WAKE UP! An E-mail from a friend visiting Africa for the semester...

This is an email from a friend of mine who is in Africa right now. I read it and had to post it on here. I've got nothing really to say for this one. It very strongly speaks on its own and echos my own heart. I hope it resonates with your own in some way.

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We definitely jumped right into our semester abroad without a spare moment for hesitation! I know I sent a very brief report last week, but I'll now make the seemingly futile attempt to express what I saw, felt, and learned in Rwanda.The focus of our trip was to study the genocide, the role of the church, the role of the West, and future hope for Rwanda in their economic goals and system of justice. We traveled to three major cities: Kibungo, Butare, and Kigali. Each city held many lectures, visits to museums and memorials, and personal testimonies of hope and survival. I'd love to relay all astounding details and reveal the truth, but I'd rather give you what the Lord put on my heart through all I learned and let you find the facts in a textbook. Sadly, though, textbooks and school curriculum never seem to full explain Rwanda. In summary, the West not only abandoned Rwanda in their time of need, the West also created much of the conflict there as well as in the rest of Africa. Learning of all the things our country has and has not done tended to make me feel personally responsible and ashamed of my skin. But what blew me away even more was the forgiveness and love that all Rwandans showered upon us! In all my travels I have never felt so loved and welcomed by every person I met. One night I hit a breaking point, a rush of anger, frustration, and sorrow that I think everyone needs to feel to truly learn from experiences like this. As vulnerable as it feels to share, I hope that my raw emotions and reactions can help bring the reality of the need to you rather than a recount of numbers and facts you can find in a book.
After one of our first few days in Rwanda, I wrote this in my journal: "My heart is crumbling. I feel the weight of all the world's travesties bearing down upon my soul. Need. NEED. NEED! Not just wants or desires or hopes, but basic human needs are going unmet around the globe. Children with barrel bellies and twig legs watch with their curious, kind, joyful generous, hungry eyes as I am let to a seat of honor and fed until I feel sick. The land is in a drought. Orphans of genocide still lack necessities. I visit for one day and feel my passion and spirit crushed by the enormity of everyone's problems. How can this church, these people, the country keep going? They are ALIVE. In the wake of evil and death, they are vibrant! In the wake of materialism and luxury I am dead inside.
I've had the privilege of traveling to see the big picture of needs in Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, andRwanda. And the news is full of images of India, Iraq, Indonesia, Mexico...needs everywhere! My drive and joy cave under the daunting task. But, what exactly is the task? What am I really seeing-physical or spiritual need?The church here in Rwanda labors away, chipping into the hardened walls of hatred, pain, and suffering that the people of this country endured. They walk. Work. Go on. In the Kenyan slums they just keep going, spending boring, tedious, exhausting lives with asmile on their faces while offering me their choice meat and crops which I struggle to eat thinking of its horrible nutrition content. Who am I to be cynical of their motivations in asking for money? Who am I to withhold my love? Love your neighbor as yourself. But love is not money. And I am dry. My crushed, empty spirit has no more love to give. I am finished. And the week has only begun.
"I am now back at school in Uganda, and still my mind floods with questions which I'm sure will only continue to baffle me more as the semester progresses. The more I learn about Africa and the rest of theworld, the more I lose my blissful naivety to the needs of the world. It reminds me of Ecclesiastes1:18. "Because in much wisdom there is much grief,and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain."I have seen firsthand that as Christians, we can not put our faith in governments and human institutions. The thing about Rwanda is not how barbaric and different from us they are, but rather how similar. We are all a depraved humanity. Where was the U.S. while that was happening? And the UN? The amount of troops it took to evacuate all the ex-patriots would have been enough to stop the genocide. But what should we expect? The US, the UN, and other organizations are full of humans. The United States of America will ultimately behave in its own best interest, and Rwanda had nothing for us but loss. Infact, the conflicts in Rwanda were actually started long ago by the Belgians in colonization. Hutu andTutsi aren't even separate tribes or ethnic groups, it was a caste system essentially created during colonization. Fingers of blame point in all directions. The same istrue for conflicts around the globe. But as Christians, we should not be asking where was the US or the UN. We need to be crying out where was the church?! And where is the church now?! We say "never again," but people are dying without Christ everywhere. We've probably all mentioned Iraq in our prayers during guided prayer concerts at church, but how often do we lift up the needs of the world? Do you know what's happening with the LRA in Uganda? Have you heard of the massacres in Darfur? Did you know that the same genocidal propaganda that lead tothe horrific deaths in Rwanda is becoming widely spread in India? And how horrible is it that at this moment I struggle to think of other places where weshould be mindful of human need because I don't know about them?! By the same token, I'm not advocating that we take the weight of the world upon our own shoulders. We can't possibly each pray for and get involved in meeting needs in every corner of the globe. That's the beauty of the body of Christ, that He'll lay certain places and people on our hearts. But I am saying that we really need to wake up. Rwanda was 95% "Christian" at the time of the genocide. The church was there during the genocide, but sleeping. Church leaders were rubbing shoulders with corrupt politicians. They didn't raise their voices and take opportunities for change. It was the individuals who truly followed and knew the Lord that heroically saved many lives in acts of love and compassion. Many of the "Christians" in Rwanda had merely converted to enjoy the benefits of education and material provisions that the western Christians brought with them. Churches that should have been places of refuge were slaughtering grounds for thousands upon thousands of women and children. As one of our speakers, a bishop in the Anglican Church of Rwanda shared, "The church as an institution failed. The church as individuals with personal conviction of sin never failed. That church prevailed." Sound familiar? How many Christians do you know in America that are sleeping? Are we trying to hard to gain power in government, business, education, whatever the field, that we fall asleep to the sin around us? The church must raise her voice, because we are the ONLY people with the TRUE answer for love and peace and reconciliation. No government, organization, or institution can do it. Only Christ. And only the people of His church can bring forth that message! So I don't know what God is calling you to. I'm not asking you to pray for anything specific or to go any certain place. This is only a cry to WAKE UP. And if you are awake, as I know many of you are, then stay awake and start waking others around you! This is nota message of condemnation or guilt, but rather a call to action. The last thing anyone in Rwanda would want to do is fill you with guilt. I wish I had more time to explain their peace and reconciliation process, called gacaca, but I can tell you that the country has HOPE and is moving on. There is a great need for trauma counselors and economical and agricultural training, but they are firm in their resolve to succeed without becoming beggars. So please, feel regret and remorse for how we have failed to meet needs, and use that constructively to help build a future wherever God is calling you. And it also seems that this update email has turned into a sermon! I wish I had a computer of my own here so that I could write a novel, but alas my computer access is limited. That will be a challenge when I have to start writing papers! Thanks for your prayers, and I hope that God will teach you as He is teaching me. I'm sure many of you are far beyond these lessons I am just experiencing for the first time, but thank you for humoring me. I greatly appreciate the unique opportunity I have to come here and learn! I want to share that with all of you! Please continue to email and let me know what the Lord is showing you as well. My classes started today, and I can tell it's going to be an incredible semester. Hope all is going well in work and school there, and keep listening to the Lord and relaying His message of hope and love to the world.

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Until Dukey Drops Again....Much Love.......