I painted this a little while ago in response to some of my blogs about our friends being treated unfairly. Around the same time I had started taking walks around the neighborhood when I could. I had a lot on my mind and winter has hurt any other attempts at exercising. As I walked I couldn’t help but think about what story was behind each fence. And how did the people at the big house interact with the people at the little house. This dynamic is a way of life here, but how do I fit. How many others suffer like my friends? So the painting is not perfect and may not deal with all of those issues. But those are some of the thoughts behind it.

On my walked the sun shines through the fading tall grasses and there is an interesting beauty and despair. It is much colder by the time I get home just before dusk, but it is one of my healthiest habits when I can get home in time.

World Council of Churches, DR Congo: after death of human rights activist, government must act responsibly

From World Council of Churches e-mail. 

 

media@wcc-coe.org

Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363

Congolese government must act after death of human rights activist

For immediate release: 04 June 2010

 

Deep concern over the recent death of Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and the "increased oppression against Congolese human rights defenders" during the past year was expressed by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 4 June.

Chebeya was the executive director of La Voix des Sans-Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), one of the DRC's most important human rights organizations.

Chebeya's body was found in his car Wednesday morning. He had been called to a meeting with the national police chief, which did not take place, the previous night. His driver is missing since then.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit urged the DRC government "to act as agents of the rule of law" and added: "The government has a responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of its citizens and should demonstrate this respect by conducting a full, open and transparent investigation into the death of Mr Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and the fate of his driver, Mr Fidele Bazana Edadi."

Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN investigator Philip Alston said the circumstances of the death "strongly suggested official responsibility". The DRC government has ordered an inquiry into the death.

La Voix des Sans-Voix is part of the WCC human rights defenders network in Africa. Chebeya was a member of the planning committee of a human rights workshop that the WCC and other Christian organizations held in Kinshasa last April.  At the ecumenical workshop, Congolese church leaders committed themselves to promote respect for human dignity and fundamental human rights.

Full text of the WCC general secretary's letter

WCC member churches in the DRC

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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Life is Tough

And I am told to be tough

Tough! As a woman

Tough! As a wife

Tough! As a mother

Tough! As an oppressed one

Why must I be tough?

In a world made rough?

Why must I be tough?

Where power is never enough

I must be tough…

For you my sons,

To have food and not guns,

I must be tough,

For you my sisters,

To gain power and not systems.

I must be tough,

For you my daughters

To ensure a spring of living waters.

I must be tough,

For you my brothers,

To give new vision to a word that bothers.

Life is so rough.

And I want to be tough.

 

-Angelene (Switzerland)

from first SHADE Sister 2 Sister newsletter I can across going through old files. Resonates with a lot of women I know here.

Tell your stories

Somewhere in life storytelling became very important to me. I can’t pinpoint it, but oral storytelling and stories though art hold a deep meaning to me. I love all the different ways of telling stories, of weaving them together, of sharing them.

During the three month road trip I took after college, I went to visit the mom of a friend I studied with in Cuba. Both women are delightful and help me remember the ways I want to look into the world. I was beginning to feel like I wasn’t doing anything for the world but using up gas by being on this long road trip. But the night at Ann’s house made me appreciate how honored I was to have stayed in so many people’s homes and had time to listen. I was able to hear people’s stories and ideas and focus on them in a way I hadn’t while being in school. So maybe I wasn’t contributing per se, but I was able to reflect on life with people and was open to hearing in a whole new way.

Then I started this journey with SHADE and on the first night heard our boss’s story. Mama Tembo has a very powerful story and I have deep respect for her and SHADE because the relationship starts with the story. But then she asked us our stories.

Now those of you that know me well, know I love to tell little stories about the day or what’s on my mind or what I remember. But my story? A story about what my life is all about in one sitting… That’s a lot harder to tell. Especially when people around me have such powerful and strong stories, how do I possibly compare? How do I show what’s important to me and why?

And I still need to practice telling my story. I am better at letting it out in pieces. I am obviously trying for something as I blog. But I think I have to stop valuing stories in different ways. I have learned from the women I work with how powerful it is to tell stories. In fact I am blogging about this as I am working on developing storytelling workshops that would be useful to our communities. As much as I love my other work, it is probably what I am most passionate about. For some people I work with after events in their lives they didn’t feel like they were worthy to be human and stopped telling who they were. Others have never had a chance to be heard or knew that their story mattered. Many have a new sense of life from the ability to start sharing.

And again these stories I find so incredibly beautiful and am so honored to be present for. And again I have difficulty seeing how to share my own. But to form a relationship I have to share too, for myself and others. And because our stories are all linked. This is especially real now as my friends are going through this hard time, yet I am so glad they felt comfortable enough to finally tell us more of their struggles.

So I encourage each of you to share your stories. We each have them. And while I may not think my story is as powerful as many I hear, they have told me mine is still worthy to be told.

All stories are worthy. I am thankful at SHADE we start with our stories. All of our stories.