Merry Christmas!
I won’t be blogging tomorrow, so I created a little design to send some Christmas cheer your way in advance…
Have a great Christmas!
Justice, Impunity, & Sexual Violence in Eastern DRC
Late last month a new parliamentary report titled ‘Justice, Impunity, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’ was launched in London. A few of my gapper colleagues attended the launch, and Kevin kindly wrote a little Ctrl.Alt.Shift-esque report for us. The facts can seem a little overwhelming at times, yet it will hopefully give us more of a grasp of what is happening in this beautiful country, and give us some mechanisms to engage with the issues…
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If you have hours:
Read the report into ‘Justice, Impunity, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’:
http://www.appggreatlakes.org/images/stories/APPGReports/9%20october%20drc%20mission%20report.pdf
Read DFID’s Country Plan for the Democratic Republic of Congo:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/DRC-countryplan08-10.pdf
If you have minutes:
Read my [Kevin’s] article about the event on Ctrl.Alt.Shift:
http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/#/Magazine/article/425
Read pages 4-8 of the report, which is the Executive Summary and the Summary of Recommendations:
http://www.appggreatlakes.org/images/stories/APPGReports/9%20october%20drc%20mission%20report.pdf
If you have seconds:
Consider these facts and stats:
*Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo who have been raped during war are being imprisoned for aborting their resulting pregnancies, and then being left to starve in overcrowded cells.*
*The budget for each prisoner currently being held by the DRC government is $6 per year. Starvation is common, so naturally so is bribing or breaking your way out of jail*
*Although damage awards for military crimes totalling $1.5 million have been awarded, not a single penny has ever been paid. The entire budget for damage awards is just $5,000.*
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You can always check out our blog, Congolese Dawn, to read about some of our experiences while were in the DRC.
Flat Christmas Dinner
We had a little celebratory flat dinner on Thursday night before we all do our own separate things to mark Christmas… Jo cooked, the food was immense, and the chat was good.
A few snaps to tease you…
There are a few more photos on flickr here.
Lyrics On Friday
It’s that time of the week again…
This song has been rumbling around my head for weeks, but this week especially I just can’t get those lines (If you feel lost and tired / This is your song) out of my head.
– – –
Oh, my God
Shine Your light on us
That we might live
Oh, my God
Shine Your light on us
That we might live
I’ve been holding on
I’ve been holding on
All that is inside me
Screams to come back home
If you feel lost
If you feel lost
Sing along
If you feel tired
If you feel tired
Sing along
If you feel lost and tired
This is your song
I’ve been broken down
I’ve been broken down
I ain’t giving up
Love will come back around
Shine Your light
Shine it down
Let Your rescue come for us, we long to love
Shine Your Light On Us
Robbie Seay Band
Congolese Fishing
Some of my fellow gapper colleagues are busy working hard editing the video footage we shot while in the DRC last month. Jim & Steph did the filming work, and are now editing along with Chris & JP. Here’s a first glimpse of their work…
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Eskimo Go & Other Great Bands
I’m off to a little gig tomorrow night in ABC2…
Featuring the delightful sounds of Eskimo Go (a new collaboration featuring Yvonne Lyon), Rosco, and Ben TD, it should be a great night. Tickets are £5, from Ticketmaster or on the door. There’s a little facebook event page for it too.
I’ll be there… anyone else wanna come? Drop me a comment/ email/ tweet/ text/ call… let’s hang out!
While Earth Slept
I’m blessed to have such an amazing circle of friends, and I wanted to share with you something that a few of those mates have been involved in recently…
Rick, Ruth, and Stewart (among others) have been involved in recording a Christmas worship CD called ‘while earth slept’ which is releasing this week. It’s a collection of songs and thoughts taking us through the Christmas story in a fresh and inspiring way. The CD’s are being sold for £10 each with all proceeds going to two charities – ‘Out of Africa Missions‘ and ‘MacMillan Cancer Care’.
They’re hosting 2 nights of Christmas worship to launch this album, one in Enniskillen (Dec 19) and the other in Ballymena (Dec 22). With music from Stewart McIlrath, Ruth Williams and the Spark worship team, a message from Rick Hill, alongside multimedia, thoughts, interviews and a few Christmas nibbles, it promises to be a heart stirring time at this special time of the year.
Entry is free into both these nights, with CD’s being on sale.
The Poisonwood Bible
I recently read Barbara Kingsolver’s book, The Poisonwood Bible, which has been on my ‘to-read’ list for a looong time. It’s set in the DR Congo while the Belgians were still in control (late 50’s) and follows the story of a missionary family through the course of independence and all that follows. Each chapter is written from the perspective of an individual family member, which gives it an interesting flow.
I really enjoyed this book actually. I don’t read a lot of fiction (due to time constraints more than anything else!), but its something I’m trying to rectify. This book blew me away, I thought it was incredibly well written, grabbed me from the start. There is also the added benefit of having been in the DRC recently, which of course gives me a different perspective on things.
There were a few comments that grabbed me in the book, wanted to share them here…
“The church of the lost cause..”
“To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story.”
Anyone else read it? What did you think of it? What grabbed your attention?
Progress & Influence
I came across this video on Anne Jacksons blog today, and it fits with so much of what I’ve been thinking about over the last week or so…
So what does it all mean? That’s the question posed at the end of the video.
I’ve been thinking a lot about influence, about who has influence, about how we use our influence. The clip above gives us a sense of how fast the world is changing, how much our ability to impact a large group of people has mushroomed in recent years. Over the last week or so I’ve been given glimpses into the influence I have, whether through conversations with authors and musicians, or blogging friends, or neighbors…
- I discovered a new coffee shop near my flat, and lots of my friends have started frequenting it.
- I was talking about a band I love recently and realising how many people in Glasgow I’ve introduced to their music.
- I had a conversation with an author who told me someone introduced themselves to him as knowing me.
- A friend shared how our collaborative project doubled the hits on her blog.
One way to define influence is ‘to determine; to shape; to give direction to’. What am I shaping? Which direction am I pointing you in?
If influence is currency, what am I spending it on?
I talk on this blog a lot about injustice, about forgiveness, about hope, about love, about community. Are those the things you see when you read my blog? Are they the things you see when you look at my life?
And what do I see when I look at your life? You are having an influence on me, too. Maybe you don’t even realise it, maybe you don’t see the myriad of ways you impact and change me. Those words you wrote that prompted me to go and read that Bible passage. The youtube video you blogged that made me go and find out about TOMS. The question you twittered that made me reevaluate something. Meeting me for coffee and taking me somewhere thats entirely Fairtrade.
Every decision you make causes ripples.
Every decision I make causes ripples.
What kind of ripples are we leaving in our wake?
I wanted to leave you with a glimpse of what one of my favourite organisations is up to again…
Christmas can [still] change the world.
Welcome to the Advent Conspiracy.
DRC Photos
Some photographs from my trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month are up in a flickr set now. Here’s a small glimpse of the trip…
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