July
15-17, 2007
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What would Oprah
and Paris Do?
July 15
-coming to
Kigali from Kigali to Gisenyi. There were at least twenty
mutilated children working the bus station in Gisenyi. They were too
young to have been injured in the war that ended in 1994. They were
constantly putting their arms into the mini bus to ask for money. I gave
what seemed like a lot , and they kept coming to me. One little girl,
blind in one eye and probably with some congential defects, several boys
leading her to the travellers to behold. I also noticed she had several
fingers missing. I don't know if the boys used her and kept her money or
not. There are survival skills here that you don't find in western texts.
The arms and feet that were missing on these children were the result of
clean cuts, not the tearing and shredding of industrial accidents. These
were wounds of an intentional nature.
I asked people in Kigali how this still happens. It is the war in the
Congo and the militias that cross into Rwanda to make a point, who cause
these wounds. Maybe the parents have to watch and then are killed
aftewards. Some women are raped and when the baby is born are forced to
kill the baby. Some have been able to flee before this happens.
Rachel, a Rwandan Quaker, works with these women, many who also have
Aids. She tells me these stories. No single organization or organizations
can take care of all these victims.
I rode to Kigali with those images in my head.
July 17 5:00AM
I'm awake two hours already. The memory of the children is still
there. I wonder if I am on the right mission. Should I drop everything
and go back to Gisenyi til I'm broke? Will some temporary relief be worth
it to them? It certainly would not be permanent. I would leave and they
would be back on the street and my house at home might be in foreclosure.
I know that photos of children like these have been seen around the world
, but when Katie Couric goes off the air, we go back to Jeopardy or
Entertainment Tonight and float into the fantasy world of Paris and
Oprah. I know that not a single world leader would ever be subjected to
five minutes alone in the Gisenyi bus terminal. I dout that a world
leader would be allowed such exposure by a host country out of its own
shame and embarrassment. An a world leader's people would decry the
impossibility, the lack of security. How many world leaders would be
allowed within a few miles of a UN peacekeeping mission?
Paris Hilton, for a reasonable exhorbitant fee, disclosed to Larry King,
that ten days in jail transformed her. A two thousand dollar plane ticket
and a three hours bus to Gisenyi could have transformed her in a lot less
time and for a lot less money.
Would Oprah build an ostentatious school for a few hundred carefully
selected children in South Africa, that they might someday become part of
the ruling elite in their countries and host a visiting PM's wife to a
Mercedes chauffered , heavily secured, red carpet tea party?
I know it may not be practical for a future or current PM or President to
spend a few days away from her or his handlers getting to know what the
bottom end of the ladder offers thos without hope. I know too that what I
am offeringin mediation training will provide some hope and a better way
of resolving conflictin the future. But what about those who suffer
everyday in a misery only the most thoroughly depressed person might
imagine. the big projects may well do some good but they support a lot of
well paid westerners as well. In this country there are many unemployed
people who could manage mini projects, much like the micro financing that
has worked so well. Maybe this could be the answer. There certainly is
need for development and preventive programs, but there remains the need
of those children so injured and without hope, without caring adults who
can comfort them. I need to talk more with Theoneste who survived the
genocide at the age of 12, to find out what he would suggest. He is 26
now, a psychology student, and responsible for the victims of trauma
program run by African Great Lakes Initiative. I will tell you more when
I think I know.
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Itinerary
George's
Route
Archive
Aug 21, 2007
Aug 16, 2007
Aug 14, 2007
Aug 12-13, 2007
Aug 10, 2007
Aug 6-8, 2007
Aug 5, 2007
Aug 1, 2007
July 30, 2007
July 29, 2007
July 23-25, 2007
July 24, 2007
July 22, 2007
July 20, 2007
July 15-17, 2007
July 12-13, 2007
July 13, 2007
July 12, 2007
July 8, 2007
June 30, 2007
June 12, 2007
June 11, 2007
Mediation Classes
and Case Studies
Nairobi
Kakamega/Lubao
Bujumbura, Rwanda
Kigali, Rwanda
Goma, Congo
Photos
1960's Africa
Germany
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