Georgianne Nienaber at The Huffinton Post comes a heart-wrenching story about the conditions in the refugee camp, Mugunga II, located near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
We were wading through a literal sea of humanity housed on a volcanic landscape that mirrored Dante's Inferno. Children clung to our arms as if our limbs were the branches of trees. The doctor warned us to avoid touching, since disease was present in every snotty nose and dirty hand that reached for comfort. You cannot say no to the begging for human touch, and soon rivers of green, yellow, and brown fluids from runny noses cover arms and hands and clothing, and eventually you give up trying to clean it off. The stench is overpowering--13,360 adults and 7,000 children crammed into huts unfit for animals. It is a little over a week since Christmas day and it occurs to you that even HE was born into better conditions than this.
....
Miserable impressions flood the mind and you are soon overwhelmed and manage to hover above it all, recording images and sounds with cameras and recorders that do the job because there is no way you could ever remember all of this--or would want to. It is only when the writer comes to the page that the tears begin to fall.
....
Imagine a small city with no infrastructure. No electricity, stores, medical care, food, little water and no blankets to cover the newborn whose cries are a testimony to their fight for life. Imagine women working as volunteer midwives who carry pregnant rape victims on their backs from the forests to the relative "safety" of this landscape.
Read the rest of Georgianne's post and weep. Where is the help? Is nothing to be done? Does no one see? How can we look away?
Thank you, Mimi. We can but testify and hope it plants seeds until some great good manages to come to fruition. It might not be the seed we plant, but we keep planting in hopes that there are enough seeds to have an effect.
ReplyDeletePaul, at the end of all Georgianne's emails are these words:
ReplyDeleteGandhi said, “everything you do will be meaningless, but you must do it.”
We must do it.
Thank you, grandmere; I didn't want to "go there", thinking that some would believe I was being too self-interested. The Rwandans have probably now completely spoiled out visit to east Congo in May. But hope springs eternal, and if our local connection asks me what I do or don't want to do, I'm going to say, "Let's go."
ReplyDeletePlease pray for the Diocese of Boga.
Scott, how could anyone think it was self-interest that draws you to visit Congo? I shall pray for the Diocese of Boga. I shall pray for those in the refugee camps.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mimi. Your blog may be "fairly successful," but I am not so sure about mine!Michelle Obama's wardrobe is getting more attention and comments than the IDPS. A symptom of what is wrong with this country.
ReplyDeleteGN
A symptom of what is wrong with this country.
ReplyDeleteGeorgianne, exactly. Don't give up the fight, even though few seem to be paying attention. You're doing the right thing.
Hi Mimi. Now you understand why, even though I often cover politics, I have no real interest in the subject
ReplyDeleteGN
Thanks Grandmere Mimi. I saw this here yesterdy and did some more clicking around the internets today. I didn't know about it until you blogged it. A'course keeping me informed is not that important of a job but you did make at least one more living being aware. That's something.
ReplyDeleteAll we can do is be aware and pray. I doubt that my senators even read my letters anymore. But, we can put it out there. Nothing is wasted, everything counts.
Thank you for counting.
Lindy
You too Paul.