Drone Love?

I must admit, I am quite fond of the title of this blog post. In my few minutes of internet time I was reading about President Obama’s decision to continue to increase the use of predator drones in the war in Afghanistan and let’s be real, can we just say Pakistan too. Predator drones are unmanned aircraft mounted with high precision cameras and high precision missiles, making one great killing machine. I was watching a television segment several months ago about the efficiency of the drone and how much they were helping America win the war against terror. PBS even had the opportunity to interview one of the drone pilots, not in Afghanistan but Arizona. A majority of drone pilots are stationed in Arizona. The news program even followed a pilot from his job killing people all day to his 30 minute commute home to his family. The use of the predator drone has been hailed as a great military invention keeping US troops out of harm’s way while being able to completely wipe out the enemy.

I’m sorry, this just sounds too weird to me. How far away from humanity and war can we get? I’m all about least amount of lives lost but what about our enemies? Are we really killing just bad guys from a million miles away? I don’t think so. I have seen that many news reports about accidental drone killings. Apparently it’s been hard to differentiate between a terrorist meeting and a wedding or funeral. Human rights groups have been resoundingly opposed to the use of the use of the predator drones. I can understand them. Can you imagine being at a wedding of close friend and out of nowhere a giant bomb explodes killing half of the wedding party? I can imagine that making some people downright furious. Can you fathom something like that happening to your family? I certainly cannot. Please lets get more personal. For humans sake.

China?

This is kind of a follow up to the Copenhagen post. I noticed that China has directly threatened President Obama about meeting with the Dali Lama. Similar to actions in Copenhagen, I think China is starting to flex its new economic power in the world. When I say the world, I mean it. China has hit the third world with tons of development. There are very mixed opinions about China’s investment and I’m going to share my perspective. The handprints China is everywhere in Rwanda, from the smooth roads to new towering skyscrapers overlooking Kigali. This is true not only for Rwanda but also many other developing nations. Many people living in Rwanda have strong biases one way or another. I think I have found a trend though. Many people with a mid to lower intelligence level seem to be very welcoming to China’s investment in their country, while those with very high intelligence levels seem to be very hesitant and downright disgusted with China’s involvement in their country. I found this to be the exact same case in Costa Rica. China promised Costa Rica a brand new state of the art stadium in exchange for Costa Rica’s most profitable resource, fresh water. Many people were enthusiastic about the idea of a brand new stadium while others were hoping the government would not go through with the deal, seeing the amount of fresh water China is asking for as ludicrous and a terrible deal for the country.

From what I can gather, the contracts that China is signing with the global south are quite unfair. I think the cost in natural resources developing countries are paying to China for development work is unjust. China is looking into the future with their exploding population and finding unethical ways to meet those needs. China does not require any human rights monitoring and employs mainly Chinese nationals, providing few jobs for countries that desperately need them.

On the up-side, they are investing and some people say really bad investment is better than no investment. I seen elected official say that they prefer working with China because they do not have to deal with the stringent requirement set on them by the US and European Nations. This could also have to do with the fact that China is more than eager to get things done under the table.

What $3.470,000,000 Could Buy You?

Actually I have no clue what $3.47 billion could buy you. I could give you some estimates though. $3.5 billion could feed a country like Zimbabwe for several years. It could provide millions of people with clean drinking water. It could buy 10 F-22 Raptors. It could provide 350 million laptops for children in developing countries. A couple of days ago the Center for Responsive Politics released a report detailing a record breaking year of money spent by lobbyist.

As no surprise the pharmaceutical industry racked up the largest amount of money ever spent by a single industry at $267 million. Other big hitters include the Chamber of Commerce, Chevron, Pfizer, BC/BS Exxon Mobil and AARP. Overall this is a 5% increase over last year. The numbers never lie for businesses. Even in these tough economic times, businesses have decided that its more advantageous to spend more money on lobbying because it will pay off in the long run.

EDIT: Actually, I know better than this. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have posted this. These numbers are too big to be able to fathom thus not having much meaning other than a ton of money.

Ain't Life Grand

So I was doing my usual 10k to and from town today, when I realized that life is really good right now. The temperature was quite hot but there was nice little constant breeze to make it bearable. I was to the stage of the walk where there was a huge corn field to the right of me and a semi open field leading down to the big trees surrounding the river and the city of brick makers. Falcons were gracefully gliding above me, playing with the breeze, while sparrows were swooping next me at suicide speed. I could hear the stupid monkey sounding birds off in the distance and a whole array of other organic sounds close and all around. At this moment, I thought to myself, damn life is really good right now. I don’t know if it can get much better than this? It felt good to take it all in. My steps were light under the red rocky road. This permeated my soul for another fifteen minutes or so until another thought popped into my head. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the direction my brain had gone it. People around stopped and stared even harder than they usually do. I thought to myself hmm, that’s really saying something to have the thought, hmm I don’t know if life can get much better than this at this current time? I laughed to myself thinking about the rice, beans, and cabbage I had been eating for a week straight, or how I have to fetch water in a Jerry can and then boil it just to drink it, or the 10 big hairy brown spiders I killed in my room this week. These things seemed to not faze me one bit. It’s amazing how much you think the important things matter when they don’t. I guess life could be a lot better. I could be eating delicious food or poop in a toilet instead of hole in the ground or enjoy the benefits of air conditioning and temperatures below 85 but its funny when you’re just living… all those things just seem to melt away.

Ghosts of the Past

I realized I haven’t really spoken about the genocide yet so I’m going to detail you in a little bit. Actually first let me give you a little background for those unaware. In April 1994 Rwanda erupted into genocide as one made up ethnic group the Hutus attempted to execute the Tutsis. This resulted in a month long blood bath of over 1 million deaths. This was a tough 1 million lives too. Many people turned on their neighbors killing their entire family with machetes or blunt objects. For a country with a population of just over 9 million people, this was devastating. Rwanda now has the highest percentage of orphans in the world. They have been at peace for 15 years though. The recovery effort has been phenomenal and in this short amount of time, small land locked Rwanda has become quite an economic powerhouse in east Africa. It pays to be at peace.

People’s feelings and perspectives are all across the board. You have some folks who casually bring it up in conversation and others that are surprised that you are aware that it even happened. On the other hand it is not uncommon while walking down the street to see someone with deep scars or worse as a clear sign of a traumatic past. When speaking to folks the range of discussion is huge. Some people are eager to tell you their story. They know it like a clear picture in their head. They can describe the worse details with vivid imagery that make you want vomit and cry at the same time. I have found this to be true for both sides, not just perpetrators or victims. Some people are fine talking about it but they speak as though it is a distant passing of time with little to no significance even though they acknowledge the severe trauma all around. Some people choose not to speak and I don’t blame them. There is a certain nationalistic pride that is a good shield from the truth. I believe this to be true not only for Rwandese but for Americans too. How often do Americans fully acknowledge the genocide against the Native Americans or the years of slavery fallowing it? Or the existence of secret and not so secret government torture prisons. Evil inhabits all parts of the earth.

Today Rwanda is legally under the phase “we are all Rwandese”. Nobody is allowed to associate with an ethnic group or create divisive behavior. This too has caused mixed feelings. Ethnic tensions can still be felt today as some politely call the all Rwandan policy “bullshit”. Regardless of the mixed feelings, I believe ethnic tensions are down, especially among children. You frequently see children playing with whoever they want without regard to difference. I think the whispers of divided ethnicity have been drowned out by playful laughter. I can only hope that Rwanda continues in this direction.

Bible/ Genocide

Lets chat about probably the most bloody verses in the bible ok? Thanks to BMc and Grant Lemasquand for the help here. Deuteronomy 7: 1-3 I’m going to type it out so you get the grasp. “People of Israel, the Lord your God will help you take the land of the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. These seven nations have more people and are stronger than Israel, but when you attack them, the Lord will force the out of the land. Then you must destroy them without mercy. Don’t make any peace or treaties with them and don’t let your sons and daughters marry any of them.”

Let that soak in. So this is God promoted and helping with the genocide of 7 groups including the Canaanites.

Lets fast forward around 1500 years to the very Jewish writer Matthew. Chapter 15: 21-28. This is the 2^nd of 2 times that Jesus changes his mind. (1^st time was when his momma convinced him to turn some water into wine for some Gentiles) actually double ((Jesus changes his mind, that’s cool, it’s makes him a little more human and relatable))

I’m now going put these verses in my own words. So Jesus is cruising around town and runs into a Canaanite woman (the use of the word Canaanite here is intentional and specific). The lady sees Jesus and asks him to heal her daughter. Jesus responds, “lady listen, it’s a no go, I’m not here for you. I got enough problems with crazy Herod, these Pharisees and they just killed my BFF John, straight up beheading too”. So the lady calls Jesus out for kind of being an asshole and reminds him about bringing a blessing to all the nations’ thing. Things seem a little testy and the ball is Jesus’s court. She just brought up some old school Jewish history and you know that Jesus knows the story. Jesus has a choice here. He knows the history of the Canaanites and he knows who he knows he’s God. What does he do?

He heals the lady’s daughter. He knows the past and chooses a different way. He could have continued on his way, forever cursing the Canaanites but no he heals her and sends his blessing with them. He restores the kingdom of God in them. Not only does he do help them, he next goes on what I will call a healing spree of Gentiles. Then he decides to feed another crowd. Guess how many baskets of bread are left over? 7, that’s right for the 7 nations that were destroyed.

What a beautiful changing of the tide, to turn the violence and devastation of the past into a sign full of hope and healing for the future. The metaphor here is phenomenal. Previously Jesus fed 5,000 Jews leaving 12 baskets of bread left representing the 12 tribes of Israel. In these verses Jesus extends his offer. He feeds thousands of gentiles with 7 baskets of bread left over representing the 7 Gentile nations previously wiped out. It’s such a beautiful image to stop the chain of swords and fear to promoting loaves of bread and love. That’s something I want to get behind.

Sidebar: I don’t know if you noticed but there is a sweet contradiction in the Deuteronomy passage. It says “you must destroy them with no mercy, make no treaty,” basically commit genocide. The fallowing verse and verses are instruction to not intermarry. If everyone is to be killed, why is there fallow up about intermarriage. Another reason not to read the bible too literally.

SHOUTOUT: Amy Goodman

I was speaking with some fellow teachers and they asked me what I missed most about America and after some usuals like a/c, ice cream, electricity, high speed internet, family and friends, flavor in food and Jon Stewart. I realized that I miss Amy Goodman and Democracy Now. I know it’s kind of lame but gosh does she have a soft spot in my heart. Then I realized I haven’t done a shoutout in a while a boom, now you have it.

Amy Goodman is the host of online and public radio’s Democracy Now. This program is fully funded by viewers and has no corporate hands involved with anything related to the show. With that, Amy Goodman can say whatever she wants and does. Her show starts with a 15 minute recap of the news from the day before. This isn’t just the news news, this is often times news you will not see on TV from human rights abuses by corporations to the administration quietly selling several billion dollars worth of weapons to Taiwan and to when Haiti fades from the news while chaos is on the verge throughout the country. Amy covers all these things and I appreciate her for it. Then she usually has one to two interviews with folks about pressing issues regarding human rights or justice or the environment and usually all three wrapped into one.

So please, if you haven’t checked out Democracy Now, please do so and if you have heard of Democracy Now and appreciate the work that Amy Goodman is doing then tell your friends to watch Democracy Now for their news and if have some loose change, give it to her, they don’t have any outside funding and they do a really important job.

Crux

If you would like to see Evan’s heart beat, please keep reading.

This post has been spurred on by a Rob Bell sermon a while back titled The Importance of the Beginning. He does a nice job of articulating so I’m stealing some from him. If we are going to tell the story of God, we must start at the very beginning and if we don’t, we can very easily misinterpret the story. Genesis 1 & 2 is where the story begins not 3. God created heaven on earth and saw that it was GOOD (not perfect, but actively good). Let’s talk about this; the earth is good, God created it to be good. he didn’t create earth for us to leave it. He created earth for us to live in harmony with her. Let’s stop treating it and our brothers and sisters as if they are originally bad. The spirit and soil are connected as one. Heaven and earth are the same thing and that’s how God intended it to be. This is a tremendous start and I personally think many people forget that it started this way. Now let’s skip to the end of the Bible, Revelations 21 & 22. What happens, the New Jerusalem comes down on earth and it is GOOD. There is a progression from garden to city that God is not and has not been stagnant in. This is where the bible begins and ends, being good on earth. Now we have to talk about the middle part.

Genesis 3 is where sin comes in. Yes it’s real and no I’m not trying to be wishy-washy but let’s talk about definitions. God created a hierarchy that we as humans were to be above the earth and God above humans but Adam and Eve were not happy with the hierarchy that God created and decided to break it. Humans didn’t want God on top so they tasted the fruit of something else. Here is where the definition of sin comes. Sin is a disruption of shalom or the deep peace of God. We were created for peace with the world and God but decided to rebel against that.

Now let’s talk about sin in the context of Genesis 1 & 2. Throughout the bible we see talk not of evacuation but of restoration Acts 3:21 Jesus will restore all things. Or Matthew 19:28, Jesus will create renewal of all things on earth. Finally Colossians 1: 19 that God will reconcile all things on earth. The emphasis is on all things using words like restore, renewal, and reconcile. This is the crux; if you start at Gen 3 then the focus is removal of sin. If you start at Gen 1 then the focus is on restoring shalom on earth which includes the removal of sin. This difference is huge.

The story takes place here. We have created disorder with earth and God and he is looking for people who believe in the story of salvation and restoration to take part in co-creating heaven on earth.

This is my opinion and where I come from and what I am passionate about. The crux of the story isn’t about making people believe the same thing so they can evacuate earth. The crux of the story is about believing and acting that there is a higher power that has cares and loves all of us and wants us to work with him to RESTORE heaven on earth HERE and NOW.

The Circle of Life

So our house is located on which used to be Akagera State Park and let’s just say there’s a lot of residual beings. The problem is that I’m not sure what I want to disturb? As I have said before, I am a friend of nature but maybe not bff J. Does that make sense? So here is an example. We have all sorts of things living in and around our house but I’m not sure which ones to kill because it all goes in the circle of life as some things like to eat the things I really don’t like. I think I’m starting to get it down though. So we of course have the occasional moth, fly, crawly thingy, unidentified flying thingy, stingy annoying thing, death squeal mosquito and so forth. To take care of those we figure we should keep around the awesome geckos and smaller black spiders. We have huge brown spiders with hairy legs, but I have made the executive decision that they cannot stay in the house and must die. Then we have the diverse array of birds of all different shapes, sizes, colors, and of course calls. Actually, this morning I awoke to birds that had convinced me they were monkeys singing outside of my bedroom door. Actually I was convinced enough to get up and look out the window. Don’t worry, I’m not going crazy, there are moneys in the area. Lastly, well not really lastly but last thing I’m mentioning is our resident bat Batty. (I need to watch Fern Gully soon). So batty hangs out (literally) in the kitchen all day and eats the wasps. We would very much like to get rid of the wasps but I kind of like having Batty around, so the wasps are staying… temporarily. After much sneaking around, I was finally able to get a picture of Batty and I would totally post it and many others but internet is way slow, so maybe next time I head back to Kigali I can update with some sweet pics. Sorry that things have been a little boring lately, just the internet is way slow and the ole blogger wouldn’t upload.. bummer.

Rule # 1

So I brought bed sheets over from the states thinking that I wouldn’t have to buy any, but that was a mistake. I brought sheets for a single bed. When we arrived it seemed as though I had Tween sized bed. Tween somewhere between Twin and queen and my single sheets were nowhere close to fitting. So we did what every other person would do and went to the not so local Nakumatt (Wal-mart equivalent) and purchased some new sheets for the Tween sized bed. You hear it repeated that you should always wash clothes or sheets before you wear them or put them on your bed but this became especially true. After filling up the Jerry can and 2 small buckets of water, I was ready to wash my new sheets. I took them outside and was about to dunk them when I noticed they already had a stain on them. I rotated the bed sheet around in my hand till the stain was right in front of me. Bummer, that looks like a blood stain. Ok so I cannot verify that it’s a blood stain because CSI was busy on another case but I would take an educated guess that its blood. This brings me to my point.

Seriously, rule # 1, if you’re going to sell sheets that were made in a sweat shop, please make sure that none of your employees blood is on the sheets. I feel horrible enough as it is that the sheets I’m buying could have been made in sweat shop, but when I get them home and find blood on them, it makes it makes me a little nauseous. It brings things a little closer to home. I feel more connected to whoever’s blood was shed to create my garments.

I will bring things back to sane town though. The stain on my sheets could possibly something else? Even if it blood there is a chance that my sheets were made by someone who was paid a fair wage and can support their family. Let’s be real about chances though. A majority of garments made around the world are not fair trade. There is a good chance that the clothes you’re wearing now and the sheets you will sleep on tonight were made by a struggling worker who has very limited rights and has to work 80 hours a week just to get by.

To clarify, I’m not opposed to products being made overseas. I just wish there was great transparency for the corporate office to the multiple strands of contracts to the workers making the products we buy. I think if we as consumers could see the direct line of where our clothes are coming from then we would make better choices in supporting companies that treat their workers with respect.