Bearing and Inflicting

More Pain for the Congo

"Fierce fighting between government and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, the Red Cross says." (BBC)  For those whose family members live here on our team, let me assure you that while we are within 10 miles of the Congo border, our neighboring part of the troubled North Kivu province is to this point unaffected by the fighting further south.  Laurent Nkunda leads a rebel force which has over-run numerous towns and now stands at a cease-fire within a dozen miles of Goma, the provincial capital.  The history here is long and complex and I'm sure I don't understand it.  For the last decade eastern Congo has been de-stabilized by the pillaging of both rebel and government militaries.  Some of this relates to the post-genocide flight of the Hutu militias into Congo, triggering the influx of Rwandan and Ugandan troops to protect ethnic minorities, the overthrow of Mobutu, our own frights with the ADF, the rise of Kabila the elder and the succession of Kabila the younger . . . but lots of it also has to do with the fact that this is a monstrous country with zero infrastructure and vast resources being exploited by Europeans, Americans, Chinese, other Africans, anyone who can get a piece of the wealth.  Meanwhile on the ground ladies wrapped in kitengis who look just like our friends (and some are probably related) are trudging down roads once again with anything salvagable bundled on their heads, trying to decide whether IDP camps within range of the Nkunda rebels are less safe, or more safe, than the towns held by the government.  The UN troops stand in the middle hated by all, particularly the population whom they are unable to protect.   And children continue to die of TB and malnutrition and gastroenteritis, on the run, unable to access care that most of the rest of the world takes for granted.  The IRC (International Rescue Committee) has done commendable research to point out that 4 million people in the DRC have died as a result of this ongoing, ever-shifting war . . . and very few of those deaths were battle-ground bullets.  The death toll is being borne by civilians once again.

Corruption Kills Too

"Uganda has lost 25bn Ugandan shillings ($12m) of Global Fund money due to concerns over poor accountability, according to reports this week. The Global Fund has refused to release a second $10m instalment from the $36m pot it allocated for HIV/Aids activities in Uganda in 2003 because it was not satisfied with how initial payments have been spent, reported New Vision. " (from The Guardian)  When the people who are supposed to work for the health of a country divert aid, pocket money, obscure accounts, and generally use the Global Fund as an opportunity for personal gain . . . the poor, once again, suffer.  Donors have cut Uganda out of funds that could assure that children like Mbabazi in my post below receive medicine.  When a culture turns a blind eye towards truth, children suffer.

So missionaries who talk about sin sound pretty old-fashioned, fundamental, out-of-touch culturally, intolerant.  That is because we fail to see the logs in our own eyes, so let me first say that the power and greed and deception that plague Africa are the same germs of evil that plague my own heart.  But that is not a reason to pretend they are not germs.  At the root of today's headlines:  sin.  One group that panics and wants to assure its own survival by raping and murdering another.  Shady cobalt deals that rape the environment and steal from the poor.  A view of reality that justifies using resources for personal ends with no accountability.  We see the same dynamics in families, in tribes, in local politics . . but when they reach proportions of international attention, the effect becomes more clear.  Sin kills.

Pat read us a prayer this week that beautifully sums up the response of the Cross to this mess of a world: Lord, let me bear more pain than I inflict.  Amen.