the tower for sharing the internet signal.
To be continued!!!
Blessings: Eric
Eric is a short termer for the Congo initiative serving the university with his computer skills.
Eric has skills.
The forgotten sons of Senegal
this is a report from someone in Senegal...that work with the talibe
In Senegal, boys from 5 to 18 years of age are sent to live with a Koranic teacher, who teaches them to read Arabic script and memorize the Koran, the Muslim holy book. A good student with a good teacher should be able to recite the entire Koran at the age of 15. The teachers are supported by the donations that the boys are given as they beg on the street. There are many of these Koranic schools, called daaras, in the city of Dakar. This brings the problem of a huge lack of accountability for the teachers who have been entrusted with the boys, because they are often quite far from the boy's families. The system is often abused in that many boys end up doing nothing but begging for money for their teacher', who may not actually teach them anything. Often there are no provision for the boy's food, clothing or medical care.
We are seeing many boys with various problems every week. We have been able to help provide these boys with breakfast food, medical and dental care. This has been an exciting open door, and we are so thankful that God has built the trust relationships that we currently have with these boys and their teachers. There are now five Koranic teachers who send their sick or injured students to us for help! Please continue to pray for support of this strategic mercy ministry.
-Tad and Jane, Senegal
if you would like to find out more about this ministry or help with donations...please contact me at uwmwestafrica@yahoo.com
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Let the Good Times roll
You hear the stories...you know mission trips are challenging...out of your comfort zone.
But you know what? Mission trips can be fun. It's OK to have fun. It's OK to laugh with people and its OK to be laughed at.
Hope you enjoy a couple of moments Sadie and I shared here.
But you know what? Mission trips can be fun. It's OK to have fun. It's OK to laugh with people and its OK to be laughed at.
Hope you enjoy a couple of moments Sadie and I shared here.
Reports out of the Congo
This is a report i recently got out of DRC...this woman gave her story in video below. She also made a beautiful dress for my wife. Pray that God will restore her.
Also, I hope you heard that one of our students, Seraphine, had a terribly car accident. A pick up knocked here and crashed her left arm. We praise the Lord because it missed her head just centimeters and also the bone was not broken. The whole flesh on the bone was unwrapped. It was hard even for me to see. This afternoon I visited her at hospital. I hope she will be okay. They removed the strings from the wound today and it became even more painful. But I hope now the final healing process has start.
It is amazing to see how supportive students are in all this. Everyday there are 4, 5 to 10 volunteers who come to the hospital to spend the night with her. And the next morning they are all at school. Then two or three stay to be with her. They are doing rotations. And this has been so encouraging for Seraphine and her family. In the beginning her mother would always collapse when she sees her daughter suffer but students stood beside her and the family.
Also, I hope you heard that one of our students, Seraphine, had a terribly car accident. A pick up knocked here and crashed her left arm. We praise the Lord because it missed her head just centimeters and also the bone was not broken. The whole flesh on the bone was unwrapped. It was hard even for me to see. This afternoon I visited her at hospital. I hope she will be okay. They removed the strings from the wound today and it became even more painful. But I hope now the final healing process has start.
It is amazing to see how supportive students are in all this. Everyday there are 4, 5 to 10 volunteers who come to the hospital to spend the night with her. And the next morning they are all at school. Then two or three stay to be with her. They are doing rotations. And this has been so encouraging for Seraphine and her family. In the beginning her mother would always collapse when she sees her daughter suffer but students stood beside her and the family.
Debate Rages Over Whether Country Faces Famine
Debate Rages Over Whether Country Faces Famine
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
By Hamadou Tidiane Sy
Dakar
"There is no hunger in Senegal and there will be no hunger in Senegal," President Abdoulaye Wade declared at the end of April, annoyed that the main topic of discussion throughout the country is the ongoing food crisis that affects countries worldwide.
Notably, the president made the announcement at a ceremony where he inaugurated a modern farm, a pilot project that will be replicated throughout the country to revive the declining agricultural sector.
The project is among the many plans the government has launched in the past eight years to boost local agricultural production and ensure food security.
So far it has not been able to reach this target, despite several promising announcements. In response to the president's statement, and using strong symbols, thousands of protesters held a peaceful demonstration in Dakar last Saturday, carrying empty rice bags, tomato tins and other foodstuffs to show that they were hungry; the items also served as a "red card", symbolising their desire to see Mr Wade go.
The demonstration, the first by the opposition not to be banned and dispersed by police in three years, was organised by a coalition of opposition youth movements. To fight the government, opposition parties have united under an umbrella organisation, Front Siggil Senegal (FSS) or the Front to Save Senegal. All the main opposition parties' top leadership attended the demonstration.
The protesters made it clear that there is hunger in Senegal, adding that they wanted more food and a lasting solution to the food crisis.
Ever since a demonstration called by a couple of consumer associations to protest against the high cost of living was severely suppressed by police on March 30, the government and the opposition have been engaged in a tough battle of semantics.
Is there hunger or famine in the country or is it simply a "food crisis" similar to what several other countries around the world are experiencing?
What annoyed President Wade was that the March 30 protest was referred to as "hunger riots" by the local and foreign media, and was included in a list of similar events that had taken place, not only in other African countries, but also in other parts of the world.
At stake for the government are two things: its image abroad, and its popularity at home.
For the opposition, it is a matter of proving that the country's current leadership has forgotten its electoral promises. Mr Wade, in particular, had pledged to halve the price of rice if elected president but has only seen the commodity's price reach unprecedented highs since he was voted in eight years ago.
But for the millions of ordinary citizens, the bottom line is that the price of food has shot up beyond their means.
President Wade was elected on the promise that he would improve the living conditions that seriously deteriorated in the '80s and '90s. That means the current situation is a personal matter for Mr Wade and for the past two weeks he has been at various functions defending his position.
On the day the opposition held a demonstration, for instance, President Wade called a meeting of his own party, which quickly became a "popular" rally to launch a harsh offensive against the opposition.
While the private media focused on the protesters, who were demanding the president's resignation and affordable food, state media showed the president questioning the qualifications, abilities and competencies of the main opposition leaders, most of whom supported him in the 2000 election.
"In 2008, we are not in times of disaster as some destabilising groups want to prove. These groups are more interested in taking power than finding solutions to the problems posed by a global trend," the pro-government daily, Le Soleil, wrote in a full-page editorial.
Written in the form of a letter, the editorial ended with a promise of an invitation over lunch, with a plateful of rice, the country's main staple. It reflected the position the government has taken since the crisis started - denying the seriousness of the problem while pointing an accusing finger at "enemies" both inside the country and abroad, who it claims want to jeopardise the current regime's legacy.
Leading the battle
And leading the battle against both internal and external enemies is none other than "General Wade" - as the president referred to himself to mobilise his supporters. "I am an army general who has just started a battle and I urge my soldiers to engage in the war," he told a gathering of young supporters while inviting them to get involved in his many agricultural projects.
However, beyond the mere rhetoric, few believe he is taking the matter seriously, as the opposition has pointed out several times.
Last week, however, these accusations got some indirect backing from a less politically inclined personality. In an article widely circulated in the local media, the World Bank's country director, Madani Tall, pointed out that "food prices in Senegal are 24 per cent above the African average," and are the highest in West Africa, apart from Nigeria and Cape Verde.
"For a country with a port that even supplies landlocked countries, this is an irony worth noting," Mr Tall wrote.
He added: "We need to face facts and take a look at agriculture in particular, which has been neglected in favour of super-protected industries that are not competitive and do not even generate that many jobs," the World Bank executive said, ignoring that his own institution has also been criticised by local civil society activists as being part of the problem and partially responsible for the failure of Senegal's agricultural sector.
Meanwhile, Mr Jacques Diouf, a Senegalese national who is the director of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), had some harsh words for Mr Wade, who, while responding to a statement issued by FAO a few days earlier, had alleged that the organisation of using 20 per cent of the aid money it receives from donors for salaries and operational costs.
Mr Diouf strongly denied the allegation. "I don't know where Wade has got his 20 per cent from," he said, adding the Mr Wade would not solve the food crisis by criticising the FAO.
Less than a week after he unveiled his ambitious plan to boost local production, President Wade announced that he has reached a deal with India to import 600,000 tonnes of rice from the Asian country for six years. One private newspaper, Le Quotidien, bluntly asked: "Under such circumstances [importing rice from India] why would a farmer in the Valley [a region in the north] see the need to boost his production?"
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
By Hamadou Tidiane Sy
Dakar
"There is no hunger in Senegal and there will be no hunger in Senegal," President Abdoulaye Wade declared at the end of April, annoyed that the main topic of discussion throughout the country is the ongoing food crisis that affects countries worldwide.
Notably, the president made the announcement at a ceremony where he inaugurated a modern farm, a pilot project that will be replicated throughout the country to revive the declining agricultural sector.
The project is among the many plans the government has launched in the past eight years to boost local agricultural production and ensure food security.
So far it has not been able to reach this target, despite several promising announcements. In response to the president's statement, and using strong symbols, thousands of protesters held a peaceful demonstration in Dakar last Saturday, carrying empty rice bags, tomato tins and other foodstuffs to show that they were hungry; the items also served as a "red card", symbolising their desire to see Mr Wade go.
The demonstration, the first by the opposition not to be banned and dispersed by police in three years, was organised by a coalition of opposition youth movements. To fight the government, opposition parties have united under an umbrella organisation, Front Siggil Senegal (FSS) or the Front to Save Senegal. All the main opposition parties' top leadership attended the demonstration.
The protesters made it clear that there is hunger in Senegal, adding that they wanted more food and a lasting solution to the food crisis.
Ever since a demonstration called by a couple of consumer associations to protest against the high cost of living was severely suppressed by police on March 30, the government and the opposition have been engaged in a tough battle of semantics.
Is there hunger or famine in the country or is it simply a "food crisis" similar to what several other countries around the world are experiencing?
What annoyed President Wade was that the March 30 protest was referred to as "hunger riots" by the local and foreign media, and was included in a list of similar events that had taken place, not only in other African countries, but also in other parts of the world.
At stake for the government are two things: its image abroad, and its popularity at home.
For the opposition, it is a matter of proving that the country's current leadership has forgotten its electoral promises. Mr Wade, in particular, had pledged to halve the price of rice if elected president but has only seen the commodity's price reach unprecedented highs since he was voted in eight years ago.
But for the millions of ordinary citizens, the bottom line is that the price of food has shot up beyond their means.
President Wade was elected on the promise that he would improve the living conditions that seriously deteriorated in the '80s and '90s. That means the current situation is a personal matter for Mr Wade and for the past two weeks he has been at various functions defending his position.
On the day the opposition held a demonstration, for instance, President Wade called a meeting of his own party, which quickly became a "popular" rally to launch a harsh offensive against the opposition.
While the private media focused on the protesters, who were demanding the president's resignation and affordable food, state media showed the president questioning the qualifications, abilities and competencies of the main opposition leaders, most of whom supported him in the 2000 election.
"In 2008, we are not in times of disaster as some destabilising groups want to prove. These groups are more interested in taking power than finding solutions to the problems posed by a global trend," the pro-government daily, Le Soleil, wrote in a full-page editorial.
Written in the form of a letter, the editorial ended with a promise of an invitation over lunch, with a plateful of rice, the country's main staple. It reflected the position the government has taken since the crisis started - denying the seriousness of the problem while pointing an accusing finger at "enemies" both inside the country and abroad, who it claims want to jeopardise the current regime's legacy.
Leading the battle
And leading the battle against both internal and external enemies is none other than "General Wade" - as the president referred to himself to mobilise his supporters. "I am an army general who has just started a battle and I urge my soldiers to engage in the war," he told a gathering of young supporters while inviting them to get involved in his many agricultural projects.
However, beyond the mere rhetoric, few believe he is taking the matter seriously, as the opposition has pointed out several times.
Last week, however, these accusations got some indirect backing from a less politically inclined personality. In an article widely circulated in the local media, the World Bank's country director, Madani Tall, pointed out that "food prices in Senegal are 24 per cent above the African average," and are the highest in West Africa, apart from Nigeria and Cape Verde.
"For a country with a port that even supplies landlocked countries, this is an irony worth noting," Mr Tall wrote.
He added: "We need to face facts and take a look at agriculture in particular, which has been neglected in favour of super-protected industries that are not competitive and do not even generate that many jobs," the World Bank executive said, ignoring that his own institution has also been criticised by local civil society activists as being part of the problem and partially responsible for the failure of Senegal's agricultural sector.
Meanwhile, Mr Jacques Diouf, a Senegalese national who is the director of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), had some harsh words for Mr Wade, who, while responding to a statement issued by FAO a few days earlier, had alleged that the organisation of using 20 per cent of the aid money it receives from donors for salaries and operational costs.
Mr Diouf strongly denied the allegation. "I don't know where Wade has got his 20 per cent from," he said, adding the Mr Wade would not solve the food crisis by criticising the FAO.
Less than a week after he unveiled his ambitious plan to boost local production, President Wade announced that he has reached a deal with India to import 600,000 tonnes of rice from the Asian country for six years. One private newspaper, Le Quotidien, bluntly asked: "Under such circumstances [importing rice from India] why would a farmer in the Valley [a region in the north] see the need to boost his production?"
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
Friday, April 18, 2008
If I could only...
Here I am...a little jet lagged and believe it or not happy to be in Senegal....photo courtesy of my daughter...catches me in the real moments...
Ben and Kirsten just got married last year...Ben is a missionary kid (MK) who grew up in Cameroon West Africa and Kirsten was with us last year. I have a feelin this isn't the last time they will visit West Africa and my bet is they will spend some considerable amount of time there one day...
this was Jane's third trip to Senegal. Jane has a heart for the village no smaller than anyone.
Mary's first trip to Senegal. Dave's wife...she's heard the stories...now she experienced them. She was honored with having the name of our friends in the village name their daughter after her.
Dennis first trip to Senegal after other trips to other parts of Africa. Dennis has been appointed by my organization to go to Senegal in the next few years. I believe that Dennis was touched with what God is doing here.
Mama Monica... I wish I could have captured her reunion with her friend in the village...it was like that commercial years ago when two people ran from a distance and happily reunite. Monica proved to us that hugging and crying in this culture is allowed.
Dave's fifth visit to Senegal. Dave and I have had many experiences together, in which most of them have been very rich...except when Dave gets up and starts dancing with the village. I've been paid well to never show those video's :)
Seriously though, Dave's heart for Senegal and people are worn on his sleeve.
Love you Man.
Sadie returned after waiting seven years to return. The village was amazed. This time I will treasure fer sure.
I met Andy at Echo farms over a year ago...he's doing an internship with the local NGO there...I introduced Andy to our village and we are praying that the relationship grows.
Brad...in the green...he's the man. Clean Water and Brad Saltzman are synonymous.
Here's a excerpt from a few team members...
If only I could get on paper all the sights, sounds, smells, and pictures I have whirling around in my head. If only I could write down in vivid color all the memories I have stored in my heart. I think constantly of the faces and the stories that need to be told but mostly I think of the women. Truthfully we in the US know nothing of hard work. I am barely civil in the morning until I have consumed three cups of coffee and these women face monumental struggles everyday just to survive. Pounding millet sometimes before the sun hits the horizon. Hauling buckets and buckets of water up from the well several times a day and all with a baby strapped to her back. Things are very different in Africa. So many struggles are faced each day and yet I look around and I see all the smiling faces. I see contentment in their simple lives. Truthfully I envy them their sense of community, how they care for each other, how they work together, cook together, eat together, sing and dance together. This is true community. As we arrived I saw familiar faces welcoming us once again into their lives. When the day came that we had to leave our friends I saw something I had never seen before in Africa. This year I saw tears. I do admit that most of them were flowing down my face but thinking back to that moment something strikes a chord in me. Before I left on this trip my friend Amy prayed that we would be the hands and feet of Jesus while in Africa. I was there and I believe I saw that prayer answered.
Roog ah fa ha (God is so good).
- Monica
Being with your team was an awesome experience. That was an opportunity to serve villagers through your ministry and see how God is good by touching people in different ways. God used you as a team for serving the villagers and made some friends and as you could notice friendship could be a powerful tool for spreading the Gospel in Senegal. Hope all of you are fine.
May God bless you!
- Comment from one of our translators
You know one of the cool things about leading or co-leading a trip like this is to experience people's reaction to Africa. I pray that all of them react to what God puts on their hearts.
I also pray they never forget.I won't ever forget you guys.
Living Water International
Hey, after hanging with Brad for about a week and hearing about the work LWI does....how bout supporting these guys?
They are doing some incredible things in the world's most deprived areas.
Here's an example of Brad's time in Sierra Leone after he left us in Senegal.
-That's Brad in the middle-
Monday,
We repaired another well in an even denser area/village. The spiritual darkness was overwhelming. The adults and children were totally out of control. The kids drove the workers crazy during the hygiene training. The filth in that place was indescribable.
Tuesday:
The workers had a wonderful time in a Christian community teaching health and hygiene to 17 women. It went great and I think renewed their energy.
We also took the guys on a tour of the streams in 2 different villages. The garbage and pollution in the streams, with latrines right beside them and then all of the people taking baths and I'm sure drinking out of them was horrifying. Somebody asked me if I've ever seen it this bad. I said no, it's probably 4 times worse than Haiti.
It was overwhelming today and all of us were very sad. The malnutrition was so evident it was frightening.
The container of pumps finally arrived at 8:30 pm. We unloaded it and finished at midnight. :)
Wednesday:
At one place we saw twins probably 9 months old that looked emaciated and horrible. They spent some time with the mother, made an ORS solution (re-hydrating solution) for the babies and then encouraged the mother to give it to them. They seemed to immediately take to it, but I had the feeling the mother wasn't going to keep giving it to them. I also heard that her husband had died 2 months ago.
However, we went to a well today that was sponsored by a LWI donor. When they repaired it 3 weeks ago there was a baby there (Ester) that was close to dying. Because they stopped drinking out of the polluted hand dug well and because I believe they taught the mother ORS, that baby looked very healthy and vibrant today. We got great video of the mother telling the story.
I think the things that are different this time are:
1.) The crush of people, the intensity, the smell and the noise (today we were farther out in some villages and it was quite peaceful)
2.) the amount of garbage everywhere is overwhelming. It smells everywhere and when you see any streams, gutters, or runoff areas it is completely filled with garbage and muck and it smells.
(I've seen similar in Haiti slums but this is everywhere in the Freetown area. It would be kinda like in the Houston metropolitan area.)
3.) this is the peak of the dry season so people are forced to go to the streams; but they wash themselves, clothes , seem to dump as much trash in the streams as possible. Just gets worse and worse the further downstream you get.
I've also seen multiple leaking latrines sitting 10-20 feet from these streams.
4.) I am absolutely convinced the worst areas we have seen is a result of evil being completely in charge. (especially in the village with witches that had human waste all over the river bank.) It is basically a picture of a whole country of people who have no hope.
5.) However, the incredible Christians we have spent time with have a great peace about them. All of them suffered greatly in the war but have found peace with God.
Go to Living Water website and if you can help them out....please make a difference in someone's life today!
Living Water International - Providing a Cup of Water In Jesus Name - Drill Missions, Water Missions, Water, Clean Water, Water and the Word, Shallow Water Drilling, Drill Training, LWI
They are doing some incredible things in the world's most deprived areas.
Here's an example of Brad's time in Sierra Leone after he left us in Senegal.
-That's Brad in the middle-
Monday,
We repaired another well in an even denser area/village. The spiritual darkness was overwhelming. The adults and children were totally out of control. The kids drove the workers crazy during the hygiene training. The filth in that place was indescribable.
Tuesday:
The workers had a wonderful time in a Christian community teaching health and hygiene to 17 women. It went great and I think renewed their energy.
We also took the guys on a tour of the streams in 2 different villages. The garbage and pollution in the streams, with latrines right beside them and then all of the people taking baths and I'm sure drinking out of them was horrifying. Somebody asked me if I've ever seen it this bad. I said no, it's probably 4 times worse than Haiti.
It was overwhelming today and all of us were very sad. The malnutrition was so evident it was frightening.
The container of pumps finally arrived at 8:30 pm. We unloaded it and finished at midnight. :)
Wednesday:
At one place we saw twins probably 9 months old that looked emaciated and horrible. They spent some time with the mother, made an ORS solution (re-hydrating solution) for the babies and then encouraged the mother to give it to them. They seemed to immediately take to it, but I had the feeling the mother wasn't going to keep giving it to them. I also heard that her husband had died 2 months ago.
However, we went to a well today that was sponsored by a LWI donor. When they repaired it 3 weeks ago there was a baby there (Ester) that was close to dying. Because they stopped drinking out of the polluted hand dug well and because I believe they taught the mother ORS, that baby looked very healthy and vibrant today. We got great video of the mother telling the story.
I think the things that are different this time are:
1.) The crush of people, the intensity, the smell and the noise (today we were farther out in some villages and it was quite peaceful)
2.) the amount of garbage everywhere is overwhelming. It smells everywhere and when you see any streams, gutters, or runoff areas it is completely filled with garbage and muck and it smells.
(I've seen similar in Haiti slums but this is everywhere in the Freetown area. It would be kinda like in the Houston metropolitan area.)
3.) this is the peak of the dry season so people are forced to go to the streams; but they wash themselves, clothes , seem to dump as much trash in the streams as possible. Just gets worse and worse the further downstream you get.
I've also seen multiple leaking latrines sitting 10-20 feet from these streams.
4.) I am absolutely convinced the worst areas we have seen is a result of evil being completely in charge. (especially in the village with witches that had human waste all over the river bank.) It is basically a picture of a whole country of people who have no hope.
5.) However, the incredible Christians we have spent time with have a great peace about them. All of them suffered greatly in the war but have found peace with God.
Go to Living Water website and if you can help them out....please make a difference in someone's life today!
Living Water International - Providing a Cup of Water In Jesus Name - Drill Missions, Water Missions, Water, Clean Water, Water and the Word, Shallow Water Drilling, Drill Training, LWI
Africa's Sudden Splash of Good News
Africa's Sudden Splash of Good News
By John Prendergast
Sunday, September 23, 2007; B02
Washington Post
As someone who has worked in Africa's worst war zones for the past quarter-century, I usually write about atrocities, tyranny and famine. That's what Americans are used to in articles with Africa datelines: grim tales of a hopeless and devastated continent. But after years of dealing with the likes of Somali gunmen, the Janjaweed militia in Sudan's Darfur region and abducted child soldiers in northern Uganda, I am far more optimistic about Africa's future than I was when I started.
The election of a 53-year-old former insurance executive as president of Sierra Leone last week was the latest sign of progress coming out of the continent. Though there were some isolated incidents of unrest, the democratic swearing-in of Ernest Bai Koroma was contrary to what much of the world has come to expect from Africa.
Far fewer people heard about the transfer of power in Sierra Leone than saw the 2006 movie "Blood Diamond," which depicted the country as overrun with drug-crazed child soldiers linked to diamond-dealing mafias. Years ago, the world heard horrific news reports about a rebel group there that hacked the limbs off civilians to punish them for voting, or stories that al-Qaeda laundered money through local diamond-industry operatives. But when I observed the first round of elections in eastern Sierra Leone last month, it was clear that the country was turning a corner. Through something as wonderfully ordinary as a nonviolent election, I saw a country willing itself a brighter future.
Sierra Leone's turnaround is a grand affirmation of the future of the continent. It's fitting that this country -- and other nations such as Liberia, South Africa, Mozambique and Burundi, which have also made strides toward democracy and peace -- are beginning to tell a story of Africa that is radically different from the conventional wisdom. They are defying both history and outsiders' low expectations for the continent.
Scratch beneath the surface, and you will find hope and self-transformation -- and inspiration.
During the 18th century, Sierra Leone was a major hub in the transatlantic slave trade, and many of the Africans who passed through it ended up in the plantations of South Carolina and Georgia. The British colonized the country before it won its independence in 1961. Just half a decade ago, the nation was embroiled in a brutal civil war.
Last month, I observed the election in the eastern diamond zone of Tongo Fields, an area crawling with political operatives and former child soldiers. Whoever wins at Sierra Leone's polls also wins access to the country's biggest natural resource and prize: diamonds. So before the electoral process unfolded, every conflict indicator was flashing "red alert." The so-called Africa experts of the world were predicting a bloodbath.
Instead, the country got an election run by some of the most conscientious, earnest polling officials I have ever met. We received only one report of a gunshot during the process -- a celebratory shot through our hotel window. The army stayed in its barracks, and the police helped with security. During the elections I observed in August and the runoff earlier this month, a few incidents of unrest were countered by a tidal wave of efforts by Sierra Leone's civil society groups, churches, mosques and government officials to ensure a peaceful outcome.
"It's a brand new day for Sierra Leone," a former child soldier named Elijah told me. All of the ex-combatants whom I met in Tongo Fields and Freetown, the war-scarred capital, insisted that they would never be lured back to a life of war in the bush.
"We fought for nothing," another former child soldier told me. "We are so tired of war. We don't want to be used for fighting and end up with nothing." A third former combatant, speaking to me in the middle of a diamond mine, divulged that he had committed "terrible atrocities" in the bush. "This vote signals the end of jungle justice," he said.
Sierra Leone's renaissance is strikingly similar to that of Liberia, another country written off earlier this decade by the "experts." In "Lord of War," a 2005 movie starring Nicolas Cage, Liberia is shown as "that country which God seemed to have forsaken." Cage's character describes the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital, as "the edge of hell."
But in late 2005, Liberians marched to the polls and elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female head of state in Africa. More than 100,000 soldiers have been demobilized as the country works to erase the legacy of more than a quarter-century of violent political upheaval.
I was there for that election, too. The stories of the former child soldiers in Liberia echoed those of Sierra Leone. "We were used, fooled and forced" by the former warlords, a 14-year-old named David told me; now he wanted to get a little land and some capital and start to farm. Other former comrades of his planned to go to school or get job training. The last thing they wanted was to be dragged back to a world where the rule of law is abandoned and the gun speaks loudest of all.
The evidence of transformation goes far beyond Sierra Leone and Liberia. The best-known story of all is South Africa, which up until the early 1990s was ruled by white supremacists. Today, still bathed in the spirit of Nelson Mandela, South Africa is preparing for its fourth democratic election since the fall of apartheid.
In 1994, Hutu radicals armed with machetes committed a terrifyingly swift genocide in Rwanda, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in just 100 days. Today, the country has a significant economic growth rate, and the likelihood of a return to conflict diminishes with each passing year. Neighboring Burundi and southern Sudan -- also ripped apart by genocide and conflicts that have killed millions -- have forged peace deals, laying the ground for development and security.
What I have found in my travels is a new African story, an assertion of rights and responsibilities by people from all walks of life, especially young people. Africans are demanding that their voices be heard -- through the ballot box, through civil society organizations, new media, revitalized political parties, and reformed institutions to provide accountability.
All this provides some key lessons for the newest and biggest crisis on the continent: Darfur and its regional spillovers. First, don't lose hope. (The cases above demonstrate that seemingly intractable problems have solutions.) Second, promote democracy in all its forms. Third, step up peace efforts. (In all the above cases except Rwanda, negotiations played a key role in ending the suffering.) Fourth, protect civilians. The African Union and U.N. troops being deployed in Darfur should fulfill their mandate to protect civilians and support humanitarian operations, or the death rates will continue to mount.
The difference between Darfur and all these other cases is that this time, Americans are not looking away. With the exception of the smaller but still effective anti-apartheid movement to free South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, the outpouring of American activism urging a more robust U.S. response to Darfur has been unparalleled: the first truly mass-based political movement to confront genocide or civil war in Africa.
Failure in Darfur would probably mean that Americans would once again turn away from a continent trying to shake off its legacies of slavery, colonialism and conflict. But success in Darfur could ensure that a whole generation of newly politically active Americans would redouble their efforts to guarantee that the world's most powerful nation will not stand by during a genocide or deadly war. Darfur, too, will turn around, but how quickly will be determined, in part, by how successful this activist movement becomes, both in the United States and in other countries that hold the keys to a peaceful future.
jp@enoughproject.org
John Prendergast is co-chair of the
Enough Project, an initiative aimed at crimes against humanity, and the co-author, with actor Don Cheadle, of "Not on Our Watch."
By John Prendergast
Sunday, September 23, 2007; B02
Washington Post
As someone who has worked in Africa's worst war zones for the past quarter-century, I usually write about atrocities, tyranny and famine. That's what Americans are used to in articles with Africa datelines: grim tales of a hopeless and devastated continent. But after years of dealing with the likes of Somali gunmen, the Janjaweed militia in Sudan's Darfur region and abducted child soldiers in northern Uganda, I am far more optimistic about Africa's future than I was when I started.
The election of a 53-year-old former insurance executive as president of Sierra Leone last week was the latest sign of progress coming out of the continent. Though there were some isolated incidents of unrest, the democratic swearing-in of Ernest Bai Koroma was contrary to what much of the world has come to expect from Africa.
Far fewer people heard about the transfer of power in Sierra Leone than saw the 2006 movie "Blood Diamond," which depicted the country as overrun with drug-crazed child soldiers linked to diamond-dealing mafias. Years ago, the world heard horrific news reports about a rebel group there that hacked the limbs off civilians to punish them for voting, or stories that al-Qaeda laundered money through local diamond-industry operatives. But when I observed the first round of elections in eastern Sierra Leone last month, it was clear that the country was turning a corner. Through something as wonderfully ordinary as a nonviolent election, I saw a country willing itself a brighter future.
Sierra Leone's turnaround is a grand affirmation of the future of the continent. It's fitting that this country -- and other nations such as Liberia, South Africa, Mozambique and Burundi, which have also made strides toward democracy and peace -- are beginning to tell a story of Africa that is radically different from the conventional wisdom. They are defying both history and outsiders' low expectations for the continent.
Scratch beneath the surface, and you will find hope and self-transformation -- and inspiration.
During the 18th century, Sierra Leone was a major hub in the transatlantic slave trade, and many of the Africans who passed through it ended up in the plantations of South Carolina and Georgia. The British colonized the country before it won its independence in 1961. Just half a decade ago, the nation was embroiled in a brutal civil war.
Last month, I observed the election in the eastern diamond zone of Tongo Fields, an area crawling with political operatives and former child soldiers. Whoever wins at Sierra Leone's polls also wins access to the country's biggest natural resource and prize: diamonds. So before the electoral process unfolded, every conflict indicator was flashing "red alert." The so-called Africa experts of the world were predicting a bloodbath.
Instead, the country got an election run by some of the most conscientious, earnest polling officials I have ever met. We received only one report of a gunshot during the process -- a celebratory shot through our hotel window. The army stayed in its barracks, and the police helped with security. During the elections I observed in August and the runoff earlier this month, a few incidents of unrest were countered by a tidal wave of efforts by Sierra Leone's civil society groups, churches, mosques and government officials to ensure a peaceful outcome.
"It's a brand new day for Sierra Leone," a former child soldier named Elijah told me. All of the ex-combatants whom I met in Tongo Fields and Freetown, the war-scarred capital, insisted that they would never be lured back to a life of war in the bush.
"We fought for nothing," another former child soldier told me. "We are so tired of war. We don't want to be used for fighting and end up with nothing." A third former combatant, speaking to me in the middle of a diamond mine, divulged that he had committed "terrible atrocities" in the bush. "This vote signals the end of jungle justice," he said.
Sierra Leone's renaissance is strikingly similar to that of Liberia, another country written off earlier this decade by the "experts." In "Lord of War," a 2005 movie starring Nicolas Cage, Liberia is shown as "that country which God seemed to have forsaken." Cage's character describes the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital, as "the edge of hell."
But in late 2005, Liberians marched to the polls and elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female head of state in Africa. More than 100,000 soldiers have been demobilized as the country works to erase the legacy of more than a quarter-century of violent political upheaval.
I was there for that election, too. The stories of the former child soldiers in Liberia echoed those of Sierra Leone. "We were used, fooled and forced" by the former warlords, a 14-year-old named David told me; now he wanted to get a little land and some capital and start to farm. Other former comrades of his planned to go to school or get job training. The last thing they wanted was to be dragged back to a world where the rule of law is abandoned and the gun speaks loudest of all.
The evidence of transformation goes far beyond Sierra Leone and Liberia. The best-known story of all is South Africa, which up until the early 1990s was ruled by white supremacists. Today, still bathed in the spirit of Nelson Mandela, South Africa is preparing for its fourth democratic election since the fall of apartheid.
In 1994, Hutu radicals armed with machetes committed a terrifyingly swift genocide in Rwanda, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in just 100 days. Today, the country has a significant economic growth rate, and the likelihood of a return to conflict diminishes with each passing year. Neighboring Burundi and southern Sudan -- also ripped apart by genocide and conflicts that have killed millions -- have forged peace deals, laying the ground for development and security.
What I have found in my travels is a new African story, an assertion of rights and responsibilities by people from all walks of life, especially young people. Africans are demanding that their voices be heard -- through the ballot box, through civil society organizations, new media, revitalized political parties, and reformed institutions to provide accountability.
All this provides some key lessons for the newest and biggest crisis on the continent: Darfur and its regional spillovers. First, don't lose hope. (The cases above demonstrate that seemingly intractable problems have solutions.) Second, promote democracy in all its forms. Third, step up peace efforts. (In all the above cases except Rwanda, negotiations played a key role in ending the suffering.) Fourth, protect civilians. The African Union and U.N. troops being deployed in Darfur should fulfill their mandate to protect civilians and support humanitarian operations, or the death rates will continue to mount.
The difference between Darfur and all these other cases is that this time, Americans are not looking away. With the exception of the smaller but still effective anti-apartheid movement to free South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, the outpouring of American activism urging a more robust U.S. response to Darfur has been unparalleled: the first truly mass-based political movement to confront genocide or civil war in Africa.
Failure in Darfur would probably mean that Americans would once again turn away from a continent trying to shake off its legacies of slavery, colonialism and conflict. But success in Darfur could ensure that a whole generation of newly politically active Americans would redouble their efforts to guarantee that the world's most powerful nation will not stand by during a genocide or deadly war. Darfur, too, will turn around, but how quickly will be determined, in part, by how successful this activist movement becomes, both in the United States and in other countries that hold the keys to a peaceful future.
jp@enoughproject.org
John Prendergast is co-chair of the
Enough Project, an initiative aimed at crimes against humanity, and the co-author, with actor Don Cheadle, of "Not on Our Watch."
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