one returnee
Yesterday I went out to lunch with a brother and sister who live in Uganda. On the way to lunch I asked Harriet about her work in Uganda. She works with the Anglican Church educating women about reading, parenting, basic hygiene, and energy saving stoves. She was a well educated women, who spent her time taking care of others.
Her friend Michael spoke about his work with those who have escaped after being kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Some may have heard of the LRA through the movie Invisible Children. The LRA is based in southern Sudan. They have committed numerous abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children. In particular, the LRA abducts numerous children, and force them into slavery as guards, sex slaves, and soldiers. The children are beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children are forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Everyday these children live with the threat of being killed by their oppressors.
Those who manage to escape, called returnees, often are rejected by their villages. This is because some are forced to go back and abduct children from their own village. Some, in the words of Michael, are “killing machines.” He explained that from the age of 9 until they escaped at the age of 19 they have been taught to kill and destroy.
These are the sons and daughters with whom Michael (who works withWorld Vision) works. He helps them reorient their world. He helps them understand what normal is. He spoke of these returnees as though they were his own children. It was amazing to be sitting with two such people.
When Michael finished speaking to us about his work, Harriet said, “I was a returnee.” I looked at this woman, who was so loving, gentle and humble unable to wrap my mind around what her words meant. Before I could say anything she continued, “I will not tell you about all the things that happened there. But I know that God had his hand on me. Now I can be used for his glory.” Harriet had been made inhuman by the LRA. Harriet knew pain, terror, humiliation and fear in ways that no human should. Yet here she was giving herself to the poor.
All I kept thinking when I left was, “What can a person possibly say as to why they are not serving others?” The answer is nothing. There is no excuse that one can give. Harriet is serving others. She is saving lives. The time to act is now. We have opportunities all around us, and around the world. Please stop making excuses, and get busy changing the world one person at a time.