Amen Jim Wallis

I really like Jim Wallis and this a really great article that I hope many people read

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/11/18/3-steps-toward-a-balanced-budget/

The Moto Mating Call

Cars are quite expensive in Rwanda, so most folks find themselves taking a motorcycle taxi to get around. There aren’t many rules or regulations in moto or boda boda world but there is a strict etiquette to completing a ride.

1) The initial approach- At almost all hours during the day, you can see motos whizzing by you and dodging in and out of traffic. Well this is true until the actual moment you want a moto, in which case, they seem to just disappear. Eventually you will final find an available suitor, a solo moto driver pretending to be going somewhere important and seemingly wanting no such mate. You show interest in 2 ways: a simple hand raise or deep hard hiss that would make everyone in America turn in horror. The second option seems to be more attractive as I have found more moto drivers willing to stop for a hard hiss than the hand raise.

2) The look up and down- Moto drivers usually whip their bike around and pull up right in front of you almost running over your feet to display their dominance and masculinity in hopes of a match. I usually take a step back to see what features said moto driver has asking myself questions like, “what are my chances of lice putting on this helmet?” or “on a scale of 1-10 how drunk could this person be” and “hmm this is the sporty bike which goes faster but is less comfortable, how far do I have to go and is it worth waiting for a slightly more comfortable ride?”

3) The interview process- If you are satisfied with the answers to the previous questions, you next move to the interview process. To be polite you have to run down all the common small talk Kinyarwanda you know followed by a broken Kinyarwandan explanation of where you have to go. Immediately after shaky Kinyarwanda, you deliver the strong question, “ni angahe?” or “how much?” Moto drivers almost always play coy and give you a ridiculous price that I might have paid if I just stepped off the plane but not a year in. To counteract this, you have to immediately show dramatic disapproval. This disapproval can be shown in a variety of ways: an exasperated ‘oya’ ‘no’, a strong disrespectful tapping of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, laughing hysterically in disbelief about the price or simply walking away in hopes the suitor will redeem himself with a lower price. For more effective results, it’s best to combine your signs of disapproval. I personally like to laugh hysterically and walk away. (sidenote: as I reread these steps, I realize how incredibly rude and overdramatic these steps might appear but they are all totally normal in a culture where the word subtlety is not in the dictionary)

4) Agreement- After the initial price is usually divided by 2, both moto and motoee seem to be in agreement, you hop on board, put on the moderately gross helmet and go to town, if you know what I mean.

(one happy moto rider finding his mate)

Implement

I’m really lucky right now to have the opportunity to teach at Parliament. My little class of 5 MPs and 3 Senators is quite a lively bunch. We have a lot of fun and also talk about a lot of serious issues. This past Thursday as we were saying our goodbyes for the weekend, the jokes started flying which unintentionally led us to one of our most serious interactions.

A couple of months ago, I read this really great article by the head of International Justice Mission.. The basic gist of the article is that over the past 60 years the human rights movement has been very successful in getting many great laws in the books in many countries. But the implementation of these laws is another story. Many countries have very corrupt officials, officials who don’t believe in enforcing laws and officials who just don’t have enough money to enforce laws.

The last reason certainly applies to Rwanda. As we were all walking out the door, I was joking with some members of Parliament about what their plans were for the weekend, which clubs they enjoyed attending (almost all the members are over 50 and want nothing more than going home to their wife or husband). As I was listing off names of night clubs, Cadillac, Le Must, Executive Car Wash, KBC, one of the members says ‘oh not KBC they have a big prostitute problem.’

This was relatively shocking to me. I mean everyone knows that KBC is infested with prostitutes but I just guessed these officials were a little out of touch. I was wrong. I slowed the conversation and asked, ‘so you do know?’ They all kind of laughed it off and thought my presumption that they would not know as naïve. Of course my next question was, well if you do know, why don’t you do something about?

Everyone’s answer was most telling. ‘you see Evan, we work really hard to make good laws but doing them is another story. We are a very small poor country with many problems and that’s just another one. You can’t expect us to stand around night clubs and enforce these laws. Prostitution is a big problem in all of Africa (very true) and we do need to do better but it takes time. Our police force is very weak and inexperienced.’

So for those of you interested in human rights, I think this is our task, coming up with creative ways to make sure these good laws that we have worked hard to put in place are enforced. I think this a fairly clear firsthand account that the article by IJM and FRC is correct. Lets hold up the laws we create.

GO!

This weekend marks the 20^th anniversary of the annual protest of the School of Americas. GO! Even if you don’t know much about it, there are going to be a ton of really nice folks that would love to chat with you. Its only 2 hours outside of Atlanta. So for folks in Atlanta you can make a day trip or stay for the weekend. For folks not in Atlanta, you can stay at my parent’s house for free. I’m sure they would love to host some folks. Just tell me so I can tell them you are coming. I’m not joking GO!

For almost 60 years over 60,000 Latin American soldiers have been trained in brutal counterinsurgency tactics ranging from intimidation to murder to disappearances and torture. These trainings have wrecked havoc all over Latin America. From coups of democratically elected governments to killings of thousands of innocent people, these training must stop. The main training facility is located in Fort Benning Georgia called the School of Americas. (now renamed WHISC Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation)

Every November there is a mass protest outside the gates of Fort Benning. I attended last year and would love to take part again this year but can’t quite make it. I met a lot beautiful souls standing in solidarity for all those who have died as consequence of the brutal American training tactics. Please if you have the means, attend. I highly recommend it. Here is the link to the group that organizes the protest: SCHOOL OF AMERICAS WATCH

Please lets tell America, war and intimidation is not what we represent. We must close this school and the others around America that start working toward peace.

One of my favorite quotes:

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says "Love your enemies," he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. ... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.” MLK Jr.

Scars (again)

Looking back at my first blogs since moving to Rwanda, I’ve realized that not just myself but several other peoples first blogs about moving to Rwanda were about scars. The complete openness of past tragedy and open lament is really foreign to Americans. This is one of the first things many people notice when they first arrive here. I think this is due to stark contrast and how different it is from America. Past hardships and physical scars are typically concealed, covered or attempted to forget about but these hardships have to go somewhere. Rwanda is quite the opposite to America when it comes to the lament. Many people cannot hide their constant reminder of a past suffering which I think is ok for many people. I think Rwanda has properly grieved its hardships and is ready to move forward. It does not want to forget about previous injustices but is ready to move on in a better light due to the fact that it has openly dealt with what it has.

I think this is a great lesson the Rwandese can teach Americans, and in my opinion especially Christians. How many times have you walked into church with the weight of the world on your shoulders, only to see a lot of people with smiling faces and the image of not a care in the world. Times for sorrow and lament are reserved for specific Sundays accompanied with a particular message. I don’t think this façade is healthy. As a community and individually we need to learn how to properly grieve loss, heartache and injustice. I think we carry our scars on the inside. The feeling and emotions are stuck and not worked out. I don’t think this lets up live to our full potential. I don’t think we can fully heal if we don’t lament.

I know I’m not in the states but overseas the Wikileaks documents about the massive amount of torture and abuse committed in Iraq was a big deal. Even in my village people would ask me how I felt as an American about the documents. My only response is deep deep sorrow mixed with some anger. When I talked to my parents and asked them what the reaction was in America, they told me that there wasn’t much of one. I think this is due to our denial and inability to lament. The injustices committed in Iraq are wrong and I believe we need to properly mourn what happened and is currently happening in Afghanistan. We need to address what’s wrong and bring to light. We can’t banish these atrocities from our consciousness, trying our best to hide the gruesome images of what we have done. I think we will be better off if we were more real with ourselves and with the rest of the world and talked about what is happening.

Rwanda has created a space to lament. From the countless mass graves scattered across the tiny country to the open fresh mortar shell wounds almost displayed across the west side of Parliament, Rwanda is healing. Let’s deal with our own story, let’s dive deep into the muck, speak it out, resonate with community and move forward with the visible scars of life and the wholesomeness of properly lamenting.

(west wall of the rwandan parliament building)

(they're keeping the scars in the building to remember)

Dive In

I know I talk about the environment quite a bit which I think is just a product of just living closer to the rhythms of nature. The alternating dry and wet seasons coming and going have noticeably changed my life over the last year and made me a stronger advocate of nature and protecting the earth. I have recently moved to the capital Kigali which takes me a step away from nature but I had this last week off and decided to head down Nyungwe National Park to go camping. I believe it’s the highest elevation rainforest in the world or if not at least in Africa. I imagine many tourists just swing into Rwanda to go see the gorillas in Virunga Park and keep traveling so Nyungwe is a relatively untouched paradise. Over the course of the 4 days I was there, a total of 18 people visited the park. This really let me see the raw beauty of God’s creation unlike I had ever seen it before. I’m in love. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful earth to provide us with everything we need. From 13 species of monkeys, to hundreds of different types of birds and butterflies and the surprisingly human like chimpanzees, our world is beautiful. The simplicity of carrying everything you need on your back, setting up your own shelter has a strange hard love appeal that I can’t explain. To lay in bed hearing the orchestra of natural sounds from the nocturnal animals of the rainforest is one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard.

I promise I’m not writing this to gloat about a nice camping trip I went on. I want to urge you to go camping yourself. Go find a nature trail close to your home and just walk, breathe, take in the rawness of God’s creation. You might fall in love like I have. I’m not sure where you are reading this and if you have an intimate relationship with God’s creation or not but regardless of where you are, give nature a try. Find a little place to get away from the air conditioning or heater, where you might get a little dirt under your finger nails or a couple more deep breaths of some good old pure fresh air. I know I’m not in the states right now but I believe it the season fall. Fall is a great time to enjoy nature. There might be a cool crisp freshness in the air when as the sun rises. The coolness of the morning might disappear by the middle of the day which might have enough warm glow from the sun to stop you in your tracks and make you say “dang it’s a beautiful day, I am blessed.”

I also believe that if you and those around you start to have this strange closer connection to nature, your actions might change to maybe keep this environment, to keep God’s creation. Dive in, don’t just go from car to house, turn around and walk on a path that isn’t concrete. Let the beauty of nature take your heart and just see what happens.

Forgiveness part 2

I think I have already commented on how Rwanda has really established a culture of forgiveness. Many people contribute this to the relatively famous Gacaca Trials where instead of trying to traditionally deal with the countries prison problems after the genocide, the country made a bold move to release 40,000 people to local courts.

So as I was saying my goodbyes in Nyagatare, many students and teachers were coming up to me and apologizing. Even my best student apologized to me. I had a string of text messages from students apologizing and asking for forgiveness if they have done me wrong. I was finally able to pin someone down to tell me why everyone now is asking for just vague forgiveness. Apparently it goes back to tribal times that people believe that they should always leave someone on good terms and if you do not then you stand the chance of being “charmed”. This really brings up and interesting part of culture. I have heard murmurs of students or people from my community claiming to be witched or charmed but although I don’t think many people still believe in it, it affects their actions.

People seek forgiveness from all different people for nothing because just in case they could be cursed. I find this quite interesting that something has become culture that people don’t really believe in but do it anyway. But I guess that happens everywhere.