a close to my bed show

Ebola seems to be on the decrease and I can’t wait for it to be gone. In Dutch we call it a “far from my bed show” when talking about things happening far away that are of little concern to us. The Ebola crisis in West-Africa has not been quite such a show for me, because I had my bed there for a while. I visited Liberia just before the Ebola outbreak and met and grew to love people there. 

so lovable!

Sometimes at night I would lie awake and hear the watchmen talking softly to each other under my window. Men who would keep watch for me to sleep safely, but who didn’t count on the invisible enemy called ‘Ebola’. Good memories of a month where I got to work along side Liberians in Rivercess. We learnt from each other on a daily basis and I carry the memory of their faces in my heart. So their crisis is slightly my crisis, even if I’m far away now.

Perhaps the only good thing Ebola has done, is to give faces to people suffering in Africa and to some of the heroes of Africa. We have seen West-African health workers on the news, doing brave things to fight this disease that has been destroying so many lives. I was encouraged by the unafraid cemetery worker in Sierra Leone who said: “No, I’m not afraid, I don’t have nightmares. My Jesus protects me.” 

my prayers are with you

Disaster strikes and sometimes the people in the midst of it have the greatest faith. Westerners watching from afar feel helpless and wonder why God allows these things.

For me it confirms that to get to know God, it’s best not to get too comfortable. It’s not like Jesus ever lived a comfortable life! The task of a church pastor has been described as: “To comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”
So perhaps if you feel really comfortable, it’s time to move your bed around!

Freedom Sunday

In the past few days international authorities, organisations and churches have all stopped to take notice of human rights issues. How come? Well, here are some important dates:

October 17th = International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

"On this day we recommit to think, decide and act together against extreme poverty -- and plan for a world where no-one is left behind. Our aim must be prosperity for all, not just a few." 

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

October 18th = Anti-Slavery Day (there are about 30 million slaves to this day!)

Anti-Slavery Day falls on 18 October each year. It provides an opportunity to draw attention to the subject and to pressurize government, local authorities, public institutions and private and public companies to address the scale and scope of human trafficking.

October 19th 2014 = Micah Challenge Sunday for churches worldwide, otherwise known as Freedom Sunday. A day when churches worldwide pray and share ideas on how to act against poverty, slavery and the destruction of the earth. In other words: moving towards freedom, justice and sustainability.

He has shown you O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6:8

One of the most important topics for the church to take notice of, in my opinion, because it is so close to God's heart. One that requires out of the box initiatives, open eyes and a restructuring of habits and traditions that are sometimes very dear to us.

The bright side: how awesome to know that people world-wide of all colours and races are concerned and making a fist against poverty and slavery!

Source: STOP THE TRAFFIK

remembering well

Do you know who this is? I'm afraid most of my audience will have no idea, although there are some hints in the photo, which I found on a website dedicated to remembering him. This is the man most of us recognize only in orange coveralls, kneeling next to his murderer. That is the image we have seen and still see every time the news covers the horrors of ISIL. I wish that would stop. I wish we'd remember photos of the real Jim.

James Foley was a remarkable journalist and brave human being. Most of his work was behind the camera, so he wasn't very much in the picture. He deserves better than for all of us to remember him only the way he looked in his final moments, after being broken and dehumanized. He was a man who cared about the stories he told and the people he met. People in war zones and terror-struck times of their lives. He died because he had the courage to go where most of us would rather watch from far off (at a distance of preferably about half a globe!).

Source: http://freejamesfoley.org/

for those who are afraid

"Do not google for this, if you don't have a very strong stomach!" was the warning accompanying an article on the horrific crimes against humanity by the Islamic State.

I stumbled upon some photos, not by googling, but by clicking some links on facebook. I looked, trembling, my tears too paralysed to flow. The images of beheaded children shouldn't exist. We shouldn't be seeing this. The diabolic authorities that cause ISIS to actually present them with pride, do not deserve any publicity. Yet the images must be seen because they exist. The world cannot turn a blind eye.

I'm sure my readers will be thankful to find that I'm not posting any links here. What's the point? I think I do have quite a strong stomach, but I don't want to see these sickening photos! I prefer to not see them and not let it sink into my heart that this is actually happening in the same world that I live in so peacefully.

Still, now that I have seen them, I have to ask: "What can we do?!"

In the quiet of the night, I sat thinking about this and concluded that the only way to fight this kind of hatefulness is to love.

There will be refugees coming our way. People will have to flee for their lives and some of them will live near us in the future. How will we welcome them? Will we let them be stigmatised by impressions we have of strangers? Or will we offer them a safe place where they won't be embittered any further? Will we be willing to share our wealth, our facilities, our schools, our towns, our places of work and our homes?

Let's be ready to open our arms wide for those who have lost so much.

mixed emotions

The world witnessed three planes go down in a week's time. In one week I spent one day in a hospital that specializes in cancer treatment, I attended one funeral, I celebrated one birthday.

My country was in mourning and paid tribute to the dead after flight MH17 got shot down above Eastern Ukraine. We have watched the Ukrainian people suffer from a distance, suddenly we were personally involved, in mourning and angry. Some locals were seen to treat the site of this horrible crash disrespectfully, but we saw others cry bitterly for the losses of those who perhaps never stopped to consider the events in the Ukraine. One lady brought a shoe she found, saying: "They can identify someone by a shoe, can't they?"

Source: FB page "Franciscanen Gerechtigheid"

A friend of mine flying from Burkina Faso sent an email saying she wasn't on the plane that crashed on it's way from Ouagadougou to Algiers. She was to fly later that night, departing from Ouagadougou, but with a different airline. It made me consider the things that would've been said, had she been on that fatal flight. How she was a good person, doing good work for a neglected minority in West-Africa, in the prime of her life, recently married and how unjust it seems for her life to abruptly end in such a horrific way. As it is, I'm grateful to know she's safe, but I also realise that instead others died who are also all of the above (good people, in the prime of their life, doing fine things).

This week (and every week) many thousands of people suffered loss. I haven't even begun to mention all the other world events, for instance in Gaza and Iraq, where new losses are added in an incessant stream. Yet at the end of such a week, I celebrated that I've lived yet another year. Not because I deserve to, but by the grace of God. I celebrated that there are people around me who love me and who are glad to be part of my life. On the same day, in another continent, my sister-in-law said goodbye to her aunt who died as a result of cancer. Yet even the coming funeral will be another occasion to celebrate Life.

for South Sudan

As long as I can remember, there was the Sudanese Civil War. First the 1955-1972 Sudanese Civil War, then a short break, then the 1983-2005 Sudanese Civil War, which overlapped the Darfur war, and all these wars have been overlapped and connected by tribal conflicts. 

South Sudan was born in July 2011 and the World was proud to have this new country. However, the people of Sudan had only dreamt of peace and independence and hadn't learnt to live it. And so the conflict continues and the Southern Sudanese have only a shaky home.

The lost boys still walk…and run…and walk on…or run again...without finding a home.

I met several Sudanese refugees over the years. I was honoured to be their friend for a while. I learnt about their culture, the marks of their tribes, the importance of cattle. Sometimes I glimpsed of their loneliness; the way no one understood the weight of all those years of war. 

“Oh, is there a war in your country?” Ignorance would say. 

And the Dinka would softly reply: “There has been for 40 years.”

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

It is going on 50.

And so at the beginning of a new year, I’d like to stop and remember the Sudanese. May this year bring new seeds of hope and peace to their hearts.

Saving face

One morning many years ago I woke up with a rash across part of my face. Apparently some allergic reaction had caused my skin to break out in swollen, itchy, redness. I felt physically ill from itchiness, but also frightened to see my own face not looking as it was supposed to. Some antihistamines later I recovered and everything went back to normal.

I am among the fortunate on this earth, who suffer such trivial worries. Imagine waking up one morning to find your face…gone..?! Academy award winning documentary film ‘Saving face’ features women who have suffered the loss of their face, because some hateful person threw acid on them.

In Pakistan every year over a hundred women suffer acid violence. It may be done by a man who is angry because the woman of his choice refuses his marriage proposal, or a man who is angry with his own wife, or even by her mother-in-law. The reason for her punishment often comes down to the mistake she made when she wasn’t born as a boy (or maybe when she didn’t give birth to a boy).

Plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad tries to give these women their smiles back. “In a way I’m saving my own face,” he says, “it’s a very shameful thing as a society to be living with acid attacks & not be doing anything about it.”

‘Saving face’ is a horrible film, but it is also a marvelous film with heroic stories. It shows women who are willing to face their fears and fight for justice. Women who have found a way to recover their beauty, despite having been robbed of their own face. It shows what deep hate can do, but it also features hope in a very big way.

I don’t know if I could smile if I were in Zakia’s shoes. Yet she smiles again and has hope for tomorrow. Her suffering is beyond anything I could imagine, and so is her courage.

slavery and 'zwarte piet'

The temptation of making a few comments on the discussion over 'Black Pete' has become too much for me, so please forgive me for this post.

It is sometimes complicated to be in a position where you feel you understand the arguments on both sides. It is even worse when you cannot help but laugh at the irony of the UN human rights body having a serious debate with the entire Dutch population over a children's feast.

As every point has been made on the internet, on both sides, I still find it necessary join in by pointing out that slavery exists today. To be honest, I would give up any national tradition if it would stop this from being true.

The International Justice Mission states that there are 27 million slaves in the world today. IJM works to stop the practice of one person owning another. I would agree with Verene Shepherd that this particular practice does not belong in the 21st century. For this reason I think IJM deserves our attention and our help, so do check out the IJM website if you're interested to know more: http://www.ijm.org/

For the Dutch who are still looking for gifts for the celebration of Saint Nicholas or even for Christmas, I suggest looking at the following website: http://www.ijmnl.org/merch/armband.htm

By ordering a Seek Justice bracelet they can contribute to the liberation of modern slaves in India. 

what Alzheimer's teaches us

It has been said that Alzheimer's disease is an illness that makes people lose their dignity. The more I encounter people who suffer from different forms of dementia, the more I wonder... Can dementia make a man lose his dignity? Does aging affect human dignity? Or is it really up to us?

No matter what happens to you, there are always choices. Choices in the way we face difficulty and choices in the ways we help carry each other. Is it alright not to be strong? Is it alright not to know what tomorrow brings? Will we dare to be taken care of? Are we willing to stand with the ones we love, even when they need special attention?

If you're willing to see it, Alzheimer's can teach you the beauty of living in the moment. Creating the right, peaceful atmosphere between us and living for this moment's laughter or tear.
This is not popular in the culture I live in. This is different for us, even weird. To live in the moment, not speedy and busy, planning what's next. To let go, instead of independently standing strong, with everything under control at all times.

Without a doubt, Alzheimer's is a horrible disease and no one welcomes such a diagnosis. Health and illness are important factors in how we feel about ourselves. Still, I tend to think human dignity is not so much in ourselves. It is what we give to each other.

World Refugee Day

We have reached a new world record. One of those records not to be proud of - way too many: 45 million refugees!  

European governments and individuals seem to experience a certain queasiness at this growing number, perhaps not so much because of the horrific meausure of problems faced by the refugees. The greater fear is that waves of refugees will come like a tsunami towards our safe havens. We wish to declare their countries 'safe' so they may go away instead of disturbing our social system.

On World Refugee Day, Syrian children in refugee camps fly kites with messages to the world. They come down to "Please help us return home". They do not wish to migrate to Europe. They just want to go home and they want home to be a safe place.

They probably won't be able to do so if the world keeps her eyes firmly shut.

Photo by Greg Beals, UNHCR