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

Amnesty

I remember being 15 and passing through the airport at Washington D.C. I saw a coloured man being taken away by border police. Handcuffed, carried by his hands and feet, struggling, shouting: “I am not a criminal!”

I believed him instantly. He may have been carrying drugs or arms. I don’t know. It is likely that his ‘crime’ had been passing through the airport as an illegal immigrant.

I was reminded of this incident by the campaign slogan of Amnesty International right now in Holland. It translates to: “I am deeply ashamed”…and I feel embarrassed as I did at 15. I like to think we are more humane in Europe. I like to think we all remember that we are only lucky to have been born free and safe.

I read the story of Sita Tumba and her brother Hans (a Dutch name as his father had moved to Holland by the time that Hans was born). They come from a country where her mother was taken by rebels from Rwanda. I have read about the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘Democratic republic’ sounds lovely, but there are many villages where every woman knows exactly what it’s like to be raped.

Do we welcome those who have fled from war torn situations? Do we tell them they are safe now? No, we put them in cells where they are reminded that no one has ever respected them as a person. They are body-searched, turned upside down to make sure they do not harm themselves physically as we are about to once again harm their souls. Their lives are put on a hold as we try to determine whether they would continue breathing if they were to be sent back to their traumatic beginnings.

Liberation

"If you have come to help me, you're wasting your time. But if you've come because your liberation is connected to mine, then let's work together."

Translation of a quote on www.oneword.nl. It was the heading above an invitation by the Society of African Missions to come help rebuild Liberia.

It's where we reach out to others, that we allow God to reach back to us. You cannot understand suffering just by staring at it, but there is freedom in sharing each other's burdens.

Rape - Weapon of War

Robin Hammond has done a lot of photographic work in the battle for human rights around the world. I found one of his photos in the photography magazine FOCUS. I just watched a discussion on euthanasia on Dutch television and then I opened FOCUS and stared in the face of a blind Congolese woman.
It made me think we don't have enough problems in the West that we have time to discuss whether and when human beings should have the right to end their lives in a "dignified" way. Of course euthanasia is a very complex topic and I have no idea of the suffering of some of the people who would consider it. But seeing that photo right after the discussion, confronted me with such a contrast in issues around the world. The 22-year-old Congolese girl called Basemae Maombi, wasn't born blind. She was robbed of her eyes because she recognised one of her rapists and called out his name to make him stop.
Here we are in Europe, discussing how to achieve a dignified death, when there is no chance Basemae Maombi will know dignity in life.

World Food Day

The 16th of October just ended for me, but I would like to make a note that this was World Food Day (WFD or klick here for the Dutch website). The new day, October 17th, is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (klick here for a Dutch link). At Taste the Waste you can see the trailer to the documentary on how much food is being wasted, while 1 billion people are still hungry. It is a sickening documentary that almost made me cry. More importantly, it makes me aware that I, you, all of us together, can make a difference and we can start today. If we throw less food away, if we are less picky, people in developing countries may be able to afford to buy food. Doesn't that sound worth looking into?