Archive for January, 2010
Kristof: Congo Ignored
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Having just flown out of Congo this morning I read Nicholas Kristof’s column Congo Ignored in the NY Times while sitting in an airport lounge in Johannesburg, South Africa. He writes that the raping and death in eastern Congo is one of the most ignored humanitarian crises in the world today. He says it’s a [...]
Save One Life, Save the World
Friday, January 29th, 2010I’m writing from Lumbumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo where this afternoon I sat in on a very remarkable conversation. A UN special envoy for malaria was addressing a group of religious leaders from several Protestant traditions and two imams. The meeting was held outdoors at the edge of a stand of towering bamboo at a [...]
Where Two or Three Are Gathered…
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010This is also posted on a blog I write for United Methodist Communications.
Hearing the stories of the UMCOR and IMA executives trapped in the rubble of the Hotel Montana is to hear of conditions so horrifying they are unimaginable. Utter chaos. At times utter hopelessness. And always courage and more courage. Faith and more faith.
It [...]
Don’t Tell Me Love Ain’t Worth the Fight
Sunday, January 17th, 2010This is a cross-post from a blog I write for the agency for which I work, United Methodist Communications.
It is a time of darkness and deep sadness. This morning I wrote a personal note to my colleague Sam Dixon telling him of my joy at his rescue. Around noon today as I sat in the [...]
Somalia and Yemen
Sunday, January 10th, 2010Stories about the Palestinian suicide bomber and the Nigerian who tried to blow up the U.S. Air flight stir memories of young men I worked with in several trips to Somalia several years ago. This was before terrorism and modern-day piracy. Many of them pleaded to leave with me–an impossibility for many reasons–and others asked [...]